Akhandaad aanandaan nigama hima shailendra shikharaat prabhootaa bhootaanaam jani laya krita shankara guroh
Dayaanandasyeyam sakala bhuvanaayaa'mrita padam Dishantee geer gangaa janita Shiva Sangaa Vijayate
Author: Avinash Arya Sriram
Produced by: Guyana Central Samaj
Dayananda Saraswathi: The founder of the Arya Samaj; The great sage who sought to restore to Hinduism its natural radiance and wisdom; The fearless reformer who saved the man who poisoned him - so boundless was his goodness.
It was Shivaratri. All the devotees gathered in the temple to keep awake all night and worship Lord Shiva. The boy Moola, too, went with his father. By midnight, one by one the worshippers fell asleep. But Moola was determined not to break the rule of the Shivaratri worship, so he sat gazing at the Shivalinga.
The desire to give up family ties grew in Moolashankar. What is life? What is death? He wanted to learn the answers to these questions from a perfect sage. With this end in view, Mopolashankar was determined to leave home in search of a worthy guru (teacher). His parents noticed his growing detachment and were afraid that he might run away from home to become a monk. They decided he should soon be married. Even a bride was selected.The preparations for the marriage began in earnest. Moolashankar did not show any opposition, That gave his parents the impression that their son was willing to marry and they were happy. But Moolashankar's mind was firmly set upon renunciation of family life.
By his extraordinary devotion and sense of service, Dayananda soon became the most beloved disciple. Every morning, whether it was hot, cold or raining, Dayananda fetched water for his teacher's bath and for other purposes from the river Yamuna. It was also his duty to sweep the floor and keep the premises clean and tidy. And Dayananda did every kind of work without the slightest hesitation. Several incidents show his extraordinary devotion to his master.
On one occasion, as Virajananda was teaching, something made him angry with Dayananda. Then with his thin hand he hit Dayananda on the back so hard that the teacher's hand began to ache. After a while Dayananda slowly approached his guru and said in all humility, "Gurudeva, my body is hard like stone and beating like this cannot hurt it. Only your hands will ache. Hereafter, when you punish me, kindly make use of a cane instead of your hand."
Dayananda's request was not in vain. At another time, when Virajananda was displeased with Dayananda for some reason, he struck him with a stick. Seeing this, Nayansukha, his schoolmate, said, "Gurudeva, it is not proper to treat such a great sanyasi in this way. He should be treated with respect." When the lessons were over, Dayananda took objection to his friend's disrespectful behaviour and said, "Do you think that our Gurudeva beat me out of hatred? Just as a potter shapes the lump of clay by pounding and beating it, the guru shapes the personality of his disciple by beating him and correcting him. You should not have spoken like that. "
After his education, as ordained by his guru, Swami Dayananda undertook to travel to preach Vedic Knowledge among the people. He went places like Agra, Ajmer, Jaipur, Gwalior Meerut, Hardwar and Kanpur. There he discussed the scriptures and the meaning with the pundits and scored resounding victories over them. Wherever he went, he told the people "Idol worship is not mentioned in the Vedas. The rational mind cannot accept idol worship. God is everywhere. God has no shape or form." Without Supporting or opposing any particular religion he pointed out the shortcomings of every one of them. He bitterly criticized the harmful and wicked customs that have come down through the centuries. He explained the greatness of the religion preached in the Vedas and gave a clarion call to all peoples to unite under its banner.
So Dayananda sought to awaken people to their heritage. In the course of his travels, he came to Kashi (Benares) on 22nd October 1869. He took part in debates with the greatest scholars in Kashi. The meeting was attended by fifty to sixty thousand people. At the appointed hour, the president of the gathering, Maharaja Eshwari Prasad Narayan Singh of Kashi, took the chair. On one side was Swami Dayananda all alone. On the other side were twenty seven distinguished scholars of Kashi.
The debate on the interpretation of the scriptures began. The question was whether the Vedas approved image worship. The scholars had to admit defeat in the face of Swami Dayananda's arguments. Just then, a scholar Madhawacharya by name came up with two sheets of paper and asked a question. Dayananda picked up the sheets and began to read. A few minutes must have passed. Suddenly the Maharaja of Kashi declared, "Swamy Dayananda has not been able to answer the questions posed by the pundits." So saying he clapped his hands. The scholars of Kashi shouted, "Dayananda has no answer. Great victory to the Kashi pundits! Defeat to Dayananda!" Rowdies began to throw stones, slippers, cowdung and such things at Dayananda. Some of them hit Dayananda and he was wounded. Blood dropped from some of the wounds. Dayanandaji, who had attained a state of perfect serenity, endured everything and remained as if nothing had happened. But the chief pundits of Kashi Taracharan Tarkaratna, Bala Shastri and others said, "Actually, what Swami Dayananda says is perfectly true. But we do not have the moral courage to go against the prevailing customs and traditions. So we have chosen to oppose him." So they said honestly in public.
The Maharaja of Kashi deeply regretted having taken sides in the debate on the scriptures. With great respect he invited Swami Dayananda to his palace and begged him to excuse him (the Maharaja) for his improper behaviour.
So, from the point of view of both scholarship and morality, it was Swami Dayananda who won a great victory in the true sense in the debates about the correct explanation of scriptural texts.
It was Swami Dayananda's keen desire to unite all people under the banner of a single religion. And he always worked hard towards this end.
Swami Dayananda was convinced that a common language is a good means of unifying the members of a society. He, therefore, was of the opinion that Hindi should be given the place of the national language.
Swami Dayananda was born in Gujarat and had a fine command over Gujarati language. Still, even in Gujarat, he chose to make speeches in Hindi instead of in Gujarati. He wrote all his looks in Hindi.
Even though Maharishi Dayananda aimed at the welfare of all humanity, he had great love for his motherland, India. Once an English officer was greatly impressed with Dayananda's speech and said to him, "Swamiji, please go to England and teach the way of Dharma (righteousness). I shall bear all the expenses." Thereupon Swamiji said, "In the few years of life left to me I shall try to spread the knowledge of the Vedas among my countrymen. Once the lamp of wisdom is lighted here, its light is bound to spread towards the west too."
He did not give a thought to the fame he could attain in foreign lands. He chose to stay in his own country and strive to improve the lot of his countrymen. This shows his boundless love for his country.
Once, addressing a huge gathering, Dayananda thundered: "Your ancestors were not uncivilized men living in forests. They were great men who enlightened this world. Your history is not a bundle of defeats. It is the eulogy of the conquerors of the world. Your Vedic Scriptures are not the songs of cowherds. They are the immortal truths which shaped mighty souls like Sri Rama and Sri Krishna. Awake! Arise! Be proud of your glorious history. Take inspiration from it to mould the present. Shame upon the modern education which fills you with contempt for your ancestors!"
Dayananda wished that his work of social reform should continue even after his death. So he founded an institution called Arya Samaj at Bombay on the 10th of April 1875. Gradually it grew into a huge institution and spread even beyond the shores of India.
Millions of Hindus were influenced by the Arya Samaj. Arya Samaj has rendered boundless and unequalled service to society through its religious centers, its gurukulas, schools and colleges, educational institutions for women, orphanages and asylums for widows.
Another very important contribution of Swami Dayananda is his work 'Satyarth Prakash' (The Light of Truth). It contains fourteen chapters. It is a great book. It explains the true meaning of the Vedas and therefore is 'Satyarth Prakash'. And it is based solely on the Vedas.
All the teachings of Swami Dayananda are clearly explained in this work. He has shown that his teachings have the support of the Vedas. He has clearly pointed out the harmful customs and practices not only of the Hindus but also of the followers of other religions. He gave a hero's call to the people of India to shake off their slavery. He declared that it was not sufficient for any religion to teach a man how to attain salvation after death; it must also show a man how to live usefully in this world. The Vedic religion has shown every man the right path, by placing before him the four-fold ideal of righteousness, wealth, enjoyment and salvation.
In those days the people were ignorant of the Vedas. Swami Dayananda strove hard to dispel this ignorance among the masses. His teaching was this: man's main aim is salvation - but if we do not live worthily on the earth we cannot attain this salvation. This teaching he supported with passages from the Vedas. And he exhorted people to turn to the Vedas.
Dayananda argued that God has no shape, and therefore, that idols should not be worshipped. This was not acceptable to the majority of Hindus. But none of them could answer his arguments. So some of them began to secretly plan his murder. Thousands of Hindu converts were taken back into Hindu fold by purification rites conducted by Dayananda. This made the followers of these religions angry. So Dayananda was in danger both from the followers of his own religion and from the followers of other religions. And he had to walk along this path full of dangers.
Extracted from: Hindunet (Visit)