Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (21 May 1921 – 21 October 1990), also known by his spiritual name Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti (Ánanda Múrti="Bliss Embodiment"), and known as Bábá ("Father") to his disciples, was a spiritual guru, philosopher, social reformer, linguist, author and composer of 5,018 songs mostly in the Bengali language. He founded Ananda Marga (the Path of Bliss) in 1955 as a spiritual and social organisation that continues to offer instruction in meditation and yoga. and runs numerous social service and disaster relief projects throughout the world. Sarkar developed his system of spiritual practice as a synthesis of Vedic and Tantric philosophies. He denounced religious dogmas, casteism, materialism and capitalism, considering all of these as impediments to social harmony, progress and spiritual growth. He described the universe as a manifestation of consciousness coming under the bondage of its own nature, resulting in creation. His spiritual and social philosophies embraced diversity as the law of nature; a result of Singular Consciousness expressing itself in numerous forms. Sarkar advocated for the welfare of humans and the planet through his socio-economic philosophy of Prout, which is rooted in the idea of Neohumanism, a worldview based on inter-connectedness of all beings. Biography Sarkar was born during the full moon of the Indian month of Vaeshakh (Buddha Purnima), on 21 May 1921 (at 6:07 in the morning) to Lakshmi Narayan Sarkar, a homoeopathic doctor. His family hailed from Bamunpara (Brahmanpara), Burdwan District in West Bengal. In 1939 Sarkar left Jamalpur for Kolkata to attend Vidyasagar College of the University of Calcutta. Sarkar had to quit his studies to support his family after the death of his father, and from 1944 until the early 1950s, Sarkar worked as an accountant at the Indian railways headquarters in Jamalpur, Bihar. He taught the techniques of Yoga and Tantra meditation to a select number of his colleagues and gradually more people were drawn to the spiritual practices he taught. In 1955, Sarkar founded Ananda Marga (the Path of Bliss), a socio-spiritual movement with a two-part mission that Sarkar stated as "self-realization and service to all" with a spiritual practice that synthesized Vedic and Tantric philosophies. Sarkar's ideas are collected in the series of books called "Subháśita Samgraha", which form part of the philosophical scriptures of Ananda Marga ideology. During the latter part of his life his main residence was in Lake Gardens in Kolkata, West Bengal. He also spent much