A. K. Mozumdar
Encyclopedia
Akhoy Kumar Mozumdar (1864–1-March 9, 1953) was an Indian-born lecturer and writer of the New Thought Movement during the first half of 20th-century United States. He had enjoyed a large following of students and regular readers of his books and pamphlets until he was denaturalized
in a decision on American immigration law which reached the United States Supreme Court in 1924.
that he was in fact Caucasian and thereby met the requirements of naturalization
law then restricting citizenship to "free white persons".
Ten years later, however, as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind
, stipulating that no person of East Indian origin could become a naturalized United States citizen, Mozumdar's citizenship was revoked. A decision on his appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the revocation. He apparently remained, however, in the United States until his death in San Diego in 1953, as he was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California
.
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
in a decision on American immigration law which reached the United States Supreme Court in 1924.
Teachings
- "If man thinks and acts, is not the thinker and actor God? If God is all life, then all lives are God. The creative power is the very nature of the being of the Creator; hence the creative power is God. Life is the Creator, and will never be reduced to the level of its own creation. The creature will forever be ensouled with the creative activity, and move and act according to the inner impulse of the Creator. By thinking with the mind of the one life, you become conscious of being the thinker. At the back of your every action you should find yourself. You are spirit and therefore spiritual. The permanent substance is underneath all forms. The forms are made of the everlasting substance. This knowledge sets a man free."
Critique of Mozumdar's writings
- "While Mozumdar's teaching is popular ... it shows us what happens when a thinker immersed in Hindu lore completely accepts a world-affirming position. What happens is an identification of the HinduHinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
conception of a divine universal Self with the HebrewJudaismJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
conception of a divine creative power. To Mozumdar the ultimate God is not uncreative bliss, as in the view of SankaraAdi ShankaraAdi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
, but creative power, as in the Hebrew tradition. Yet this creative Power, he declares, is the same as the universal Self. Here the universal Self, we should note, is not a finite Ideal, as in Greek philosophyGreek philosophyAncient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BCE and continued through the Hellenistic period, at which point Ancient Greece was incorporated in the Roman Empire...
, but the infinite Substance of the world."
U.S. immigration law
In 1913 Mozumdar became the first Indian-born person to earn U.S. citizenship, having convinced the Spokane district judgeUnited States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
that he was in fact Caucasian and thereby met the requirements of naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
law then restricting citizenship to "free white persons".
Ten years later, however, as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind
United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind
United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court decided that Bhagat Singh Thind, who was a Punjabi Sikh, settled in Oregon, could not be a naturalized citizen of the United States, because he was not a "white person" in the sense intended in...
, stipulating that no person of East Indian origin could become a naturalized United States citizen, Mozumdar's citizenship was revoked. A decision on his appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the revocation. He apparently remained, however, in the United States until his death in San Diego in 1953, as he was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
.
Major works
- The Triumphant Spirit
- The Conquering Man (also translated into Swedish by Eric O.G. Olson, Den segrande människan)
- The Mystery of the Kingdom
- The Commanding Life
- Christ on the Road of Today
- Key to the New Messianic World Message
- Christ Speaketh
- Today and Tomorrow
- Open Door to Heaven
- The Life and the Way