PROJECT 2

CONTRIBUTOR'S SUCCESS VISION

Dayananda Saraswati

was born on 12 February 1824 in the town of Tankara near Morvi (Morbi) in the Kathiawar region of the princely state of Gujarat (now in Rajkot district), in the affluent and devout Saryupareen Brahmins family of Karshanji Lalji Tiwari and his wife Yashodabai. Since he was born under Mul Nakshatra, he was named "Moolshankar", and led a comfortable early life, studying Sanskrit, the Vedas and other religious texts to prepare himself for a future as a Hindu priest. A number of incidents in early childhood resulted in Dayananda's questioning the traditional beliefs of Hinduism and inquiring about God. While still a young child, when his family went to a temple for overnight worship on the night of Maha Shivratri, he stayed up waiting for Lord Shiva to appear to accept the offerings made to his idol. While his family slept, Dayananda saw a mouse eating the offerings. He was utterly surprised and wondered how a God who cannot protect even his own offerings would protect humanity. He argued with his father that they should not be worshipping such a helpless God. The deaths of his younger sister and his uncle from cholera caused Dayananda to ponder the meaning of life and death and he started asking questions which worried his parents. He was to be married in his early teens, as was common in nineteenth-century India, but he decided marriage was not for him and in 1846 ran away from home. Dayananda was disillusioned with the form of Hinduism being practiced in his surroundings and became a wandering monk to search for the eternal truths through direct interaction with enlightened sanyasis. He learned Panini's grammar "Mahabhashya" to read Sanskrit texts, and understood from them that God can be found. After wandering in search of God for over two decades, he found Swami Virajananda near Mathura, Uttar Pradesh who became his guru.[15] Swami Virajananda told him to throw away all his books, as he wished Dayananda to start from a clean slate and learn directly from the Vedas, the oldest and most foundational scriptures of Hinduism.[14] Dayananda stayed under Swami Virajananda's tutelage for two and a half years. After finishing his education, Virajananda asked him to spread the knowledge of the Vedas in society as his gurudakshina, or tuition-dues.

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Dayanand's mission
Dayananda mission was to tell the humankind for Universal Brotherhood through nobility as spelt out in Vedas and his first step was to take up the difficult task of reforming Hinduism with dedication despite multiple repeated attempts on his life. He traveled the country challenging religious scholars and priests to discussions and won repeatedly on the strength of his arguments based on his knowledge of Sanskrit and Vedas.[16] He believed that Hinduism had been corrupted by divergence from the founding principles of the Vedas and that Hindus had been misled by the priesthood for the priests' self-aggrandizement. Hindu priests discouraged the laity from reading Vedic scriptures and encouraged rituals, such as bathing in the Ganges River and feeding of priests on anniversaries, which Dayananda pronounced as superstitions or self-serving practices. By exhorting the nation to reject such superstitious notions, his aim was to educate the nation to Go back to the Vedas. He wanted the people who followed Hinduism to go back to its roots and to follow the Vedic life, which he pointed out exhorted the Hindu nation to accept social reforms like the abolition of untouchability, sati, and dowry, education of women, swadeshi and importance of cows for national prosperity as well as the adoption of Hindi as the national language. Through his daily life and practice of yogasanas, teachings, preachings, sermons and writings he inspired the Hindu nation to aspire to Swarajya (self governance), nationalism, and spiritualism. He advocated the equal rights and respects to women and advocated the full education of a girl child. Swami Dayananda did critical, logical and scientific analyses of all faiths i.e. Islam and Christianity as well as of other Indian faiths like Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, in addition to denouncing idolatry in Hinduism, as may be seen in his book Satyartha Prakash.[17] He was against what he considered to be the corruption of the pure faith in his own country. Unlike many other reform movements of his times within Hinduism, the Arya Samaj's appeal was addressed not only to the educated few in India, but to the world as a whole as evidenced in the sixth principle of the Arya Samaj.In fact his teachings professed universalism for the all living beings and not for any particular sect, faith, community or nation. Arya Samaj allows and encourages converts to Hinduism. Dayanandas concept of dharma is stated in the "Beliefs and Disbeliefs" section of Satyartha Prakash. 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 Vedasthat I hold as adharma" He also said: "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."

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Arya Samaj
Swami Dayananda's creation, the Arya Samaj, unequivocally condemns idol worship, animal sacrifice, ancestor worship, pilgrimages, priest craft, offerings made in temples, the caste system, untouchability, child marriages and discrimination against women on the grounds that all these lacked Vedic sanction. The Arya Samaj discourages dogma and symbolism and encourages skepticism in beliefs that run contrary to common sense and logic. To many people, the Arya Samaj aims to be a "universal society" based on the authority of the Vedas.

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CONTRIBUTIONS OF SWAMI DAYANAND TO HINDU SOCIETY

1. Swami Dayanand, Yug Pravartak / Yug Drashta, Founder of Arya Samaj, rebuilt the entire Indian nation & HINDU Society in a NEW Mould where every Hindu & Arya had to believe firmly that this country " BHARAT" is their own land & No person of FOREIGN BIRTH could ever become HEAD of its affairs in any way. 2. He believed & proved that in our Vedas there was NO SUCH thing as UNTOUCHABILITY . He & through his Arya Samaj succeeded in launching a Great movement against UNTOUCHABILITY which was followed up & taken up by Gandhiji & Congress in a BIG way during our Freedom struggle & post -independence. 3. Child Marriages : In Maharishi Dayanand's days, the child marriages were a very common factor. Maharishi Dayanand & his Arya Samaj propagated against this curse from our Hindu Society. Even now , it is prevalent in certain regions & amongst backward Hindus. 4. Maharishi Dayanand & its Arya Samaj launched yet another related curse of Hindu Society , namely, marrying more than one wife or POLYGAMY: Arya Samaj through "Magic Lantern " Arya Pracharaks who travelled widely deep into the villages & towns successfully removed this evil from our Hindu society. (Subsequently, it was lawfully abolished under Hindu Code bill ).Still there are examples of this curse of POLYGAMY amongst our Hindus, which is spreading like a menace which requires to be controlled at all levels, specially our Politicians & Affluent class require some Ved Prachar for it. 5.AryaSamaj successfully fought with the orthodox Brahmin Community & established that there was No example in the Vedas to worship the idol as God is OMNIPOTENT , OMNI_PRESENT & FORMLESS, once it is omnipresent, it cannot be confined under lock & key any where NOR evn in their so called Temples which have become Nothing more that "Religious shops " for the pandits. 6. Dayanand preached & pleaded with the Orthodox Hindu Community to return to Vedas in true sense & to follow its dictates. He organized to obtain the Original Vedas from Germany & translated them in simple Sanskrit & Hindi along with his famous Book , " RIGVED BHASHYA" , "SOLAH SANSKARS"etc. 7. Swami Dayanand propagated that all people are born equal & No one is Brahmin, Vaishya, Shatriya or Shudra by birth , but these are according to the profession one chooses and each of these sects are complimentary to each other & None is superior or inferior to the other.

8.Dayanand infused a thought amongst our Hindu Society that the West has NOT contributed anything towards the emancipation of our Country's welfare, rather the West owe to us for everything, every progress which they unjustifiably claim of theirs, including the invention of "ZERO". 9. Dayanand strongly believed in a National Religion , based on INTENSE DEDICATED , TRUE , SELFLESS, FEARLESS NATIONALISM, a thought which he propagated amongst all the Hindus of India, preparing for Self-Rule & Freedom, based on equality ; its details are enshrined in " SATYARTH PRAKSH" by Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati. This was his life's greatest mission
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10. Brought about widows re-marriages amongst the Hindus. 11. Pleaded & Stopped the most barbaric & most orthodox "Sati- Pratha" amongst the Hindus of our country. 12. Dayanand & Its Arya Samaj hit hard on the Blind faiths of Hindu Society & awakened them of these fake/ false Blind faiths which were spread amongst Hindu Society falsely by various orthodox Hindu organizations. 13. Shuddhi Prachaar of Dayanand Saraswati & Arya Samaj was & still the Greatest contribution to Hindu Society , thereby bringing back our brothers & sisters whom we had lost to other religions owing to our orthodox beliefs. 14. Spread of education to all irrespective of one being a boy or girl, of being a Brahmin or of other so called castes. Dayanand & its Arya Samaj played its greatest role in starting women's Education every where in India & to every one irrespective of Caste,Creed, Sex etc.

15. In the field of Education again Maharishi Dayanand played its greatest role in strengthening Hindu Society.

16. Dayanand's Arya Samaj opened its First Orphanage in Firozepore , followed by a chain of Orphanages all over the country so that our orphans may not adopt other religions like Islam or Christianity. 17. In the same way, Dayanand's Arya Samaj opened Homes for the widows & Destitude womens to accommodate , train them in some useful profession & to get them married to suitable partners in course. 18. Dayanand / Arya Samaj succeeded in removing the Pardha System from our Hindu Society and Brought Hindu women at par with men-folk. 19.Dayanand launched a movement successfully that studying of Sanskrit , Vedas & Upnishidas is NOT restricted to Brahamins alone but every caste had equal Rights to study these including women-folk . 20. Dayanand & its Arya Samaj gave Rights to wear Yagopaveet to every Hindu irrespective of one's birth. 21. In those days, any Hindu Travellers overseas, had to undergo penance & give away a lot of gifts to Orthodox Brahmins for allowing them to re-admit to Hindu Dharma, but Dayanand got rid of such ills from Orthodox Hindu Society. 22. Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, first time, told the Hindu Society the difference of the meaning of good Governance & "own Independent Rule " & instigated people to demand self /own independent rule & to throw away the foreign yoke of slavery of the Britrishers. Maharishi Dayanand was the First Indian who announced for the FIRST Time that Bharatvarsh is only of Bharatvasies & we should have our own Self Independent Rule.
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23. Maharishi Dayanand & its Arya Samaj emphasized on Swadeshi & patronising of Swadeshi Products only amongst all the Hindu Community . 24 . If HINDI remained the main stay of our freedom struggle, it was because of Maharishi Dayanand , even today, Dayanand's Arya Samaj can take this credit for the Promotion of Hindi as a National language all over the country . 25. Dayanand & its Arya Samaj gave to Hindu Orthodox Society , great thinkers, National Leaders & Revolutionaries like : Lala Lajpat Rai, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Shri Arvind Ghosh, Bhai Parmanand, Bhai Shyamji Krishna Verma, Bhagat Singh, Ram Prasad Bismil, Bhai Bal Mukund, Madanlal Dhingra,Madan Mohan Malviye, Swami Shraddhanand & Pandit Lekhram & others as well as Most of the revolutionaries, who defacto brought about our Independence . 26. Dayanand & Arya Samaj always believe that begging is a worst thing , it is never liked by any one , rather it demoralizes the beggar, hence Dayanand insisted the Hindu Society as a whole to stand on its own feet , on its own good deeds & to come forward to sacrifice one's life for the Nation .

27. Hindu Women have to pay back to Swami Dayanand Saraswati the Greatest , if he had NOT come forward to improve their Social Rights, rights to educate themselves, right to read Vedas , Upnishads, Remarriages , equal rights as per men's , abolition of Dowry system, equal opportunity to select their partners etc.the Indian womens could never have attained their emancipation & would have remained as backword as Muslim women of the world. And Many- many more Contributions of Arya Samaj to the HINDU Society

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Death
In 1883 Dayananda was invited by the Maharaja of Jodhpur to stay at his palace. The Maharaja was eager to become his disciple and learn his teachings. One day Dayananda went to the Maharaja's rest room and saw him with a dance girl named Nanhi Jan. Dayananda boldly asked the Maharaja to forsake the girl and all unethical acts and follow dharma like a true Aryan. Dayananda's suggestion offended the dance girl and she decided to take revenge.[1] She bribed Dayananda's cook to poison him. At bedtime, the cook brought him a glass of milk containing poison and powdered glass. Dayananda drank the milk and went to sleep only to wake up later with a burning sensation. He immediately realized that he had been poisoned and attempted to purge his digestive system of the poisonous substance, but it was too late. The poison had already entered his bloodstream. Dayananda was bedridden and suffered excruciating pain. Many doctors came to treat him but all was in vain. His body was covered all over with large bleeding sores. On seeing Dayananda's suffering the cook was overcome with unbearable guilt and remorse. He confessed his crime to Dayananda. On his deathbed, Dayananda forgave him and gave him a bag of money and told him to flee the kingdom lest he be found out and executed by the Maharaja's men.

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