What Dayanand Saraswati did for public welfare?

Hello dear readers, how are you all. I hope you are all happy and healthy. Welcome to Gaurav Sangrah If we see, many individuals have contributed to make our country prosperous in Indian History. But today we are going to talk about such a personality who was neither a king nor a soldier but he was a spiritual leader named Dayanand Saraswati:

• who gave up idolatry after seeing rats in temples,
• who also climbed the Himalayas in search of a Guru,
• whose motto was "Return to the Vedas" for India,
• even today some institutions are running made by him.

Let us further consider the words of our social reformer Dayanand Saraswati.

Dayanand Saraswati

Who was Dayanand Saraswati ?

Dayanand Saraswati was born on 12 February 1824 in a prosperous Brahmin family in Gujarat. As the child was born in Mulanakshatra, the parents named the child Mulashankar. Further on he got the name Dayananda Saraswati from Mula Shankara. Since Mula Shankar was from a happy and Brahmin family, his father arranged for a Guru for Mula Shankar's education at home only. He was a bright and charismatic child since childhood. He started memorising Yajurveda, Rudrarveda and other Vedas along with their grammar.

What thought did Dayananda Saraswati get after seeing rats eating God's prasad ?

Temple

As Dayanand Saraswati belonged to a Brahmin clan, his family had great faith in Pujapatha and Bhajanakirtan. Once on the eve of Shivratri, Dayanand Saraswati was explained the glory of Shivratri by his father and was taken to the temple for darshan at night. Dayananda Saraswati saw in the temple that the prasad which was offered to lord Shiva was being spoiled by rats eating the prasad.

Dayananda Saraswati got a thought after seeing the rats eating the prasad placed before God that what is the point of performing idol worship or fasting if the Lord cannot protect his own prasad by himself. He came home in anger, broke his fast and protested for idol worship.

Why did Dayanand Saraswati abandon home ?

Many times Dayanand Saraswati questioned his parents that is it necessary to walk with terms of the world. Some of these questions of Dayanand Saraswati used to worry his parents. If Dayananda continues to behave like this, he will become an ascetic. Due to this fear his parents started talking about Dayanand Saraswati's marriage. Marriage will bring wife in Dayanand's life and change in his behavior. Dayanand Saraswati was told about marriage and thus he left the house without telling anyone.

How did Dayananda Saraswati meet Guru ?

After leaving home, Dayananda Saraswati traveled all over the country in search of a Guru but could not find a suitable Guru. So he went to Saraswati Himalayas. There he did penance for 10 to 12 years while staying on the Himalayas, and due to its influence, he also attained divine consciousness. He then came from the Himalayas to Mathura where he met Ravjanath Saraswati who was a blind guru.

Dayananda Saraswati went in search of a suitable Guru and found him in Ravjanath Saraswati. So he considered Rvajnath Saraswati as his Guru. Even Guru Ravjanath Saraswati was impressed by Dayananda Saraswati's nature and charitable behavior. Ravjanath Saraswati himself gave the name Dayananda Saraswati from Mulashankar.

When did Dayananda Saraswati establish the Arya Samaj ?

Dayananda Saraswati noticed that some superstitions were spreading among the people. So Dayananda Saraswati founded "Arya Samaj" in 1875 to make people aware. The leaders of the organization helped people in problems like drought. Also when there was an earthquake or a flood in a place, the leaders of the organization would also rush to save the people. Arya Samaj was first established in Mumbai. Later he was transfered from Mumbai to Lahore. At that time, Pakistan was part of India and was later partitioned.

What are the principles of Arya Samaj ?

The 10 Principles of Arya Samaj are:

1. Understand the Vedas
2. Know Vedana Mantra
3. Have faith in God but do not worship idols.
4. Do Karma Souls are immortal.
5. Don't waste money on pilgrimage instead help a needy person.
6. There is no difference between God, Jesus or Allah.
7. Educate women.
8. Oppose child marriage and polygamy.
9. Encourage widow marriage.
10. Promote Hindi and Sanskrit language.

What Dayanand Saraswati did for public welfare ?

Even though Dayananda Saraswati was a Brahmin himself, he did not hesitate to speak against Brahmins, such heroes we had in our Indian History. He said that earlier greedy and ignorant Pandits had changed the mention of scriptures and Puranas. He even gave the formula to the people to "turn back to the Vedas". True verses we get to understand and know from Vedas, he also wrote some books to make people aware. 

Dayanand Saraswati writing book

He said that there is no high caste or low caste, all are equal, all are known by their own karma and not by their castes. He also started schools and colleges for education. Even today you can see high schools etc. being run by DAV (Dayanand Anglo Vadik) Trust in most cities.

Why was Dayanand Saraswati killed by poisoning ?

Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur invited Dayanand Saraswati to his palace one day. So Dayananda went to the palace to meet Saraswati Maharaj. In the palace it was seen that Maharaj was drinking and watching the dance of a dancer. At the same time Dayanand Saraswati told Jaswant Singh that Maharaj all this does not beautify you and is not suitable for you.

The dancer felt insulted by Dayanand Saraswati's speech and walked away. To avenge his insult, she mixed poison in the syrup and sent it to Dayananda Saraswati. Dayananda Saraswati's health deteriorated after drinking poisoned syrup and later died.

Conclusion:

Dayanand Saraswati also wrote a book named "Santyartha Prakash" for the welfare of people. Even today we can see "Kirti Mandir" built by him in Punjab. He died at the hands of a woman in Ajmer on 30 October 1883 on Diwali. Even after his death the Arya Samaj was continued by members like Lala Hansraj, Pandit Gurudatta, Lala Lajpatrai, Swami Sadananda and even today it runs in countries like Asia, Europe, America.

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