Raghavan N. Iyer
Madras, 10 March 1930 – Santa Barbara, 20 June 1995
Rhodes Scholar and President of the Oxford Union, Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and for fourteen years Editor-in-Chief of the journal HERMES. The Theosophy Trust holds the complete HERMES articles, their audio recordings, his recorded talks and his published works. This page gathers them in one place.
His work on this site
The complete run of his lead articles from HERMES (1975–1989), the journal he edited for the United Lodge of Theosophists, Santa Barbara. Listed by year and by title.
Read the articles →Every HERMES essay as an audio recording, matched one-to-one with the written text, for reading and listening together.
Listen →Video and audio of his lectures with transcripts, from Santa Barbara and the Institute of World Culture, together with lecture transcripts in the Free PDFs library.
Watch and read →The account of his life approved by Sri Iyer himself shortly before his death in 1995, lightly edited by a life-long student.
Read the biography →Education, academic appointments, fellowships, memberships and honours, from Elphinstone College and Magdalen College, Oxford, to UCSB.
See the CV →Books, edited volumes, monographs, pamphlets and journal contributions, 1948–2020, from Oxford University Press to Concord Grove Press and Theosophy Trust Books.
Full list →About Raghavan Iyer
Raghavan Narasimhan Iyer was born in Madras on 10 March 1930. He took first-class honours in Economics at the University of Bombay, became at eighteen the youngest lecturer in the university, and in 1950 went to Magdalen College, Oxford, as that year's sole Rhodes Scholar for India. At Oxford he took a First in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, a doctorate in moral and political philosophy, and the presidency of the Oxford Union.
After a period in India as Director of the Indian Institute of World Culture, Associate Editor of The Aryan Path and Chief Research Officer to the head of the Planning Commission, he returned to Oxford in 1956 and taught moral and political philosophy there for eight years as Fellow and Lecturer in Politics at St Antony's College, with visiting professorships at Oslo, Ghana and Chicago. In 1965 he settled in Santa Barbara as Professor of Political Science at the University of California, where he taught until his retirement in 1986. He was a member of the Club of Rome from 1971 to 1982.
His theosophical work, begun in India at the age of ten, found its fullest expression in Santa Barbara. Through the United Lodge of Theosophists there he was Editor-in-Chief of HERMES from 1975 to 1989 and the author of its lead articles, and from 1976 to 1986 he was Founder-President of the Institute of World Culture. His books include Parapolitics: Toward the City of Man, The Moral and Political Thought of Mahatma Gandhi, The Society of the Future and The Jewel in the Lotus; the HERMES articles were collected in the three volumes of The Gupta Vidya. He died in Santa Barbara on 20 June 1995.
Most-read HERMES articles
Life at a glance
- 1930 Born in Madras, India.
- 1948 Youngest lecturer in the University of Bombay, at Elphinstone College.
- 1950 Rhodes Scholar for India, Magdalen College, Oxford; later President of the Oxford Union.
- 1956–1964 Teaches moral and political philosophy at Oxford; Fellow of St Antony's College.
- 1965 Professor of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara.
- 1975–1989 Editor-in-Chief of HERMES.
- 1976–1986 Founder-President, Institute of World Culture, Santa Barbara.
- 1986 Retires from UCSB as professor emeritus.
- 1995 Dies in Santa Barbara, 20 June.
Principal books
- The Glass Curtain Between Asia and Europe (editor), Oxford University Press, 1965
- The Moral and Political Thought of Mahatma Gandhi, Oxford University Press, 1973; Concord Grove Press, 1983
- Parapolitics: Toward the City of Man, Oxford University Press, 1977; Concord Grove Press, 1983
- The Society of the Future, Concord Grove Press, 1977
- Novus Ordo Seclorum: America and the Global Community, Concord Grove Press, 1983
- The Jewel in the Lotus (editor), Concord Grove Press, 1983
- The Bhagavad Gita with the Uttara Gita, Concord Grove Press, 1985; The Dhammapada with the Udanavarga, 1986
- The Moral and Political Writings of Mahatma Gandhi (editor), three volumes, Clarendon Press, 1985–1987
- The Gupta Vidya, three volumes, Theosophy Trust Books, 2020
Complete list of publications → · Read his books online →
Elsewhere
Wikipedia: Raghavan N. Iyer · Institute of World Culture · Theosophy Forward: a tribute