THE LIFE & TEACHINGS OF MAHARISHI SWAMI DAYANAND SARASWATI BY BAWA C. SINGH “The world is fettered by the chain forged by superstition and ignorance. I have come to snap asunder that chain and to set slaves at liberty. It is contrary to my mission to have people deprived of their freedom.” Though I was born in Aryavarta (India) and live in it, yet just as I do not defend the falsehood of the faiths and religions of this country, but expose them fully; in like manner, I deal with the religions of other countries. I treat the foreigners in the same way as my own countrymen, so far as the elevation of the human race is concerned. Therefore, the purpose of my life is the extirpation of evils; introduction of truth in thought, speech, and deeds; the preservation of unity of religion; the expulsion of mutual enmity; the extension of friendly intercourse; and the advancement of public happiness by reciprocal subservience of the human family. May the grace of the Almighty God and the consent and co-operation of the learned soon spread these doctrines all over the world to facilitate everybody’s endeavor in the advancement of virtue, wealth, godly pleasure, and salvation, so that peace, prosperity and happiness may ever reign in the world.” Maharishi Swami Dayanand Saraswati. 2 Contents of book 1. EARLY YEARS Birth and parentage. Early religious instructions. The fast of Shivratri. The idol of Mahadeva and the mouse. Dayanand's reflections on the sight. 2. Death of two close relations. The effect of the sad events on Dayanand's mind. The parents anxiety. 3. The respite. The evils of early marriage. The Veda on Brahmacharya. The fact of Dayanand's dislike to marriage life reported to his parents. Preparations for his marriage. Dayanand's flight. 4. RENUNCIATION The pursuit and capture. Escaping again. Formal commencement of the life of a Brahmachari. 5. Initiation into Sanyas (asceticism). Cultivation of yoga. Wanderings and study. 6. Falling in with two Sadhus (holy men) at Rishi Kesh. Invitation to a dinner. Aversion to animal food. The Tantras. Visiting Shrinagar, etc. 7. Visiting Badri Narayan. Excursion in the hills. Dark thoughts. Difference between great and common men. Dayanand's love of science. 8. Visiting Benares. Setting off in search of the source of Nerbuda. Encounters with a bear. Hearing of Swami Virjanand. Sketch of Swami Virjanand's life. 9. Completing his studies. 10. WORK Updesh at Agra. Distribution of Sandhya. Visiting Dhaulpur. The Swami's opinion of the Bhagavat and his counsel to the Maharaja. Shastrarths (debates) in the Jeypur State. The Swami ceases even to be a nominal adherent of Shaivism. 11. Visiting Ajmer. His interviews with the officials and the missionaries. The Agra Durbar. His last interview with Swami Virjanand. A true Sanyasi does not care for princes. 12. The Kumba fair at Haridwar. The water of the Ganges. A friendly discussion between the Swami and the Maharaja of Jammu. 13. The reactions of the Swami on the Kumba fair. Need of more Tapa. Teaching the Gayatri and investing the "twice-born" with the sacred thread. A grand yagna at Karnwas. A discussion at Anupshahar. Mehta Amin Chand's song. 14. An atttempt on the Swami's Life. The faith and fearlessness of the true yogi. 15. Another dastardly attempt. The object of the Swami's mission. A discussion. The Swami bears the news of his preceptor's death. 16. The establishment of schools. 17. Further Updesh. Chakrant Faith exposed. A conversation with Angad Shastri of Badrya. Pandit Jugal Kishore's complaint. The fair at Kakora. 18. The Shastrarths at Farrukhabad. 19. A visit to Cawnpore. The eight guys and the eight true things. 20. The Cawnpore Shastrarth. 21. The Kashi Shastrarth 22. The press on the Kashi Shastrarth 23. The Prayag Kumbha Fair. 24. Calcutta 25. At different places in Behar, Shastrarths at Hughly, Dumraon, etc. Challenge to Rangacharya. The first edition of Satyartha Prakasha. 26. Bombay 27. Second visit to Bombay. The establishment of an Arya Samaj, etc. 28. Recalled to Bombay. 29. At Poona and back to Bombay. 30. Return to the North, Lucknow, etc. 31. The Imperial durbar at Delhi 32. Ludhiana 33. Lahore 34. Amritsar 35. Some other cities - Gurdaspur, Jullundur, etc. PART 2 1. The establishment of Arya Samaj in Uttar Pradesh. 2. The Kumbha Fair of 1879 3. Tour in the U.P. and Behar. The Bareilli Shastrarth. 4. The Arya Sanmarg Darshini Sabha. 5. Tour in Rajasthan 6. The Jains and Swami Dayanand. 7. Swami Dayanand and the Theosophical Society. 8. Illness and death. 9. Great teacher and reformer as others saw him. 10. Personality and Character. 11. Works and teachings. 12. Appendix The places where Swami Dayanand Saraswati paid visits in various dates. Some important events of Swami Dayanand's Life. A few elegant religious debates of Swami Dayanand Saraswati. Homage to Swami Dayanand Sraswati by World's Great Personalities. 3 EDITOR'S NOTE Swami Dayanand, founder of the Arya Samaj, was one of the few great men of the world who sacrificed everything for emancipation for mankind. He was a great scholar, a Yogi, a social reformer, a philosopher and a political thinker. Born in affluence and luxury, he left the house when forced by his parents to get married and wandered in the Himalayas in pursuit of knowledge and truth. Facing hardships and difficulties, resisting all temptations, he studied the ancient scriptures, particularly the Vedas which he regarded as a source of Divine Knowledge and engage himself in the Herculean task of spreading that knowledge. Swamji believed that Dharma consists in following the Truth, which alone triumphs ultimately and secures for its devotees "Dharma; arth, kama and moksha". The man who resolves, said he, "to stick to the Truth at all costs, steadily rises in virtues. When his virtues raise his reputation and prestige, he becomes all the more a unerring source of power and greatness'. Truth according to him, was not only conformity in word, thought and action "but also propriety of ideas in connection with real matters". In his Satyartha Praksash (Light of Truth), Swamiji lays down certain criteria to judge what is Truth. Some of them were whether it was in conformity with the teaching of the Vedas, nature, attributes and characteristics of God; whether it was in harmony with the practice and teaching of the APTAS, the pious, truthful, unprejudiced, honest and learned men, whether it was in keeping with the purity and conviction of one's own self or some whether it stood the test of direct perception, inference, analogy, testimony, history, deduction, possibility and negation. It was indeed his love of Truth that drove him to make comparative study of the religions and pass judgment on their demerits and merits. As he himself said, " My sole aim in criticizing the views of others is to arrive at the Truth." There was no bitterness in his heart, no malice even for his critics. On the other hand his heart was so much full of love and sympathy for all that he even pardoned the man who poisoned him to death. He held many "Shastarths" (open debates) with Christian missionaries and Sanatni (Hindu) Pandits all over the country with a view to removing dogmas, superstitions, rituals and other evils then prevailing in the Indian society in the name of religion. At times his defeated opponents tried to assault him. He however carried on his mission undaunted and without fear. To a well-wisher he said once. "It is not a man, that guards me but the great Lord, who protects me everywhere. Don't be anxious on my account." Swamiji maintained that man' s salvation lies in following the teachings of the Vedas which he considered to be revelation from God. The teachings of the Vedas are infallible because God who revealed them to the Rishis are Perfect. He held ignorance the root cause of all the miseries. This, he thought, consisted in regarding impure things as pure, painful things as pleasure giving, mortal things as immortal. Emancipation depended on removal of this ignorance. There is no emancipation so long as ignorance persists. For the first time in history he asserted and proved that there was no Monism but Trinism in the Vedas. He showed through apt quotations from the scriptures that God, soul and matter were different attributes. 4 As a social reformer, Swamji, waged an eternal war against evil like idol worship, untouchability, child marriage and Sati (burning of widows). He preached that having dip into the sacred water of the Ganges cannot absolve a person of his sins. One has to bear the consequences of one's sins as God who is just, is not easily beguiled by such rituals. He also attacked the theories of Sakarvad (incarnations) on the ground that God is All-supporting and formless. He removed the misconception among the Hindus that shudras (low caste) and women had no right to study the Vedas. He tried to break all barriers of caste, creed, color and sex which separated man from man by propagating the doctrine of the universal brotherhood based on the assumption that God is the creator of all. He maintained that one's actions and not sheer birth determined one's Varna (class). He prescribed the duties of each varna - Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra in conformity with the teachings of the scriptures and the Vedas. He also divided a man's life into four stages and taught the respective duties and obligation of each of ashram in addition to formulation of a common code of conduct formally.