200th birth anniversary of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati

Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati, was born on Falgun Krishna Dashami Vikrami Samvat 1981 (February 12, 1824) in Tankara village, Maurvi district of present Gujarat. His father’s name was Karsan Ji Tiwari and mother name was Amritbai. His birth name was Moolshankar. While fasting on Shivratri and witnessing rituals in the Shiva temple, the curious child Moolshankar attained enlightenment and left his home at the age of 19 years to attain the darshan of the devout God and set out on a journey of purity.

He went to Mathura and got the education of grammar, vedas and scriptures from Guru Virjanand Dandi and learned from his philosophy that the main reason for the dilemma in the present condition of the country is the prevalence of wrong meanings instead of the correct meanings of the Vedas.

During his journey, he saw the web of religious pomp, superstition and social evils spread in the society and understood why we are slaves of others in our own country. Seeing the country’s poverty, illiteracy, plight of women, destruction of language and culture, Dayanand Saraswati became extremely moved. He learned that when India had the knowledge of Vedas, India was the world leader. He pledged to re-establish the Vedas, Vedic religion and ancient culture in India by offering his entire life as Gurudakshina to Guru Virjanand.

He expressed his views on religious, social and political issues through his classic book ‘Satyarth Prakash’. For the first time, he created awareness in the context of cow protection, Hindi protection, usefulness of Sanskrit language, Swadeshi, self-language and self-respect.

He established Arya Samaj in Mumbai in the year 1875 to keep his goals continuously moving forward. In order to restore India to the position of world leader, on Vedas, he presented its actual commentary before the countrymen and talked about the right of everyone to read the Vedas and to act in life as per the Vedic principles. In his short but precious life, he fiercely attacked religious superstitions and social evils. Proclaiming the message of the Vedas as ‘Mata Prakarana Bhavati’, he became the biggest advocate of women’s education. He called for bringing a large section of the Hindu society, which had been isolated due to casteism, untouchability and discrimination, into the mainstream of society, raising their standard of living and working for education.

While propagating the cause of social upliftment, Swadeshi and patriotism, he became a thorn in the eyes of British. At the age of 59, he was poisoned and eventually he passed away in Ajmer on the eve of diwali on 30 Oct 1883.

The actions undertaken by Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati during his lifetime, played a key role in restoring India to the position of world leader. Today the evil practices of casteism, untouchability, child marriage, polygamy, Sati practice, animal sacrifice, male sacrifice, purdah system, Devdasi have come down substantially. The works like inter-caste marriage, Dalit empowerment, widow remarriage, education campaign for all, women empowerment, right to education for women, right to read Vedas for all, education through Gurukul education system are being done by the government by making laws.

His thoughts are eternal and relevant even today. Even after 200 years of his birth, the life of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati gives us new vision and consciousness, the light of truth given by him gives us new energy and life giving power to fulfill our resolve every day.

The Logo on 200th birth anniversary of Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati, which was unveiled by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on the occasion of the beginning of its 200th year on February 12, 2023, is a symbol of human sacrifice, unbroken peace, happy world and a unified India. It also symbolises that Vedas forms the basis of life of human race.