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To the extent you give freedom to others to be what they are, to that extent you are free.

Inner maturity of a human is not in knowing what is right or wrong, but in knowing what one loses when one does the wrong thing.

One who can manage his wants is a successful person and one who allows wants to manage one’s life is struggling to be successful.

We do not worship many Gods, we do not even worship one God; we worship the only God. We only invoke Him in various names and forms. Every aspect becomes a devata. This is the vision of Isvara of a mature person.

Life

Birth: Swami Dayananda Saraswati was born Moolshankar in the village of Tankara near Morvi (Morbi) in the Kathiawar region of modern-day Gujarat, into a Brahmin family on February 12 in 1824.

Realization: He was a sanyasi (renunciation) from his boyhood, and a scholar, who believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas. He was named, Moolshankar, and led a very comfortable early life, studying Sanskrit, the Vedas and other religious books to prepare him for a future as a Hindu priest.

A number of incidents resulted in Dayananda questioning traditional beliefs of Hinduism and inquiring about God in early childhood. The deaths of his younger sister and his uncle from cholera, caused Dayananda to ponder over the meaning of life and death and he started asking questions, which worried his parents. His parents decided to marry him off in his early teens (common in 19th century India), but he decided marriage was not for him and ran away from home in 1846.

He was disillusioned with classical Hinduism and became a wandering monk. He learned Panini’s Grammar to understand Sanskrit texts, and learnt that GOD can be seen. After wandering in search of GOD for over 2 decades, he found Swami Virjananda near Mathura who became his guru (gu: darkness; ru: light- i.e. one who makes you reach towards light from darkness) and told him to throw away all his books, as he wanted Dayananda to start from a clean slate and learn directly from the Vedas, the oldest and foundational books. Dayananda stayed under Swami Virjananda’s tutelage for two and a half years. After finishing his education, Virjananda asked him to spread the knowledge of the Vedas in society as his ‘gurudakshina’ (tuition-dues). He gave the call “back to the vedas”.

Death: Swami Dayananda Saraswati died on October 31, 1883.

Teaching Style: Swami Dayananda Saraswati traveled the country challenging religious scholars and priests of the day to discussions and won repeatedly on the strength of his arguments. He translated of the Vedas from Sanskrit to Hindi so that the common man may be able to read the Vedas.

Fame: Swami Dayananda Saraswati was an important Hindu religious scholar and the founder of the Arya Samaj, “Society of Nobles”, a Hindu reform movement, founded in 1875.He was the first man who gave the call for Swarajay in 1876. Arya samaj founded by him produced many of the freedom fighters who were responsible for the independence of India. Among his immense contributions is his championing of the equal rights of women – such as their right to education and reading of Indian scriptures – and his translation of the Vedas from Sanskrit to Hindi. The ideology presented in the works of Dayananda has been used to support the Hindutva movement of the 20th century.

Legacy: Swami Dayananda’s creation, the Arya Samaj, is a unique component in Hinduism. His “back to the Vedas” message influenced many thinkers. Taking the cue from him, Sri Aurobindo decided to look for hidden psychological meanings in the Vedas. His notable disciples like Shyamji Krishan Verma (who founded India House in London and produced revolutionaries like Madam Cama,Veer Sawarkar, Lala Hardyal, Madan Lal Dhingra, Bhagat Singh etc. etc), Swami Shradhanad (who gave Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi the title of ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ when Gandhi visited Gurukul Kangri along with Madan Mohan Malviya a Hindu scholar and founder of Banaras Hindu University ; the Gurukul had been set up at Haridwar by Swami Shradhanand),Lala Lajpat Rai and others who got inspiration from his writings (SATYARTH PRAKASH )contributed to the freedom struggle and were responsible to get freedom for the country in 1947.

Teachings

Dayananda’s Vedic message was to emphasize respect and reverence for other human beings, supported by the Vedic notion of the divine nature of the individual – divine because the body was the temple where the human essence (soul or “Atma”) could possibly interface with the creator .

He said that “I accept as Dharma whatever is in full conformity with impartial justice, truthfulness and the like; that which is not opposed to the teachings of God as embodied in the Vedas. Whatever is not free from partiality and is unjust, partaking of untruth and the like, and opposed to the teachings of God as embodied in the Vedas – that I hold as adharma.”

He had also said that “He, who after careful thinking, is ever ready to accept truth and reject falsehood; who counts the happiness of others as he does that of his own self, him I call just.”

He enshrined the idea that “All actions should be performed with the prime objective of benefiting mankind as opposed to following dogmatic rituals or revering idols and symbols.”

He interpreted Moksha to be a lower calling (due to its benefit to one individual) than the calling to emancipate others.