In observance of Rishi Nirvana Utsav (the Enlightenment of Maharishi Dayananda Saraswati)
Swami Dayananda Saraswati (born February 12, 1824– nirvana October 30, 1883) was first named Mula Sankara. He became a swami (renunciant teacher) and social reformer who founded the Arya Samaj in 1875 in India. He would later be called Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Maharishi Dayananda Saraswati.
The Arya Samaj is a Society of persons called Aryas (of noble character); they uphold Veda as their highest scriptural authority and the Vedic lifestyle as the ideal. The Arya Samaj is a revival movement within Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism that seeks to revive the study and teaching of Veda and civilizational values and practices. The Arya Samaj is visible in Trinidad, Guyana, and Suriname. Several organizations come under the rubric of Arya Samaj.
On the Mahashivaratri night in 1838, young Mool Shankar (who later became Swami Dayananda Saraswati, and even later would be called Maharishi Dayananda Saraswati) would ask some big questions. He asked himself about the nature of the Highest Reality – where was the Shiva in the consecrated image or murti? What was the suitable t form of communion with that Reality?
In Sanatana Dharma, Hindus generally commune with the Highest Reality through a sakar or nirakar or mixed sakar/nirakar worldview. In the sakar mode, the Highest Reality (called by many different ways) is approached as having “form.” Many use consecrated images called murtis as their central object of worship. None, however, will say that the murti is where the Highest Reality resides. They combine immanence and transcendence in a highly devotional and profoundly personal experience. The aesthetics of such devotion aids their worship through kirtan, bhajan, music, and dance.
When young Mool Shankar went to the mandir on Maha Shivaratri night to worship Lord Shiva, questions arose in his mind about the nature of Shiva and the methods for worship. He did not see worth in fasting and all-night vigil, for example. He wanted to know that Highest Reality as nirakar – without form. This path is challenging for most people, but he pursued it. His statement of beliefs and institutions under the Arya Samaj demonstrate the recommended path.
Was Shiva that murti that his family worshipped through the image? He was not convinced and committed to search for the real Shiva beyond the murti. In effect, he was attracted to the nirakar method of communing with the Highest Reality – without physical objects.
In his formative years, as he looked around him, he saw death and suffering and was committed to finding out more about moksha/salvation. As a young swami, he had learned that jnana or right knowledge was essential in realizing moksha and that such knowledge would come from swadhyaya (daily learning and reflection), daily yoga and more. In other words, he was required to change himself.
As young Swami Dayananda Saraswati, his spiritual quest took him across India, across different ways of Hindu worship, and to have meetings with acharyas and gurus and political leaders (the latter seeking to make a new and modern India after political Independence).
Swami Dayananda Saraswati prepared himself for his spiritual quest. He studied scriptures, found a spiritual guide, received his mandate, and laid the foundation for the Arya Samaj, which would become the most influential socio-religious reform movement in modern India.
By age 24, he was formally inducted as a sanyasi under Swami Purnananda Saraswati, on the banks of Narmada; he was renamed “Dayananda Saraswati.” During his travels around the country, he met Swami Virjananda in Mathura and would become his disciple. Swami Virjananda was blind, a strict disciplinarian and fiercely critical of practices that were against the ancient Vedic culture and teacings of Veda. He taught Swami Dayananda the Vedas and Shastric texts, for about three years.
Young Swami Dayananda would pledge a dakshina (gift given to a teacher/guru upon graduation) to spread the true teachings of Veda and so remove avidya/ignorance.
He had studied, and continued studying Veda; he practised yoga; he studied the means for understanding the deeper meaning in Ved mantras. He debated with scholars to arrive at the right method for acquiring valid knowledge.
As a patriot, he saw Veda, the Indian knowledge system, as the answer to laying the foundation for a modern India – an India that had suffered years of foreign invasions and European colonization. He advocated for swaraj or political Independence and made the first call for Hindi to be India’s national and unifying language. He was firm in the supreme authority of Veda and rejected western ideas and ways of life.
From the young boy who asked some big questions, he became a national leader and agent of change. He revived the glory of Veda, ancient Indian civilisation, and ancient institutions like the gurukul system and samskaras. He injected innovations like the shuddhi movement to welcome back those who were forced to convert to other religions. Later, he would be assassinated for his achievements and the threat he posed to orthodoxy and social degeneration.
Before Mahatama Gandhi or BR Ambedkar, Swami Dayanada taught that all persons had a right of access to the Vedas, regardless of differences like class, jati/varna (erroneously called ‘caste’), gender, and so on. He translated some of the scriptures from the complex Vedic Sanskrit to Hindi so that many more persons could have ready access to the masses. They would not have to depend on others to read and interpret.
The idea of European modernism was at its zenith in the years before India’s Independence, and Indians spoke of a modern India, which meant a rejection of traditional Indian beliefs and practices.
The Brahmo Samaj in Bengal led in this social reform to raise the status of women, ban early marriage, address the lack of education, and so on. Its leader, Keshub Chandra Sen (1838-1884) of the Brahmo Samaj, saw religious and social reform as the foundation of India’s national awakening. Many educated Indians saw India as a fallen nation with its ancient greatness lying under its ruins. And so, they pressed for social reform and rejection of religious orthodoxy. Some even rejected Sanatana Dharma.
In this socio-political and cultural environment, Swami Dayananda Saraswati found himself. He had met with the Brahmo Samaj leaders and others in Bengal. While they had similar revivalist notions, he did not share many of their beliefs. They rejected the doctrine of karma and jati/varna, the Highest Reality, and atman/soul, for example. They had evolved a type of unitarian worldview along with a text that drew from Sanatana Dharma, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Chaitanya. However, they remained too intellectual and could not attract the masses. Besides, Swami Dayananda would have none of their rejection of Veda, their unitarian worldview and scripture, and admiration of western norms.
Shortly after, he would establish the Arya Samaj founded on principles of equality and justice. The Samaj rejected any birth-based status (as in Brahmin, Vaishya, Kshatriya and Shudra), holding that such status had to be acquired and manifested in one’s lifestyle. Karma is the basis of one’s social status. He used powerful language to describe hypocrites who preached one thing and lived another way.
The Arya Samaj revived Vedic ideals and a school system for educating youths in their Vedic traditions. Samskaras were standardized, and purohits/pandits were formally trained and certified to practice.
