Swami Dayanand Saraswati (1824-1883) was the world’s renaissance man. He was a Vedic scholar, an accomplished yogi, a saint-spiritualist and a nationalist social reformer all rolled into one. He awakened us to the core truths of all life and existence like none had done in the last many centuries. Vedas are the primeval, eternal, divinely revealed scriptures.
Ordinary scholars have translated and interpreted Vedic hymns in different ways because of their deficient knowledge of Pali Sanskrit and Panini grammar. However, Swami Dayanand mastered both and rendered the best translation and interpretation of the Vedas of the last 3,000 years. His translations of the Rigveda and Yajurveda are unmatched to this day.
Based on his understanding of the Vedas, he preached that there are three prime, eternal entities in the universe—the creator Ishwar, the primordial matter and countless living souls. Ishwar creates or fashions out the visible universe from the inanimate primordial matter for the living souls for their evolution. For this purpose, he creates abodes like the earth for them to prepare them for corporeal existence as sentient beings with bodies.
Through corporeal existence, these souls (jeevatmas) acquire experiential knowledge and evolve gradually to perfection to reach blissful salvation.
The knowledge of the Vedas is universalistic as it applies to all humans cutting across narrow divisions of caste, class, race, sex or location on this planet. Swami Dayanand enlightened us to the fact that the Vedas are not just worldly but cosmic scriptures and are intrinsically incorruptible, being created by Ishwar who is omnipotent and omniscient. He stated that human evolution and progress are multidimensional which requires adherence to eternal dharma. There are no shortcuts to salvation.
The purist translation of a Yajurveda mantra rendered by Swamiji is stated below:
“O Lord! Creator of the Universe and provider of all happiness and bliss! Banish all our bad attributes and misery and enable us to acquire all good attributes to attain happiness.” (Yajurveda 30/3)
The gist of Swamiji’s teachings is presented below in the form of the 10 principles enunciated by him. These are the guiding canons of the Arya Samaj institution established by him in the year 1875 for the propagation of Vedic ideology.
Parmeshwar or Ishwar (god) is the fountainhead and source of all true knowledge.
Ishwar is the embodiment of bliss, formless, omnipotent, just, compassionate, never-born, infinite, unblemished, never-began, unequalled, basis of all, immanent, ageless, immortal, fearless, eternal, sacred and creator of the universe. He alone is worthy of worship.
The Vedas are the compendiums of all true knowledge. It is the bounden duty of all noble persons to perform the study and discourse of Vedas.
We should constantly endeavour to absorb truth and discard untruth.
All actions should be performed in accordance with Dharma—after due reflection over right and wrong.
Promoting the welfare of the global society is the prime duty of this Samaj—helping its physical, spiritual and social progress.
We should treat others courteously, righteously and deservedly.
We should always endeavour to enhance true knowledge and discard the untruth.
Every person should not be content with his progress alone but should see his own progress in the progress of others.
All persons should be bound to follow the welfare rulings of society while, in following the rules of individual welfare, they should be free.
The present world is struck by an ideological crisis and this, as Swamiji stated, is because global paradigms of the current times are not in consonance with the message and spirit of Vedas. That is why he exhorted people to get in touch with Vedas with the slogan—‘Back to Vedas’. These divine scriptures link humans with their creator who is omnipotent and omniscient and illumine their path of true progress which is not just material progress but material-cum-spiritual progress marked by physical, mental, intellectual and moral development of the human individual. Treading the path of such multifaceted progress will lead to human salvation. If the present world seriously follows the sublime messages of the Vedas, global peace and true progress of humans will become a reality.
The nation is commemorating Swami Dayanand Saraswati through 2024—his 200th birth anniversary year.
(Atul Sehgal is the author of Guide to Inner Wellness and The Essence of Bhagwad Gita—70 Verses at its Core)