Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar was born in West Bengal in 1921 and studied at the University of Calcutta. He completed basic science studied but was forced to leave college to support his family after his father died, and worked as an accountant for the Indian railways system until the mid-1950s. But his chief interest was in spirituality, and he taught yoga and tantric meditation to interested colleagues. As word of his teachings spread, he founded Ānanda Mārga — the Path of Bliss — in 1955 to teach these practices.
Ānanda Mārga was presented a practical means for personal and spiritual development in a modern world. Sarkar disdained religious dogma, superstition, ritual, and artificial class divisions, teaching that spiritual growth is a universal birthright that all should be able to access. Sarkar taught that the entire universe exists within the cosmic mind, which itself is an expression of consciousness. He described the cosmological flow as being from limitless consciousness to limited consciousness and back to limitless consciousness, attained by meditation.
Ānanda Mārga opened local centers throughout India and ultimately around the world. Sarkar wrote a series of books about his philosophy, and also created a socio-economic theory that he called “Progressive Utilization Theory” or PROUT. In 1961, he published Ānanda Sūtram, a work in Sanskrit that encapsulated Ānanda Mārga practices into the “16 Points,” which include yoga practices, a vegetarian diet, and fasting. Ānanda Mārga meditation consists of a basic set of six lesson followed by higher levels for advanced practitioners.
Ānanda Mārga’s Education Relief and Welfare Section, founded in 1963, built schools and hospitals in West Bengal, leading to confrontations with that state’s powerful Communist Party, which attacked its headquarters in 1967. The next year, Sarkar founded the PROUTist Bloc of India to promote his economic agenda through the political system. The bloc’s criticism of government corruption made it a target of the government of Indira Gandhi, which leveled charges of terrorism against the group.
Sarkar was arrested on murder charges, later proven false, in 1971, which created a pretext for India to ban Ānanda Mārga. Sarkar was poisoned in prison in 1973 but survived and launched a fast to draw attention to his situation and to demand an investigation. After five years and four months of fasting, he was acquitted and released in 1978.
Also in 1978, Ānanda Mārga came under suspicion when a hotel in Sydney, Australia, was bombed during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Two members of the group were investigated but charges were later dropped, and there is no evidence that Ānanda Mārga has used violence to achieve its aims. In fact, Ānanda Mārga itself suffered an act of violence in 1982 when 16 of its monks and one nun were killed in a public attack. No arrests were ever made.
After his release from prison, Sarkar re-emerged as the public face of Ānanda Mārga. He went on two world tours but was denied entry to the United States due to the allegations in India, even though he had been acquitted.
In 1986, he introduced the “microvita” theory, which posits that subatomic entities called microvita organize energy to create forms, structures, and processes in the universe. Sarkar said that microvita are responsible for the creation of life and are the driving force of evolution, forging vibrational bridges between the physical and non-physical realms. He died in October 1990.
Key Sources:
Anandamurti, S. S. (1988). Ananda Marga ideology and way of life in a nutshell. Ānanda Mārga Pracāraka Saṁgha.
Dharmavedananda, D. (1999). Travels with the Mystic Master: True Tales of a Tantra-yogi.
India Today (1977, October 30). Anand Marga: Tantric terrorists.
Lewis, J. R. (2011). Violence and new religious movements. Oxford University Press.
Low, M. G. (2011). The Orange robe: My Eighteen Years as a Yogic Nun.
Nandita & Devadatta (1971). Path of bliss: Ananda Marga yoga. Ananda Marga Publishers.
Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religious Movements 