Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati
Brief Introduction of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati
Brief Introduction of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati
The name of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati Ji is particularly extraordinary in the tradition of great sages of India, who did extremely exceptional work for the awakening and progress of this country.
Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati was born on February 12, 1824 in Tankara (Gujarat). His father's name was Karsan Ji Tiwari and mother's name was Amritbai. Born in a Brahmin clan, Mool Shankar attained enlightenment on the occasion of fasting on the day of Shivratri. He suddenly left home at the age of 19 and went on a remarkable journey in search of the true Shiva (God).
He received education from Guru VirjanandJi in Mathura and understood the basic thing that in the present state of the country, the root cause of misery is the prevalence of wrong facts in place of correct meaning of Vedas. Because of that, the trap of religious pomp, superstition, social evils has spread in the society and despite being our own country, we are slaves of others. Seeing the country's poverty, illiteracy, plight of women, destruction of language and culture, Dayanand was deeply moved. After traveling in the Himalayas for some time and with penance, he participated inKumbhMela in Haridwar. He made his point with strength and logic. He tried to establish the truth by strongly debating with the opponents. He had only one goal in life - Must know about true and then believe it. He also gave a motivational slogan that one should always be ready to accept the truth and leave the untruth. He composed a classic book named Satyarth Prakash to express his point of view on religious, social, political subjects. He toured the whole country, Punjab, Bengal, Maharashtra and especially Uttar Pradesh was his work area. He created this awareness for the first time in the context of cow protection, Hindi protection, utility of Sanskrit language, Swadesh, Swadeshi, Swabhasha, and self-respect. Knowing that life is not immortal, he established Arya Samaj in Mumbai in 1875 for continuous expansion of his work.
Having seen the wrong meanings of Vedas, he put the real annotation of Vedas in front of the world and declared that everybody has the right to read Vedas irrespective of gender and caste.
He strongly criticized religious superstitions, social evils etc. Women's education, which was the biggest need of that time and he was the biggest supporter for it and a large section of the society had been isolated due to high-low discrimination, he brought them with the main stream of the society. Describing the biggest evil of untouchability and high-caste society for them, called upon them to raise their standard of living and work for education.
Due to his explicit speech many people became his opponents and tried to kill him 17 times by poisoning him in different ways at different places. Dayanand never considered it appropriate to punish or get anyone punished according to his name.
When the British officer asked him if he prayed for the progress of the British Empire, he said that I always wished for the early end of the British Empire, which shows his boldness. The power of celibacy, the virtue of truthfulness was an identity of his life. When the devotees said that you should not say such things and the big officers would get angry, Maharishi Dayanand said in reply that even if my finger is burnt by making a wick, I will tell the truth.
Dayanand never considered it appropriate to accept anything from anyone, despite the desire of many kings to give him land and ownership of temples. From the revolutionary struggle of 1857, he continuously tried to liberate the country and continuously inspired his disciples for this. As a result, a long chain of great sanctifierswas born like ShyamjiKrishan Varma, SardarBhagat Singh's grandfather Sardar Arjun Singh, Swami Shraddhanand,and LalaLajpatRai. He was keen to send the youth of the country to Germany to learn skills. He was strongly in favor of wearing indigenous clothes and setting up factories in his country. After talking with many native kings, he inspired them for Swadeshi. At the same time, he
talked with all the chief dignitaries Keshavchandrasen, father of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, MahadevGovindRanade, PanditaRamabai, Mahatma JyotibaPhule, Annie Besant, Madame Blavatsky, etc. and tried to make them agree on a true path. After discussing with the main dignitaries of different cult, he called upon to work together on the points of co-operation. He wrote a detailed explanation on the 16 sacraments specified for the progress of human beings.
He kept his point on the need of democracy, on the need of yoga, in the context of the environment.He with a height of 6 feet 9 inches, fair complexion, the master of amazing celibacy and Yogi Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati advocated for the physical, spiritual and social progress of everyone. At the age of just 59 he was poisoned in Jodhpur at the end of 1883 due to his fearless proclamation of truth. He could not protect his body from the poison. Dayanand's unique example of mercy can only be found as he sent off the poisoner by giving him money so that the king does not punish him. Finally, on the evening of Diwali, 30 October 1883, his emancipation took place in Ajmer.
The biggest success of his life can be seen in his disciples.A long chain of thousands of disciples established many institutions all over the world according to his wishes. Those who made sacrifices to work against the evils of the society were also his disciples and the long chain of those who sacrificed for the country were also his disciples. Today, the Aryasamajfounded by him has more than 10,000 strong serving units in 30 countries of the world and in all the states of India be it in the field of education, social work, health care, women upliftment, youth development, and in the work of responsibilities towards the nation.
