Autobiography
This page is about the founder of the Arya Samaj
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Swami Dayananda Saraswati (1824 - 1883) is an important Hindu
religious scholar born in Gujarat, India. As a child, Dayanand sat with his
father in a temple for overnight worship. One night, he saw mice eating the
offerings kept for the God. He was utterly surprised and wondered how a God,
who cannot even defend his own "prasad", would defend the humanity. He argued
with his father that he should not be worshipping such a helpless God. He
started pondering over the meaning of life and death and started asking
questions, which worried his parents. His parents decided to marry him, but he
decided marriage was not for him and ran away from home. He was disillusioned
with classical Hinduism and became a wandering monk. He learned Panini's
Grammar to understand the Vedas. He reached Swami Vrijananda's ashram at
Mathura, who told him to throw away all his books in the river. He stayed in
the ashram for two and a half years. After finishing his education, he spread
the concept of Vedic Hinduism. |
The Arya Samaj, society of
virtuous men, a great Hindu reform movement, was founded by him in 1875. He was
a sanyasin (one who has renounced the world) and an original scholar, who
believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda advocated the
doctrine of karma and rebirth, and emphasised the ideals of brahmacharya
(celibacy) and sanyasa (renunciation).
Far from borrowing concepts from other religions, as Raja Ram Mohan Roy had
done, Swami Dayananda was fiercely critical of Islam and Christianity as may be
seen in his book Satyartha Prakasha. He was against what he considered to be
the corruption of the pure faith in his own country. Unlike many other reform
movements within Hinduism, the Arya Samaj's appeal was addressed not only to
the educated few, but to the Indian nation as a whole |
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The Arya Samaj unequivocally condemned idolatry, animal
sacrifices, ancestor worship, pilgrimages, priestcraft, offerings made in
temples, the caste system, untouchability and child marriages, on the grounds
that all these lacked Vedic sanction. It aimed to be a universal "church" based
on the authority of the Vedas.
Dayananda’s concept of Dharma is succinctly set forth in his Beliefs and
Disbeliefs. He said, "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." Again he says "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." |
He was the first among the great Indian stalwarts who popularised
the concept of Swaraj - that is, right to self-determination vested in Indians,
when India was ruled by the British.
His influence reduced the unnecessary rituals that had creeped into Hinduism,
and this brought him in conflict with the classical Brahmans. There were many
contests of knowledge, "shastrarth", between him and other priests, and he won
all such contests. His legacy is still visible in the Indian countryside where
people just believe in Vedic yagya and not going to the Hindu temples. |
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