The Mighty Reformer of Modern Day India and Warrior of Truth

One cannot think of a liberated India, or revival of the Vedas, without mentioning the name of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati (1824-1883). This year, 12thFebruary 2019 marks the 195thbirth anniversary of this great soul, who was born in Tankara, in the state of Gujarat, India. His story is one which strikes great pride and honour in the hearts of all those whose lives have been liberated by his struggle and legacy.

He was formally known as Moolshankar in his earlier years. His affluent and influential Brahmin family was an ardent follower of Lord Shiva. The family being deeply religious, Moolshankar was taught religious rituals, piety and purity, importance of fasting from a very early age. He would observe these rituals with much honesty. The event that changed the course of Moolshankar’s life and inevitably set him on his journey to truth was on the occasion of Shivaratri. Moolshankar would sit awake the whole night in obedience to Lord Shiva. 

During the course of the night, he saw a mouse eating the offerings to the God and running over the Shivalingum. After seeing this, he questioned himself as to how God could not defend himself against a little mouse when He is said to be the saviour of the massive world, and he subsequently ran out of the temple. His disillusionment deepened after the death of his sister and uncle when he was 14-year-old and he began asking questions about life, death and the afterlife to his parents, to which they had no answers. Moolshankar then ran away from home in search of the truth. He renunciated from worldly life and took Sannyasa (becoming Swami Dayanand Saraswati) during his search after living and meeting with many sages, not being able to quench his thirst for truth. After a lengthy quest, Swamiji arrived in Mathura where he met Swami Virjananda. He became his disciple and Swami Virjananda directed him to learn directly from the Vedas. He found all his questions regarding life, death and afterlife answered during his study. Swami Virjananda entrusted Swamiji with the task of spreading Vedic knowledge throughout society and enlightening all along his path with the wisdom and truth of the Vedas.

Dayanand’s mission was to ask humankind for universal brotherhood through nobility (righteous, virtuous and honourable) as stated in the Vedas. He believed that Hinduism had been corrupted by divergence from the founding principles of the Vedas and that Hindus had been misled by the priesthood for the priests’ self-aggrandizement.

His next step was to reform Hinduism with a new dedication to God. He travelled the country challenging religious scholars and priests to discussions, winning repeatedly through the strength of his arguments and knowledge of Sanskrit and Vedas. Hindu priests discouraged the people from reading Vedic scriptures. At a time when Hinduism was divided between the various schools of philosophy and theology, Swami Dayanand went straight back to the Vedas and declared them the most authoritative repository of knowledge and truth spoken in the “Words of God”, and that to read them was the birth right of every human being. In order to re-energize Vedic knowledge and reawaken our awareness of the four Vedas – Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda, as well as to fight against social and religious injustices, Swamiji founded the Arya Samaj in Bombay in 1875 and made the clarion call, “Back to the Vedas!”“Krinvanto Vishvam Aryam”was the motto of the Samaj, which means,“Make the whole world noble”. Swamiji also created ten principles of universalism which form the bedrock of the Arya Samaj; By exhorting the nation to reject such superstitious notions, his aim was to educate the nation to return to the teachings of the Vedas, and to follow the Vedic way of life. Through the Arya Samaj, he advocated the equal rights and respects to women and advocated for the education of all children, regardless of gender or caste. By going back to the Vedas, he felt that Hindus would be able to improve the depressive religious, social, political, and economic conditions prevailing in the country in his times, as well as the world at large. He preached ‘Universalism’, and not any specific caste.

“I accept as Dharma whatever is in full conformity with impartial justice, truthfulness and the like; that which is not opposed to the teachings of God as embodied in the Vedas. Whatever is not free from partiality and is unjust, partaking of untruth and the like, and opposed to the teachings of God as embodied in the Vedas – that I hold as adharma.” “He, who after careful thinking, is ever ready to accept truth and reject falsehood; who counts the happiness of others as he does that of his own self, him I call just.”– Swami Dayanand Saraswati

Swami Dayanand wrote and published a number of religious books, primary among them being his magnum opus – Satyartha Prakash (The Light of Truth), Rig-Vedaadi, Bhasya-Bhoomika, and Sanskar Vidhi. Through his daily life and practice of yoga and asanas, teachings, preaching, sermons and writings, he changed the course of Hinduism. Although he was never really involved in politics directly, his political observations were the source of inspiration for a number of political leaders during India’s struggle for independence. For instance, he was the first to give the call for ‘Swarajya’ as ‘India for Indians’ in 1876. His book, the Satyartha Prakash, contributed to the Indian independence movement. His followers included Sri Aurobindo and S. Radhakrishnan. While he had millions of followers, he also attracted many a detractor and enemy. In 1883, he was poisoned many times by orthodox Hindus and one such attempt proved fatal and he succumbed to death on Deepavali day. What he left behind was one of Hinduism’s greatest and most revolutionary organizations, the Arya Samaj.

We pay tribute to a giant of humanity, who stood against all odds and fought the social and spiritual freedom of society. The Arya Samaj continues to be a torchbearer of Swami Dayanand’s vision in spreading Vedic knowledge and transforming all individuals to form a noble society, for the betterment and unity of humanity.