Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati:
In This Article on ”Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, 200th Birth Anniversary Celebrations” we will Discuss About the Background of Year Long Celebrations To Commemorate 200th Birth Anniversary of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, Life Story Of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, His Persona, etc.
150th Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo: Know Everything for UPSC
Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati
In News?
- On February 12th, 2023, PM Modi will inaugurate the year long celebrations commemorating 200th birth anniversary of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Delhi.
Background
- The government has been committed to celebrating the social reformers and important personalities, especially those whose contributions were not given their due yet on a pan-India scale.
- From declaring the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Muda as Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas to participating in a programme commemorating Sri Aurobindo’s 150th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been leading such initiatives from the front.
Janjatiya Gaurav Divas 2022- President Murmu to pay tributes to Bhagwan Birsa Munda at Ulihatu
Brief Info About Swami Dayanand Saraswati
- Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, born on 12th February, 1824, was a social reformer who founded Arya Samaj in 1875 to counter then prevalent social inequities.
- Arya Samaj has played a key role in cultural and social awakening of the country by its emphasis on social reforms and education.
Sri Kanaka Dasa: A great poet and musician from Karnataka
Life Story Of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati
Early Life
- He was born on 12th February 1824. His father, Karasanji, a devout worshipper of Shiva, would often take his young son Mulshankar (that was the earlier name of Dayanand) to places where kathas from the Shiva Purana were recited.
- The first 21 years of Mulshakar’s life were spent at home receiving the traditional education of a Brahmin boy.
A Man of Action and Scholarship
A profound Vedic scholar, metaphysician, reformer, and religious leader, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati was as much a man of action as of scholarship.
How Maharshi Dayanand Lost Interest In Family Life?
- At the age of eighteen, Mulshankar’s sister suddenly died and this was followed by the death of a deeply loved uncle.
- He lost interest in family life and despite the efforts of his parents to keep him tied down to the life of a householder, Mulshankar left home in 1846.
Who Admitted Him To Brahmacharya?
- A Sannyasi, Bhagat Ram, whom he met soon after admitted him as a brahmachari, initiated him and gave him the name of Shuddha Chaitanya, “the Pure-Souled”.
- Two years later he was initiated into Sannyas by Paramanand Saraswati, a Dandi Swami from Maharashtra, and was named Dayanand Saraswati.
In Search of Knowledge for Next 15 Years
- The next fifteen years of Swamiji’s life were spent in moving about the country in search of knowledge and truth.
- It was in the course of his extensive wanderings during these years that it dawned on Dayanand rather forcefully that there was a wide gulf between religious precept and practice.
- ‘Religion consisted more in the appearances put on than in the lives lived’, he proclaimed.
- Moral cowardice, mental inertia, and social degradation, he felt, were sought to be sanctioned in the name of religion.
Found Guru
- He went to Mathura and made an intensive study of the Vedas and the Upanishads under Swami Virajanand, an ardent ascetic, and a profound scholar.
- Dayanand was thirty-six years of age then and his long search for a guru had at last materialized. After about three years, while parting from his preceptor, he took a solemn vow to dedicate the rest of his life to the cause of religion.
Remaining 20 Years: Arya Samaj, Satyarth Prakash
- The remaining twenty years of Swami’s life were spent in incessant campaigning through lectures, debates, publication of books and pamphlets, the founding of schools and seminars, and establishing countrywide branches of the Arya Samaj, the society he founded in 1875 to carry out his mission.
- The Satyagraha Prakasha, the great work of Dayanand in which he set out his ideas and beliefs, was published from Banaras the same year.
What Is Thirukkural, A Masterpiece By Sant Sri Thiruvalluvar?
An Impactful Persona Of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati
- With his impressive personality, he dominated people wherever he went.
- Shri Har Bilas Sarda, the Swami’s biographer, writes: “Over six feet in height, with a body seasoned as steel, with the strength of a Hercules and a will as firm as a rock, with barely a loin cloth and without as much as a stick, Dayanand faced infuriated mobs and hired goondas, fanatics and religious bigots and would be murderers, himself remaining tranquil and calm.”
- Ardent Love Of Truth: Another feature of Dayanand’s character was his ardent love of truth. He was a man of the highest courage and completely selfless.
- Purity Of Public Life: Several times tempting offers were made to dissuade him from his ideological convictions, but each such effort gave him added strength to stand on the purity of a public man’s life.
- A Great Social Reformer: He was a great social reformer who rendered yeoman service in the cause of education and the removal of many social ills which existed in his times.
Sri Ramanujacharya | Statue of Equality to be Unveiled by the Prime Minister
