Principles of Arya Samaj

    1. The first (efficient) cause of all true knowledge and all that is known through knowledge is Parameshvara (the Highest Lord, i.e., Eeshwar (God)).
    2. Eeshwar (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 worshipped.
    3. Vedas are the scripture of true knowledge. It is the first duty of the Aryas to read them, teach them, recite them, and hear them being read.
    4. One should always be ready to accept truth and give up untruth.
    5. One should do everything according to the dictates of Dharma, i.e., after due reflection over right and wrong.
    6. Doing good to the whole world is the primary objective of this Society—to ensure, i.e., its physical, spiritual, and social upliftment.
    7. Let thy dealings with all be regulated by love and justice, in accordance with the dictates of Dharma.
    8. One should promote Vidhya (realization of subject and object) and dispel Avidhya (illusion).
    9. One should not be content with one’s own welfare alone, but should look for one’s own welfare in the welfare of all.
    10. One should regard one’s self under restriction to follow altruistic rulings of society, while in following rules of individual welfare all should be free.

    Commentary on the Principles of Arya Samaj

    The First Principle:

    The first (efficient) cause of all true knowledge and all that is known through knowledge is Parameshvara (the Highest Lord, i.e., Eeshwar (God)).

    Efficient cause is one by whose making something comes into effect and nothing comes into effect without its making. A simple example is that by the making of Eeshwar the formless and ever present Prakriti takes form or is made into the universe. The Arya Samaj stands for truth; its inspiration of truth is derived directly from Eeshwar. Knowledge which is simply a realisation on our part of truth that exists in and outside us has, its ultimate root in the All-Knowing Parameshwara (God). It is from Him that we get our first prompting to, and glimpses of, truth. Our intuitive knowledge in yogic vision is derived direct from Him today, as was all knowledge at the beginning of human creation received from Him by the primeval Rishis. The Eeshwar of the Arya Samaj is the Eeshwar of Truth. Our religion, thus, is conviction in, and quest after, Truth.

    The Second Principle:

    Eeshwar (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 worshipped.

    The Second Principle enumerates the attributes of Parmeshvara. Beginning with the philosophical formula Satchchidananda, meaning that His essential qualities are Existence,Intelligence, and Bliss. He is spirit of spirits, the Supreme Spirit. From all defects to which bodied spirits are heirs, He is of His nature free. He is never born. He does not die. He is changeless. He is unlimited. He is without a form. He is all pervading—immanent in all that is. He is endless, infinite, incomprehensible even in thought. He fears none and hates none too. In His love He combines the apparently opposite virtues of justice and mercy. He is merciful in that he provides for the souls all sorts of physical material with which they work and live, and reap rewards of their actions. He can do all things that agree with His nature as Eeshwar, and indoing them He requires no extraneous help as Eeshwar. Parameshwara is thus a unique conception in the religious creed of the Arya Samaj. Belief in Him fortifies the soul. For realisation of Him within one’s self, prayer and meditation are recommended to be performed at the hours of both morning and evening. The equitable Eeshwar of the Arya Samaj will not, because of our outward flattery of Him, be inclined to show us extra favour. For adoration the Arya Samaj recommends meditation of the Formless—Nirakara. According to this principle, adoration in the sense of devotional worship is due to Parameshvara alone. No man or amimal, or for that matter any other creature, can take the place of Parameshvara, Nor is Parameshvara Himself believed to be born in the form of one. Incarnation of Eeshwar is thus an untenable doctrine under the creed of the Arya Samaj.

    The Third Principle: 

    Vedas are the scripture of true knowledge. It is the first duty of the Aryas to read them, teach them, recite them, and hear them being read.

    The Third Principle enumerates the transmission of knowledge from Eeshwar to man is through Vedas. It is this Veda, which, the Arya Samaj lays down, is the repository of all truth, and which, therefore, it is the primary duty of all Aryans to study and teach, to recite and hear being read. This one principle distinguishes the Arya Samaj from all other cosmopolitan societies of reform and redemption. The Arya Samaj has before it a particular method, a definite formula of right and wrong. This method is as old as man and as lasting as humanity. All classes of human beings have been declared to have a right—and an equal duty—to study and profit from the Vedas.

    The Fourth Principle: 

    One should always be ready to accept truth and give up untruth.

    Having by the first three principles defined what it means by truth, the Arya Samaj lays stress in the fourth principle on the supreme duty of every individual man or woman to stick to truth and forsake untruth. The Arya Samaj does not confuse right with wrong by declaring that they are simply relative terms. With Maharshi Dayanand truth and untruth are distinct conceptions, the one to be adopted and adhered to, the other to be shunned, and if by mistake adopted, to be immediately renounced.

    The Fifth Principle: 

    One should do everything according to the dictates of Dharma, i.e., after due reflection over right and wrong.

    In exposition of the Fourth Principle, Fifth Principle is anticipated. Between belief and practice there should be perfect concord. Right knowledge precedes right action. Unconscious virtue is simply action, not virtue. The principles of the Arya Samaj concern themselves equally with the individual and collective duties of mankind. An Arya Samaji will, for instance, on no occasion give up his belief either in Eeshwar or in Eeshwar’s revelation, the Vedas. Nor can he part with his right to say his prayers to Parameshvara whose salient characteristics are delineated in the Second Principle. The duty to read and write, teach and listen to a recitation of theVedas is equally sacred. The truths taught by the Vedas, as a matter of his personal conviction, and as the foundation further of his personal practice, are to be his inviolable sanctuary giving him inner solace which no compromise with his fellow-beings can ever deny him. This granted, he is to place himself unreservedly at the disposal of humanity. Knowledge of right and wrong followed by conduct conforming thereto is what in Arya religion is called dharma. And the object of the principles of the Arya Samaj is to teach that dharma. This term occurs in its most appropriate place in this principle.

    The Sixth Principle: 

    Doing good to the whole world is the primary objective of this Society—to ensure, i.e., its physical, spiritual, and social upliftment.

    The mission of the Arya Samaj is universal. Religions generally ignore the physical side of human growth. Some think this phase of life is mundane and therefore beneath the notice of majority of religions. Maharshi Dayanand gives the physical body of both man and animal foremost place. Charity should look after the physical needs of its recipients first. Such measures should be taken by the corporate activity of the citizens, as will tend to the physical betterment of the race. The extirpation of disease, the lowering of the death-rate, and the popularization of the idea and methods of physical culture, the training of citizens in habits of clean living etc., are items of social civic work, to which every philanthropic society of men and women should address itself.

    The Arya Samaj, only after its brief career of social activity, had at its back stellar record of social service. Many orphanages and widow homes stand to its credit. Many a famine, earthquakes, floods have found the Arya Samajis busy rehabilitating the helpless. The misery of a whole world requires the service of whole humanity. And what we are depicting to-day is the social ideal, not the actual achievements of this society or that. The achievement is only an infinitesimal part of what remains to be done. It is the mission of the Arya Samaj to carry whole humanity.

    The Seventh Principle: 

    Let thy dealings with all be regulated by love and justice, in accordance with the dictates of Dharma.

    The behavior of an Arya Samaji towards his fellow-beings is to be regulated according to this principle. He cannot, as taught in the last principle, help in promoting the welfare of the world, unless his general attitude towards other creatures than himself be that of deep sympathy, of close fellow-feeling.

    The duty of a person does not end with his love of man alone. Standing at the head of all creation, he owes an obligation to sub-human creatures as well. His attitude towards these also should be governed by the same principles, viz., those of love, propriety and righteousness. While the first attribute, viz., love is to be the guiding note of his inner motive, the second i.e. propriety will be the criterion in choosing the means, while considerations of righteousness are urged in order to refer him ultimately to the eternal code, viz., the Veda, the injunctions of which alone will give his powers of discretion the right lead.

    The Eighth Principle: 

    One should promote Vidhya (realization of subject and object) and dispel Avidhya (illusion).

    Arya Samaj seeks to further right knowledge and dispel ignorance, to promote realisation and remedy illusion. Knowledge, according to the definition of the Arya Shastras, is right knowledge, knowledge born of the Vedas, knowledge which will make-us discriminate between right and wrong, between what tends to our good and what leads to our ruin. Vidya, as conceived by the Rishis, is not simply knowledge in the modern sense ; it is identification of one’s self with the Real, the True, the Right.

    The Ninth Principle: 

    One should not be content with one’s own welfare alone, but should look for one’s own welfare in the welfare of all.

    In the Ninth Principle individual good and social good are mutually reconciled. To Arya Samaj the two appear to be identical. Never be content with the promotion of your own welfare. Promote the welfare of all. For this alone can you really push on your own good. A great part of individual happiness or misery depends upon the happy and miserable state of the society, in the midst of which the lot of the individual is cast.

    The Tenth Principle: 

    One should regard one’s self under restriction to follow altruistic rulings of society, while in following rules of individual welfare all should be free.

    The last principle is designed to simplify the conflict that may sometimes arise between the personal and social obligations of an individual. There are instances when private rights have to be jealously guarded, while at the same there is a demand on our conscience of public interest which seems to require sacrifice not only of personal interest but also of personal liberty. In foregoing his personal inclination a public-spirited member of society may not feel any great hesitation, though a strain too heavy upon even what are simply likes and dislikes of individuals may sometimes prove dangerous.

    The problem becomes serious when what seems to be a private duty draws you one way, while the voice of the majority has decided otherwise. Which way will one then follow ? How far should the majority morally compel our compliance with its decisions and where should it leave us free to choose our own line of procedure larger and smaller wholes and as wides the human world itself. The significance of this commandment gets wider and wider as our social and humanitarian outlook becomes steadily broader and broader. Without destroying them, it aims at unifying the good . It shall maintain diversity, out of which, by the miraculous power of love, it will evolve an unprecedented unity.