imported>Marcocapelle at 04:46, 29 July 2021

2021-07-29T04:46:21Z

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Iqbal Kishen Taimni
| image = I. K. Taimni.png
| caption =
| birth_date = 1898
| birth_place = [[Lucknow]], Uttar Pradesh, British India
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1978|6|7|1898}}
| death_place = Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, [[India]]
| alma_mater = [[London University]]
| citizenship = [[Republic of India|Indian]]
| nationality = Indian
| thesis_year = 1928
| workplaces = [[Allahabad University]], [[Council of Scientific and Industrial Research|CSIR]]
| field = [[Inorganic chemistry|Chemistry]], [[Indian philosophy|philosophy]]
}}
'''I. K. Taimni''' (Iqbal Kishen Taimni, 1898–1978) was a professor of [[chemistry]] at the [[Allahabad University]] in India, and an influential scholar in the fields of [[Yoga]] and [[Indian philosophy]]. He was a leader of the [[Theosophical Society]]. Taimni authored a number of books on Eastern Philosophy, including a modern interpretation of [[Patanjali]]'s Yoga Sutras.{{sfn|Grinshpon|2002|p=18}}{{sfn|Goodrick-Clarke|2008|p=239}}

==Early life==

Taimni was born in 1898 in Kashmiri Mohalla, [[Lucknow]], Uttar Pradesh. His parents Prem Kishen Taimni and Biraj (née Gurtu) later shifted to Hardoi and then on to [[Allahabad]] where Prem Kishen Taimni got employment as Secretary Municipal Corporation, Allahabad. When Taimni was 11 years old he lost his mother to [[tuberculosis]]. His father never married again. The children, Iqbal Kishen and his sister Chandra (2 years younger than him), were brought up by their grandmother Bishen (née Ugra). Taimni had a distinguished academic career throughout, and was First class First student and a Gold Medalist.

Taimni married Kunwar (née Nagu) in Indore in 1922. She held a B.A. degree (earned in Benares), which was unusual for women of that time. He was selected for the Central Excise service but he declined the offer as he preferred teaching as a career and joined [[Allahabad University]] as a lecturer. Meanwhile, Kunwar Taimni enrolled for M. A. classes in history at the same university. She went to the UK in 1926 on being offered a scholarship to do a Montessori teacher training course. Taimni accompanied her and got enrolled for a PhD in London University. They returned in 1928 after Mrs. Taimni completed her Montessori Diploma course and Taimni completed his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry.

==Later career==

On returning to India, Taimni resumed teaching at Allahabad University while his wife joined Krishna Ashram, Allahabad as a principal. It was a [[Montessori education|Montessori school]] for children sponsored by the [[Theosophical Society]]. Taimni retired in 1960 and thereafter worked for two years with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Post retirement he took to writing commentaries on [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophy]] and Hindu religious texts, for which he engaged a teacher to learn [[Sanskrit]].{{refn|group=note|In 1919 at Allahabad, Taimni became a member of the [[Theosophical Society Adyar]].{{sfn|Register}}}} All his books are published by the Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Chennai. Taimni also contributed occasionally to domestic and foreign journals on related matters, for example, [[meditation]]. He was awarded the Subba Row Gold Medal in 1975 for his contribution to the Theosophical literature.{{sfn|Ramanujachary|1993|p=55}} According to [[WorldCat]], he has published 62 works, not counting articles.{{refn|group=note|"Works: 62 works in 236 publications in 8 languages and 2,197 library holdings."{{sfn|WorldCat Identities}}}}

Mr. and Mrs. Taimni were both vegetarians, and were lifelong members of the [[Theosophical Society Adyar|Theosophical Society]], Adyar, Chennai. Mr. Taimni served for a number of years as Director of the School of the Wisdom at the International Headquarters of the Society.

Taimni's ''Man, God and the Universe'' was a work on occult and [[philosophical cosmology]]. His book, ''The Science of Yoga'' received a mixed review from
[[Karel Werner]] who commented that Taimni's interpretations of the [[Yoga Sutras of Patanjali]] were based on his own kind of "personal syncretic philosophy" with elements from [[Samkhya]], Theosophy and [[Vedanta]].<ref name="Werner 1971">{{cite journal|author=Werner, Karel|year=1971|title=Reviewed Work: The Science of Yoga by I. K. Taimni|journal=[[Philosophy East and West]]|volume=21|issue=1|pages=96-97}}</ref> Werner concluded that although it is not a scholarly work it "is free from the usual deficiencies and incompetence of most of the popular literature propagating Yoga and can well be recommended to students as a valuable introductory reading on the subject."<ref name="Werner 1971"/>

== Taimni's works ==

;The books
*''Gayatri''
*''Glimpses into the Psychology of Yoga''
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=ht5WAAAAMAAJ ''Man, God and the Universe'']
*[https://archive.org/details/ScienceAndOccultismI.K.Taimni ''Science and Occultism'']
*[https://www.yogastudies.org/wp-content/uploads/Science_of_Yoga-Taimni.pdf ''The Science of Yoga: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'']
*[https://theosophy.world/sites/default/files/ebooks/the_secret_of_self_realization.pdf ''The Secret of Self-Realization'']
*[https://theosophy.world/sites/default/files/ebooks/Singapore/Self%20Culture%20in%20the%20light%20of%20Occultism_IKT.pdf ''Self Culture In The Light Of Occultism'']
*''Self Realization Through Love''
*''Ultimate Reality & Realization''

;The articles
*[http://www.theosophical.org/files/resources/articles/InterestingAspectsMeditation.pdf "Some Interesting Aspects of Meditation"]
*[http://www.theosophical.org/files/resources/articles/SpiritualLifeandPerception.pdf "Spiritual Life and Perception"]

== See also ==
* [[Hinduism and Theosophy]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|20em}}

=== Sources ===

* {{cite web |url=http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50013341/ |title=Taimni, I. K. (Iqbal Kishen) 1898–1978 |website=WorldCat Identities |publisher=[[OCLC]] [[WorldCat]]|access-date=18 December 2018 |ref={{SfnRef|WorldCat Identities}}}}
* {{cite web |url=https://tsmembers.org/ts-general-register-1875-1942/book-6-10/book-7/book-7-b-1919-1920/ |title=Theosophical Society General Membership Register, 1875–1942 |website= tsmembers.org |access-date=18 December 2018 |ref={{SfnRef|Register}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Goodrick-Clarke |first=N. |title=The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2008 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=IPwoK5XYXrAC |isbn=9780199717569 |author-link=Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke |access-date =18 December 2018}}
* {{cite book |last=Grinshpon |first=Y. |title=Silence Unheard: Deathly Otherness in Patanjala-Yoga |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XgXSvRLTq8C |publisher= SUNY Press |date=2002 |isbn=9780791451014 |series= SUNY series in Hindu Studies |access-date =18 December 2018}}
* {{cite book |last=Ramanujachary |first=N. C. |title=A Lonely Disciple |date=1993 |url= http://www.worldcat.org/title/lonely-disciple-monograph-on-t-subba-row-1856-90/oclc/30518824 |publisher=Theosophical Pub. House |location=Adyar |access-date =18 December 2018}}

==External links==
* [http://www.austheos.org.au/cgi-bin/ui-csvsearch.pl?search=Taimni List of the journal publications by/about Taimni]

{{authority control}}
{{Theosophy series}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taimni, I. K.}}

[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian chemists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian philosophers]]
[[Category:Indian occultists]]
[[Category:Indian Theosophists]]
[[Category:Indian yoga teachers]]
[[Category:Philosophical cosmologists]]
[[Category:Scientists from Lucknow]]
[[Category:University of Allahabad alumni]]

I. K. Taimni - Revision history

imported>Marcocapelle at 04:46, 29 July 2021