Educational Ideas of Swami Dayanand - Sunil Behari Mohanty

Part I

Swami Dayanand was an exponent of the ancient Indian philosophy of education. A large number of Dayanand Anglo Vedic institutions have been established in his honor. Swami Dayanand was born in 1824 at Tankara of Morvi State of Kathiawada. Karashanji Lalji Tripathy was his father and Rukmaniba, the mother. His parents had named him as Dayaram. The name assigned to him in his horoscope was Mool Shanker. He had adorned the name Sudha Chaitanya, as a Brahmachari. Swami Dayanand had his education in Gujarati and Sanskrit. Being affected by the death of his sister and great uncle in 1846, he left home at the age of 22 and wandered in search of God. At the age of 33, Purnanand Saraswati initiated him into sannyasahood. In 1860, he became a disciple of Swami Virajananda, who was a great grammarian and also a Vedic scholar. He passed away on 30th October 1883 at Ajmer. Swami Dayanand was a great scholar and had a large number of followers. He brought back glory to Indian national character through his lectures and writings, during a period when the country was reeling under foreign rule, and the Hindu religion was facing problems both from inside, from Brahmins and from outside. Satyartha Prakash, his famous book was published first in 1875. Other books were Gokarunanidhi (1883), Ved Bhasya, Rigvedadi Bhasya Bhumika, Vyavahar Bhanu, etc. Swami Dayanand worked hard for improvement of the society by establishing institutions at various places. Various educationists and reformers have praised Swami Dayanand. According to Sri Aurobindo, Swami Dayanand exposed the true power of the Vedas and brought back an old Aryan element into the national character.

Arya Samaj

Initially, Swami Dayanand established Prarthana Samajs. In January 1875, the Rajkot Prarthana Samaj was converted into Arya Samaj. The Bombay Arya Samaj followed it. Swamiji did not take up any official position in the Arya Samaj, and functioned as an ordinary member of the Samaj. His membership serial number was 31. The foundation day of Bombay Arya Samaj (10th April) is observed as the foundation day of the Arya Samaj. The members of Arya Samaj have much regard for the Vedas and accept the Brahmin literature to the extent that it is in tune with the Vedic literature. According to them, God is formless. They do not believe in idol worship. They are expected to be philanthropic and truthful. Each member of the Samaj is expected to contribute at least one per cent of his/her earnings towards Arya Samaj fund. A member is also expected to donate to Arya Samaj at the time of his/her family functions.

(To be continued in November, 2006 issue)

© "Mother India" (February 2003 & March 2003 issues) published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Publication Department, Pondicherry 605 002. Website: www.sriaurobindoashram.org. Reprinted with permission.

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