Arun Kumar Gupta
“If Mahatma Gandhi is the Pitah of the Nation, then Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati is the Pitahma of the Nation”
This was said by the first Lok Sabha Speaker of India Ananthasayanam while expressing his words toward Maharishi Dayanand. Not only Anantashayanam, many high-class scholars from India and abroad have expressed such statements toward Maharishi. Among these, Dadabhai Naoroji, Iron Man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Yogiraj Arvind, Rabindranath Tagore, Annie Besant, Martyr Ramprasad Bismil, etc. are many prominent names. Maharishi Dayanand’s name comes first as a warrior of the freedom struggle because he put that idea in front of people. In the book Satyarth Prakash written by Maharishi (which was published in 1875), Maharishi writes that “Swadeshi Rajya Chahe Kitna Bhi bura ho, Parantu Videshi Rajya se Bhut acha hota hai”.
Thousands of sons like great revolutionary Veer Savarkar, Shyamji Krishna Verma, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Ashfaq Ullah Khan, and Lala Lajpat Rai jumped into the freedom struggle by taking inspiration from Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati Ji.
In Tankara, a small village of Maurvi state of Saurashtra province, in the house of Karshanji Tiwari, who was a Brahmin by caste, in Dashami Samvat of Falgun month 1881 (AD 1824), a child was born who was named Mulshankar. The first education of this child was performed at home. He started reciting Ved mantras at a very young age. The parents thought a lot about this child but the creator had some other thoughts for this child – Mulshankar on the night of Shivratri. This night changed the life of 14-years-old boy Mulshankar who took a vow to find the true Shiva.
Finally, at the age of 22, leaving home, he set out in search of the true Shiva. Brahmachari Mulshankar kept wandering from place to place near Yogis, Rishis, and spiritual people in the name of pure consciousness and kept studying Vedas, philosophy, yoga, etc. Finally, in 1860, he appeared at the door of Swami Virjanand Saraswati and accepted him as his guru.
Pragyachakshu Swami Virjanand was considered the master of all the Vedas. With pleasure, Virjanand accepted Dayanand Saraswati as his disciple and for about three years explained to him the nuances of Vedic religion. In Gurudakshina, Virjanand asked Dayanand Saraswati for the propagation of Vedic culture throughout his life which he happily accepted and bid farewell to Guru-Virjanand.
In the year 1874, the Collector of Aligarh, Raja Jaikrishna Das impressed by the thoughts of Swami Ji urged him to publish his thoughts in the form of a book. As a result, he decided to write Satyarth Prakash. In 1875, the first edition of Satyarth Prakash was published from Banaras. Maharishi wrote that there is no description of any person, place, or time in the Vedas. He also stated that Vedas are the Ishwariye Gyaan in the form of four Vedas- Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, and Atharvaveda.
At the beginning of creation, God created these four Vedas via the rishis – Agni, Vayu, Aditya, and Angira. Every Veda was illuminated by the sages in the form of Vedavani. Veda is the eternal knowledge of God. The knowledge of the Vedas is complete because of divine knowledge. Men and women equally have the right to read the Vedas. The work of propagating Vedic culture should never stop.
For this, he established the Arya Samaj in Bombay on 10 April 1875. Also said that I am not starting any new religion. Arya samaj is an organization of great people, which wants to eradicate social sins like ignorance, superstition, hypocrisy, casteism, dowry system, child marriage, corruption, women harassment, etc. from our society.
Purpose of the establishment of Arya Samaj
* The first objective of Maharishi Dayananda Saraswati in establishing the Arya Samaj was, krinvanti visvamaryam, that is, to make the whole world Arya (best) and to create the best human beings.
* The second objective was to make Vedas a universal religion and to remove the stigmas imposed on Vedas by Indian and foreign selfish scholars, and by refuting the ideas of nature worship, deity worship, history in Vedas, sacrifice, obscenity, etc. Dissemination of literature.
* The third objective was to unite all the religious beliefs of India. To establish the true, eternal, Vedic religion and unite all human beings
* Bringing under the flag of Om, worshiped one religion, one language, one god’s establishment, and the destruction of atheism.
* To destroy superstitions and evils by spreading the propaganda of Indian culture and civilization.
* Cow rearing, protection of orphans, and helpless, weak, widows. Removing the subordination of women, and untouchables and hugging the separated brothers again
* Destruction of ignorance and increase of knowledge.
* Establishing Vedic communism, so that all people have equal rights to food, clothing, shelter, education, and devotion to God. Ignorance, injustice, and lack should be destroyed.
Swami Ji’s Satyarth Prakash, Rigvedadi Bhashya Bhumika, Sanskar Vidhi, and other 66 books could be printed in his lifetime. For the welfare of human society, Swami Ji made 10 universal rules of Aryasamaj. By following this human life can be successful. Swamiji started keeping unwell. In the year 1880, after making his will, he established the Philanthropic Society.
Swami Ji did many social-reform works like cow protection, women’s education, widow marriage, and Dalit emancipation. The year 1883 was the last year of Swamiji. The Maharaja of Jodhpur lived a luxurious life. Swami Ji met the Maharaja and tried to explain to him that all this does not suit a king.
These words irked Maharaja’s close dancer, so she met the cook Jagannath and mixed powdered glass in milk, and made Swami Ji drink poison. Swami Ji had realized this. He called the cook who poisoned him and gave him all the money to run away from here. Swami Ji’s condition was deteriorating, so he was taken to Abu and then to Ajmer where he attained nirvana in October 1883.
His last words were “O God, you have done a good Leela, may your wish be fulfilled”. We were blessed by Rishivar’s life and Modern India is proud that even in its downfall, it gave birth to a sage like him and showed a glimpse of the glory of ancient India. Millions of salutations to the sage.
(The writer is the President of Arya Samaj Dayanand Marg, City Chowk, Jammu)
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