Maurice Frydman (''Maurycy Frydman'' or ''Maurycy Frydman-Mor'' in Polish), aka ''Swami Bharatananda'' (20 October 1901 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

– 9 March 1976 in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

, India), was an engineer and humanitarian who spent the later part of his life in India. He lived at the ashram of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

and took an active part in India's fight for independence—notably in helping to draft a new constitution for the State of Aundh that became the Aundh Experiment. He was a

Polish Jew The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

who subsequently converted to

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

Biography

Frydman came to India in the late 1930s as a

Jewish refugee This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews. Timeline The following is a list of Jewish expulsions and events that prompted significant streams of Jewish refugees. Assyrian captivity ...

from

. A successful capitalist, he was managing director of the

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

State Government Electrical Factory in

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

. Eventually he was won over by Hindu philosophy and became a

sannyasi ''Sannyasa'' (Sanskrit: संन्यास; IAST: ), sometimes spelled Sanyasa (सन्न्यास) or Sanyasi (for the person), is life of renunciation and the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as '' A ...

. Frydman was instrumental, along with Gandhi and

Bhawanrao Shriniwasrao Pant Pratinidhi Bhawanrao Shriniwasrao Pant Pratinidhi C.B.E (October 24, 1868 – April 13, 1951), popularly known as Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi or Bhawanrao Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi, was the ruler of the princely state of Aundh of British Raj during the reig ...

, the Raja of Aundh, in helping to draft the November Declaration, which handed over rule of the state of Aundh from the Raja to the residents in 1938-9. He became acquainted with one of the sons of the Raja of Aundh, and was well regarded by the Raja himself. According to the Raja's son,

Apa Pant Appasaheb Pant (1912-1992), also known as Apa Pant, Appa Pant, Appa Sahib Pant, Appsaheb Balasaheb Pant, Parashuram-rao Pant (Parashuram being his first name), was an Indian diplomat, Prince of Aundh, Gandhian, writer and freedom fighter. A phil ...

, "Frydman had great influence with my father, and on his seventy-fifth birthday he said, 'Raja Saheb, why don't you go and make a declaration to Mahatma Gandhi that you are giving all power to the people because it will help in the freedom struggle.'" As a sympathiser with the Indian independence movement, the Raja accepted this idea. Frydman wrote a draft declaration, and the Raja and his son, Apa Pant, travelled to see Gandhi in Wardha, where the Mahatma drew up a new constitution for the state. The constitution, which gave full responsible government to the people of Aundh, was adopted on 21 January 1939. This "Aundh Experiment" was a rare event in pre-independence India, where the rulers of princely states were generally reluctant to give up their power. After some initial hesitation among the populace of the state it proved to be very successful, lasting until the merger of the princely states into India in 1948. It was during this process of giving self governance to the citizens of Aundh, that a question came up about the prisoners. Frydman then took on the responsibility of taking care of the prisoners in an

open prison An open prison (open jail) is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells. Prisoners may be permitted to take up employment w ...

. Later this attracted the attention of the burgeoning film industry in Bombay, known these days as Bollywood. A film "

Do Aankhen Barah Haath ''Do Aankhen Barah Haath'' () is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by V. Shantaram, who also starred. It is considered to be one of the classics of Hindi cinema and is based on humanistic psychology. It won a Silver Bear at the ...

" was made, based on this episode. As was typical of Frydman, when it came time for his credits, he absolutely refused to take credit (the maker,

V. Shantaram Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre (18 November 1901 – 30 October 1990), referred to as V. Shantaram or Shantaram Bapu, was an Indian filmmaker, film producer, and actor known for his work in Hindi and Marathi films. He is most known for films such ...

, wanted to give him credit as the technical consultant, during the end credits). While in India, Frydman became a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and lived in his ashram, where he made the

spinning wheel A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibres. It was fundamental to the cotton textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution. It laid the foundations for later machinery such as the spinning jenny and spinning f ...

that Gandhi himself used. Frydman used his engineering skill to create several new types of spinning wheels for Gandhi, which piqued his interest in finding the most efficient and economical spinning wheel for India. He was close to

Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

, and was associated with Sri Ramana Maharshi and Jiddu Krishnamurti. A longtime friend to

Advaita ''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' (l ...

guru

Nisargadatta Maharaj Nisargadatta Maharaj (born Maruti Shivrampant Kambli; 17 April 1897 – 8 September 1981) was an Indian guru of nondualism, belonging to the Inchagiri Sampradaya, a lineage of teachers from the Navnath Sampradaya and Lingayat Shaivism. ...

, who considered him a

Jnani Jnana yoga (), also known as the jnana ''marga'' (), is one of the three classical paths ('' margas'') for moksha (liberation) in Hinduism, which emphasizes the "path of knowledge", also known as the "path of self-realization". The other two ...

, Maurice Frydman died in 1977 in India, with Sri Nisargadatta by his bedside.Sri Nisargadatta Biography
/ref> Frydman edited and translated Nisargadatta Maharaj's tape-recorded conversations into the English-language book ''

I Am That ''I Am That'' is a compilation of talks on Shiva Advaita ( Nondualism) philosophy by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, a Hindu spiritual teacher who lived in Mumbai. The English translation of the book from the original Marathi recordings was done by Maur ...

'', published in 1973. ''I Am That'' includes an appendix written by Frydman titled ' Nisarga Yoga' which briefly describes this form of

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consci ...

. Frydman helped Wanda Dynowska, a Polish theosophist who came to India in the 1930s, to establish a Polish-Indian Library (Biblioteka Polsko-Indyjska). The library holds a collection of books aimed "to show India to Poland and Poland to India", containing translations from Indian languages to Polish and from Polish to English. During the 2nd World War he helped with the transfer of Polish orphans from Siberia, displaced there by the Soviets after their annexation of Eastern Poland to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

in 1939-1941. They were moved from Siberia via Iran (with the Polish army of Gen.

Władysław Anders ) , birth_name = Władysław Albert Anders , birth_date = , birth_place = Krośniewice-Błonie, Warsaw Governorate, Congress Poland, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = London, England, United Kingdom , serviceyear ...

) mainly to India, Kenya and New Zealand. After 1959 he helped Wanda Dynowska with

Tibetan refugees in India Since its independence in 1947, India has accepted various groups of refugees from neighbouring countries, including partition refugees from former British Indian territories that now constitute Pakistan and Bangladesh, Tibetan refugees that ...

References

Bibliography

*Allen, Charles;

Dwivedi, Sharada Sharada Dwivedi (शारदा द्विवेदी),( 1942 – 6 February 2012) was an Indian author, historian and researcher. She wrote several books on the history and culture of both India and Mumbai (formerly Bombay). She was on the p ...

. ''Lives of the Indian Princes''. London: Century Publishing (1984). . *Alter, Joseph S. ''Gandhi's Body''. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. . *Ballhatchet, Kenneth, and David D. Taylor. ''Changing South Asia''. Published for the Centre of South Asian Studies in the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, by Asian Research Service, 1984. *Frydman, Maurice. ''Gandhiji, His Life and Work''. Bombay: Karnatak Publishing House, 1944. *Frydman, Maurice. ''I Am That, Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj''. Chetana Publishing, Bombay, 1973. . *Frydman, Maurice. ''The World Federation and the Indian National Congress''. Aundh Publishing Trust, 1944. *Gandhi, Mahatma. ''The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi'' "A Discussion with Maurice Frydman", p. 32

*Pant, Apa. ''An Unusual Raja: Mahatma Gandhi and the Aundh Experiment''. Sangam Books, 1989. . *Rothermund, Indira. ''The Aundh Experiment: A Gandhian Grass-roots Democracy''. Somaiya, 1983. .

External links

David Godman, ''remembering Sri nisargadatta Maharaj pt.1''

InnerDirections, ''Biography of Maurice Frydman''

Namrupa Issue 10 Volume 05, November 2009, ''Maurice Frydman''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frydman, Maurice Indian independence activists 1901 births 1976 deaths 20th-century Polish Jews Converts to Hinduism from Judaism Polish Hindus Advaitin philosophers Mystics Polish emigrants to India

Biography

See also

References

Bibliography

External links