Rabindranath Tagore is known for his contribution in the field of art, poetry and music. He is also considered to be one of the leading philosophers of religion of the twentieth century India. Radhakrishnan's reputation as one of the most influential philosophers of India of the twentieth century will not soon be forgotten. His contribution to the Philosophy of Religion has also been acknowledged by many scholars: Indian and Western. The present work is an attempt at a comparative study of the religious philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore and S. Radhakrish-nan. This task involves not only an exposition of their philosophical positions but also an examination of their views on religion which follow from their metaphysics. Although Rabindranath Tagore is not a metaphysician nor a philosopher, yet his metaphysical ideas have found expressions in his writings, speeches and poetry. It is true that he had no academic training in philosophy and so he has not given a systematic exposition of his philosophical views. His philosophical ideas have to be extracted from his writings, discus-sions and poetry, both in English and Bengali languages. But the case is different in the case of Radhakrishnan. Radhakrishnan is a thinker and he has expounded his philosophical ideas logically and critically in his works. A philosophy of Religion usually deals with the divine-human relationship. Although there is a considerable disagreement among philosophers as to the scope of their investigation in this area. The religious significance of Radhakrishnan's philosophy and of Tagore's works has been a matter of considerable interest to philosophers and scholars of religion. Radhakrishnan, himself has written about the philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore is an enlightened thinker. He does not hold that philosophers have noth-ing to do with religion and theology. He is very much aware of the scientific developments which have been influencing the modern mind. Radhakrishnan is not only aware of the new trends in philosophers and scientists about religion, but he also discusses their views and points out the error of such a thinking. Rabindranath Tagore is a visionary. He feels the touch of the Infinite in every aspect of the Nature. This touch of the Infinite is very inspiring to the poet. He is full of joy. His feeling finds expres-sion in his works which are replete with such ideas. His approach to religion is the approach of a mystic. He longs for uniting with the Infinite. He gives us a religion of man. Man for him is aspiring for union with the Infinite. But the religion of man is not only a one way traffic. The Infinite also, in turn, is aspiring to express itself in and through the finite. His religion, therefore, is characterised by a freshness of outlook. Radhakrishnan's approach to religion, on the other hand, is an approach of a seasoned philosopher. He ex-amines the nature of man and attempt's to understand the purpose of the universe. The reality behind man and the universe is the spirit. Reality is spiritual. His philosophy of religion is spiritualistic. Man's religion must seek an unity with the worl-purpose. For him religion is not concerned with individual redemption but with universal redemption. He is perhaps one of the first few thinkers who have conceived religion in such a way. His ideal is universal brotherhood through a fello/ship of faith. The spiritual awakening is the need of the time. These special features of their religious philosophy make imperative for a scholar to enter into a comparative study of their religious views. Another reason which attracts a scholar for under-taking such an endeavour is that both Rabindranath Tagore and Radhakrishnan take mysticism to be essence of religion. But mys-ticism has been interpreted by the two thinkers in different ways. For Tagore, the divine-human relationship is mystical because it is incomprehensible. For Radhakrishnan, mystical experience is a total reaction of the whole man to the whole reality. It involves the whole of the subject and it is not incomprehensible experience.
Rabindranath Tagore is known for his contribution in the field of art, poetry and music. He is also considered one of the leading philosophers of religion of the twentieth century in India. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is one of the most influential philosophers of India in the twentieth century. His contribution to the philosophy of religion is widely known. The present work deals with the contemporary study of the religious philosophy of the above two great thinkers Rabindranath Tagore and Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. This book is divided into seven chapters. Their writings and speeches have been included as far as possible. It has been concluded with the comparison of their religious philosophy. This book may prove to be of immense value to the student of Philosophy.
Dr. (Mrs.) Jaya Mukherjee is M Philosophy and did her Ph.D in the fi of contemporary Indian Philosophy fro Patna University. She has contributed research articles to various journals of religious studies. At present she is Reader and Head of the department of Philosophy in J.D. Women's College, Patna, a constituent unit of Magadh University.
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