Arya Samaj and life of Swami Dayanand Saraswati

1. PRESENTED BY:-
SHILPA S KUMAR
PGD – THEOLOGY
THM – 203

2. Dayanand Saraswati
• His childhood name was Moolshankar Dayaram
and born on February 12, 1824 in Tankara in
Gujarat, India to a Wealthy Brahmin Family.
• Received classic Brahmin education, but was a
gifted scholar.
• Both father & uncle were Śaivites, and
encouraged him in Śaivite bhakti.

3. Early Influences
At the festival of Śhivaratri, he visited the Śhiva temple
with his father, for a night vigil before the linga.
Everyone fell asleep, except the boy who saw mice
stealing the offerings to Śhiva. He got convinced that
the image of Shiva has no power and thus not to be
worshiped, because the idol who could not save
itself from the mice, how could he save and protect
the whole world. That was a turning point in the life
of Mool chand.

4. His own studies in the Vedas had convinced him
that there was no reason to worship “idols”, and
that God was without form, and could be
worshipped anywhere.
He soon left home, and became a sannyasin, at the
age of 21, taking the name Dayananda Saraswati.
• He knew nothing about English but was a great
scholar of Sanskrit.

5. Reformation
When he saw the Hindus being ill- treated and converted to
Christianity, he wanted to unite the nation as one united
religion.
He wanted them to remove the bandage from their eyes,
which prevented them from seeing the light of truth and
liberty.
He wanted to stop all this and at the same time reform
Hinduism.
The Arya Samaj can best be termed as a socio-cultural
organization born out of a reform movement within
Hinduism.

6. Swami Dayanand founded the Hindu reform
organization called Arya Samaj on
April 7, 1875 in Mumbai.
The Arya samaj was based entirely on the
authority of the Vedas conditioned by
Rationalism and Utilitarianism.
Arya Samaj
---“society of nobles”

7. Arya Samaj
The Arya Samaj founded by him not only halted the process of
conversion of Hindus but also started the process of welcoming into
the Hindu fold persons who were earlier converted to Islam or
Christianity or were born as such.
It is "non-denominational authentic Hindu-Vedic religious
organization dedicated to remove superstition, orthodoxy and
social evils from society" and,
Its mission is to "mold the lives of its members and all others
according to the message of the Vedas with reference to the
circumstances of time and place."

8. Contributions
• The splendid contributions of Swami
Daayanand Saraswati by the way of Arya
Samaj can be taken into consideration under
four (4) heads :-
• Religious
• Social
• Educational and,
• Political

9. Religious
• He restored the teachings of Vedas as prime source
of knowledge.
• He discarded the puranas and the shastras.
• He denounced polytheism, idolatry, untouchability,
etc., Animal sacrifice to please GOD, Avatars and
Incarnation of GOD, Ancestor worship (Sraddha),
Pilgrimages, Pantheism and Priestcraft.
• He opened the doors of Hinduism to the followers of
other faiths
• He sent out missionaries abroad to propagate the
tenets of Arya Samaj and Hinduism.

10. Social
• He worked hard for the abolition of various social evils from
the society such as, Untouchability, Caste System (or
segregation on the basis of caste colour or creed), Child
marriage, Polygamy, Sati pratha, Purdah system etc.
• He roared loud for the cow protection and Women Education
and Equality and advocated Widow Marriages.
• Arya Samaj established orphanages and homes for destitute
women.
• providing relief to the distressed during floods, droughts,
earthquakes, etc.

11. Educational
• Around 1870 Swamji opened several Patashalas (schools) and
also initiated a Kanya Patashala ( a girl school) at Meerut.
• The Arya Samaj is also a premier educational institution in the
country. It has a large number of schools, and colleges for
both boys and girls in numerous cities. The biggest of them
were the D.A.V. College at Lahore, and the Kanya
Mahavidyalaya at Jullundur.
• Since then the Arya Samaj has opened over 500 Institution
throughout India. The Institutions include girl schools, girl
colleges, Gurukuls, Orphanges, Industrial schools and
Widow shelter houses.

12. Political
• Though primarily a religious and social reform movement, and
not a political organisation, the Arya Samaj has also been a
potent factor in the political awakening of the nation.
• When communal riots were the order of the day, the Arya
Samaj infused great spirit among the Hindus by means of its
programme of Sanghtan or Hindu solidarity. It asked the
Hindus not to take insults hurled against their religion by
others lying down but organise themselves for self-defence.

13. Swami Dayanand founded the Hindu reform organization called
Arya Samaj and also created its 10 principles which are quite
distinct from Hinduism, yet based on the Vedas. These
principles aimed at advancing the individual and society
through physical, spiritual and social betterment of the
human race. His aim was not to found a new religion, but to
re-establish the teachings of the ancient Vedas. As he said
in Satyarth Prakash, he wanted the true development of
humankind by the acceptance of the Supreme truth and
rejection of falsehood through analytical thinking.
The following are the ten principles which form the official
religious creed of the Samaj:-

14. Principal doctrine of Arya Samaj
• God is the efficient cause of all true knowledge and all that is
known through knowledge.
• God is existent, intelligent and blissful. He is formless, omniscient,
just, merciful, unborn, endless, unchangeable, beginning-less,
unequalled, the support of all, the master of all, omnipresent,
immanent, un-aging, immortal, fearless, eternal and holy, and the
maker of all. He alone is worthy of being worshiped.
• The Vedas are the scriptures of all true knowledge. It is the
paramount duty of all Aryas to read them, teach them, recite them
and to hear them being read.
• One should always be ready to accept truth and to renounce
untruth.
• All acts should be performed in accordance with Dharma that is,
after deliberating what is right and wrong.

15. Contd.
• The prime object of the Arya Samaj is to do good to the world,
that is, to promote physical, spiritual and social good of
everyone.
• Our conduct towards all should be guided by love, righteousness
and justice.
• We should dispel Avidya (ignorance) and promote Vidya
(knowledge).
• No one should be content with promoting his/her good only; on
the contrary, one should look for his/her good in promoting the
good of all.
• One should regard oneself under restriction to follow the rules
of society calculated to promote the well being of all, while in
following the rules of individual welfare all should be free.

16. As a whole, it can be said that the reforms of
Arya Samaj are of great significance and have
made huge impacts on the contemporary
Hindu society. The Arya Samaj has become a
major acculturative movement with its
purified Hinduism.