Mangesh V. Nadkarni
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| Mangesh Vithal Nadkarni | |
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| Born | March 6, 1933 Kodibag, Karwar, Uttar Kannada, Karnataka |
| Died | September 23, 2007 Pondicherry - India |
| Occupation | Professor, Scholar, Writer and a Disciple of Sri Aurobindo |
| Nationality | Indian  |
| Subjects | English |
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Dr. Mangesh V. Nadkarni (1933-2007) was born in Kodibag and raised in Bankikkodla , a little village in coastal Uttar Kannada, which is the most picturesque part of the west coast where the Sahyadri Mountains hug the Arabian Sea. Literature, folk art, spiritual lore, music and sports kept him enthralled during his school days.
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[edit] Academic life
Mangesh completed high school from Anandashram High School, Bankikodla in the year 1948-49. His teachers in Anandashram High School, Bankikodla gave impetus to his imagination and taught him to perceive the sheer excitement of ideas, leading him to the path of his inner quest. Subbanna Ekkundi and Gourish Kaikini were among his finest teachers there. Dr. Nadkarni had a brilliant academic career and completed his Postgraduation in English Literature from Rajaram College, Kolhapur, and began his teaching career in Rajkot. Later, he moved to Anand where he was Professor of English in Nalini Arts College. During his college career, he was a student of Professor V.K. Gokak, an outstanding man of letters, and a great teacher of literature who influenced Dr. Nadkarni towards Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy. Mangesh did his Ph.D in Phonetics from UCLA California, USA, and was Professor of Linguistics at the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad. He later taught at the National University of Singapore (1985-93).During the course of his professorship, he guided a number of Ph.D. candidates and published his research in theoretical and applied Linguistics in national and international journals.
Sundar Nadkarni was Mangesh's younger brother. Their mother was Indira Kaushik from Karwar. Mangesh was married to Meera Mallapur from Mumbai. Arvind S. Nadkarni was Mangesh's older cousin brother from Bankikodla.
[edit] As a Disciple of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother
Dr.Nadkarni's interest in Sri Aurobindo and his writings was awakened when as a young man he came across the following utterance of Sri Aurobindo in a journal, "Heaven we have possessed, but not the earth; but the fullness of the Yoga is to make, in the formula of the veda, 'Heaven and Earth equal and one'"
The influence of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy on him was gradual and he found it intellectually most liberating and satisfying. He was a Yogi on the path of continuous progress, and a renowned exponent of the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. He lectured extensively in India and abroad on Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy and vision. Dr. Nadkarni was a master of the English language and spoke brilliantly on ‘Savitri’, a 24,000-verse epic poem by Sri Aurobindo. The poem recounts the saga of human victory over ignorance and the conquest of death. Reading ‘Savitri’ is itself considered a practice of integral yoga and a potent vehicle of aspiration. Dr. Nadkarni inculcated ‘Savitri’ as a mantra in his life.
He will be remembered for his vast knowledge, eloquence, sense of humor, melodious voice, smiling face and a magnetic, lovable personality. He was the personification of Sweetness and Light and carried an aura of Ananda with him. The soul incubates in the body as the bird in the egg; cracking the shell, the bird waddles away. Lament for the shell or rejoice for the baby bird?
[edit] His work - a few of them are listed
1. The kingdom of subtle matter, The glory and the fall of life.
2. The Traveler of the worlds: Approaching the second book of Savitri.
3. A Brief Introduction to Savitri - a monograph.
4. Problems of Human Unity in Sri Aurobindo's Light - a monograph.
5. Hindu-Muslim Unity in Sri Aurobindo's Light - a monograph.
6. A set of sixteen audio-cassettes containing talks given by him on Savitri at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram have been published.
7. India's Spiritual Destiny - Its Inevitability and Potentiality
[edit] Notes
[edit] Tributes to Dr. Mangesh V Nadkarni
Prof Nadkarni, we do hear you — by Amartya Kumar Dutta [1]
A tribute by Ranjan Naik who hails from the same village wherefrom Nadkarni came [2]
