Contributions of Maharshi  Dayanand Saraswati’s Renaissance Movement

    Seeds sown by Maharshi Swami Dayanand:

    1. He aroused individual, social and national consciousness  at national level in  colonial India, when the British were subjugating parts of India by force. 
    2. He sent  a clarion call to the masses  to mobilize them to implement the individual, social, religious and political reforms that were necessary to achieve ‘Self-Governance’.  To this cause, he founded the reformist movement called  – Arya Samaj.
    3. He called upon the society to follow eternal, natural, and universal laws and principles enshrined in Vedas and to  avoid misinterpretation of Vedic hymns or mantras.  He translated Vedas on the basis of grammatical and logical interpretations of Sanskrit Mantras with the help of ancient authentic texts– Nighantu and  Nirukt and not on allegorical/figurative presentations. To popularize this correct educational approach, he established many Gurukuls and underlined the need  to publish literature to help proper  education of the masses.
    4. He cleared confusion and removed distortion in interpretations of Vedas and other Scriptures. This was done and validated in his famous book Rigvedadibhashyabhumika, by grammatical, scientific, logical,  etymological analysis. Through  constructive, logical and comparative approach , he exposed the erroneous, corrupted , and distorted presentations of many well known commentaries of Vedas, including those by indigenous scholars such as Uvvata, Mahidhar, Saayan and   also  by many European scholars. Maharshi Dayanand  Saraswati is credited and acknowledged for preserving the sanctity and purity of the timeless  Apourushaya or divine Vedas. His scholarship is recognized by French philosopher and Nobel Laureate Romain Rolland and great Yogi Maharshi Arovindo Ghosh,  to name just a few.
    5. He awakened people to  the caste system.  Vedas do not sanction caste. Vedic society is a caste-less society and there is no place for caste system in Vedic Dharma. Only the  avocation of an individual  distinguishes one from another. Varna is not  caste. Varna is a vocation based system. All four Varnas are of equal status and complement each other to sustain a healthy society. He was the first person in history to start Untouchability Eradication Programs.
    6. He promoted equal access to Vedic discourse for all sections of the Society and taught the right approach  to   lead a life. He opened the closed doors of Vedic knowledge that was provided  by ancient Vedic Rishis and sages for all including women and the downtrodden sections of the society. Vedic knowledge is the ancient heritage of humanity that deals with all physical, metaphysical, and spiritual aspects and was preserved by devoted and dedicated people for the sake of humanity.
    7. He rejuvenated the codes of conduct and brought Yog to the doorstep of a common person.‘Showing the way to living  a healthy, prosperous, productive, peaceful, and long life joyfully, he popularized original Ashtaang Yog of Patanjali Rishi. He emphasized on  the right ways to live day by day by following Yam and Niyam – codes of conduct established by Patanjali.
    8. He promoted education for all. To  make people better human beings called Aryas, he and his followers subsequently opened the doors of education and spirituality for all people irrespective of creed, caste, age, gender and faith. He propagated that, per Vedic teachings, all people are born equal. No  one is Brahmin, Vaishya, Kshatriya or Shudra by birth, no one is superior or inferior to others just based on the birth but everyone is grateful to each other. According to one’s vocation one chooses and adapts to a particular profession or Varna. 
    9. He restored the age-old Vedic identity, established Vedic Dharma followers as Aryas and exhorted people to persevere or undertake Purusharth to achieve success in daily life. 
    10. He instilled the spirit of service in people and exhorted them to practice natural eternal duties and responsibilities in daily life.  He reminded us  of the individual’s eternal duties towards children, women and all sections of society in order to achieve growth in all spheres of life. These natural duties are addressed as Sixteen Sanskaars/Sacraments as per Vedic Dharm. One is to exercise natural rights ensuring the following items : 1. Education of children and women in a nurturing, safe and harmonious  environment; 2. All sections of society to be treated equally; 3. Freedom to choose one’s own consort or life partner ; 4. Widow’s right to remarry, while rejecting bigamy, polygamy, child marriages and dowry system. To achieve these goals, he opened many educational institutions. 
    11. He empowered women. He aroused society to educate women and recognize that they have equal rights as those of men. He was forceful in speaking out against childhood marriages, adultery, polygamy, Sati Pratha and dowry system. He encouraged widow remarriages, and opened Vanita Ashrams/Women shelters for destitute women and prevented them from becoming trapped in prostitution, etc. Women were able to have all Sanskaars/sacrament like men  and were able to recite Vedic Mantras, conduct various ceremonies, and wear the sacred thread–Yajnyopaveet.
    12. He showed the path of universal familyhood. As per the Vedas, there is only one Omnipresent, Omniscient Creator of the whole cosmos called Eeshvar/God, who is Eternal and has no Image. All humans are children of that never Born; Super-Soul called Parampita, Parmatma/God, who can be realized by Patanjali Yog Saadhnaa and Samaadhi.
    13. He exposed the outrageous, vicious, and malicious designs of corrupt–the so called Brahmins/Gurus, Mahants, Mathaadhish and self declared Bhagawaans, who were deceiving and fooling the simple, naive, and innocent people in the name of religion. He coined a new word, Gurudom/Priestcraft for these corrupt religious figures, and these were alarmed by his tenacity to remove social evils, hypocrisy, orthodoxy, wizardry, and corruption that prevailed in the name of religion. These corrupt people of the priestly class made numerous attempts to eliminate him.
    14. He exposed the pathetic society of the times  and malicious designs of Mullahs and Missionaries who were befooling the  innocent  and taking advantage of illiteracy, hypocrisy, poverty and slavery, with preponderance of anti Vedic blind faiths, social evils, miracles and  induced or  coerced conversions. Even though there was a lack of resources and means of travel during the 19th century, Maharshi Dayanand  Saraswati traveled throughout the length and breadth of greater India/Bharat/Aryavartt and saw these grim realities of the society. He observed the fact that ‘Mullahs and Missionaries are taking undue benefits of these  pathetic social situations, and giving false hope of miracles and ultimately forcing people into conversions.’ And this way the whole nation was being torn apart and  heading towards self destruction. 
    15. He reinvigorated  Individual and Social responsibilities of oneself through conducting Panch Maha Yajnya – Five daily duties. These duties are well defined by Vedas, ancient Rishis and sages, and reemphasized in Manu Smriti by lawgiver Manu. These are the basic needs of the individual and, if not exercised, lead to the slow decay of the self and society. These Five daily duties – Panch MahaaYajnya are -1. BrahmaYajnya: worship of the Omniscient, Omni-Resplendent, Omnipresent whose pious and supreme name is Om, and who is  addressed as Eeshvar/God by ancient sages, Rishis and all scriptures. It also consists of Swadhyaaya i.e., study of scriptures by oneself; 2. Conduct Devyajnya –Agnihotra, to maintain purity  of the natural environment; 3. Pitriyajnya, to respect and care for elders, ancestors, and parents, 4. Balivishvadeva-yajnya – to serve the society and care for elderly, sick, poor and dependent and or distressed people, animals etc., and 5. Atithi-Yajnya, to care for and serve learned people, guests, scholars, etc., who go from place to place to educate society, etc. Thus no one is left unattended in the greater society; and coerced conversions and self destruction of society is automatically prevented. 
    16. He simplified the process of Dev-Yajnya – Agnihotra so  that a common person can understand and undertake it. He encouraged people to collectively undertake this activity to develop social cohesion, thus simplifying this process. He was successful in clamping down the Gurudom – the unethical, antisocial, selfish and fraudulent activities of the corrupt so-called Brahmins/Priests at that time. Additional benefit of this simplification was to have common people come to one platform collectively to study scriptures.
    17. He cleared the confusion surrounding devi-devtas and Eeshvar/God. He made it clear that devi-devtas are not Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient and cannot be equated with divinity/God.  He cited Vedas. Vedas clearly state that only one Eeshvar/God creates and recreates, sustains and rules the whole cosmos and is addressed as ‘Om’, being Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omni-resplendent, Omni-Just, Omni-Luminous, Beginningless, Formless, Unborn, Eternal, Fearless, Holy, Incorporeal, Incomparable, Impersonal, Immortal, Infinite, Compassionate  Unchangeable, the Support and Lord of all, All-Pervading, Creator of the Universe. He underlined that Eeshvar/God alone is worthy of worship.
    18. He inspired people to seek truth and truth alone. Being conscientious, he thoroughly studied all the religions of the world. Inspiration to write Satyarth-Prakash was given to Swamiji by Raja Jaikishandas – deputy Collector of Aligarh. Satyarth-Prakash’s first edition was published in 1875, and the second edition in 1884. Comparative analysis of  All World Religions can be studied in Satyarth Prakash/Light of truth. This book really shows the light of truth to all beings.
    19. He exposed Macaulization – A Process of acculturation and enslavement of the Psyche, introduced in India by Lord Macaulay.  By enhancing ancient, eternal teachings of Vedas, he was able to establish  a Philosophical, Socio-Religio-Cultural continuation. He also urged people to be self reliant and to use indigenous resources and material products.  In his lifetime, he was successful in having the state of Marwar (present day it is a part of Rajasthan state of India and generally pertains to Jodhpur) to promulgate order for the state government – employees to use Swadeshi – indigenous products and wear Khaadi dress – dress made up of homespun cotton cloth called Khaadi. He started the Swadeshi Movement, which later on was followed by Mahatma Gandhi.
    20. He launched Shuddhi Programs – Because of his efforts many of Macaulite Indians – Indians influenced by Lord Macaulay’s philosophy to convert mentally, coerced and converted into Christians/Muslims returned to their original Vedic fold. This change to  continuation of pristine Vedic culture is due to Swami Dayanand Sarsawati’s efforts of bringing back all lost brothers and sisters to their roots. Swami Dayanand was the first person in  recent Indian history to organize a peaceful voluntary return ceremony of Shuddhi for bringing these strayed people back to Vedic Dharm. 
    21. He laid to rest the ‘Aryan Dravidian  dichotomy’ theory, which was devised by the British to ‘divide and rule,’ by enlightening people with the real meaning of Arya. He challenged the educated elite, and clarified that Aryas are the original inhabitants of India and that an invasion of India by Aryas never happened. Aryas and Dravids  being the titles given to noble people and prosperous persons of society, respectively.

    Maharshi Dayanand  Saraswati achieved the following remarkable feats in his lifetime: He successfully established Arya Samaj. He

    1. Established a peaceful nonviolent reform movement to banish  social inequality and injustice;
    2. Fostered the development of a human reform and self governance movement that led to independence for the whole of SouthEast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent;
    3. Wrote Satyarth Prakash which contains the Comparative Studies of World Religions;
    4. Brought back the ancient and pristine Vedic teachings to ameliorate human sufferings, 
    5. Established Paropkarini Sabha to continue his reform movement for the sake of all humanity;
    6. Single handedly, led a nonviolent peaceful movement to arouse the social consciousness, to overcome social inequalities and injustices that were created by ignorance, superstitions and orthodoxy owing to the lack of Vedic teachings;
    7. Sounded a clarion call for political reform and visualized the need for ‘League of nations or United Nations Organization,’ when it was unheard of during his lifetime. He was poisoned in 1883. The League of Nations came into being after World War One i.e., in 1919 – 1920. 
    8. Today, what Martin Luther is for Christianity/Catholics or Protestants, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati is for the whole of Humanity!

    Impact on the Elites of the USA: 

    Madam Blavatsky and Col. Alcott, founder of the Theosophical Society in 1875 went to see Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati in India in 1879 to invite him to the USA. Swamiji respectfully declined. According to some scholars, the answer given by him is ‘First I have to keep my house in order before I can tell others what to do’ Swamiji meant – I have so much work to do in India, before I go abroad! Currently the head office of the Theosophical Society of USA is in Atlanta, GA in USA.