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Unit 3: Socio-Religious Reforms Movement

and helped young Mulshankar acquire good insight into Vedic literature, logic, philosophy, ethics Notes
etc. Dayanand’s quest for the truth goaded him to yogabhyas (contemplation or communion) and
to learn yoga it was necessary to leave home. For fifteen years (1845-60) Dayanand wandered as
an ascetic in the whole of India studying Yoga. In 1875 he formally organised the first Arya Samaj
unit at Bombay. A few years later the headquarters of the Arya Samaj were established at Lahore.
For the rest of his life, Dayanand extensively toured India for the propagation of his ideas.
Dayanand’s ideal was to unite India religiously, socially and nationally— Aryan religion to be the
common religion of all, a classless and casteless society, and an India free from foreign rule. He
looked on the Vedas as India’s ‘Rock of Ages’, the true original seed of Hinduism. His motto was
‘Go back to the Vedas’. He gave his own interpretation of the Vedas. He disregarded the authority
of the later Hindu scriptures like the Puranas and described them as the work of lesser men and
responsible for the evil practices of idol worship and other superstitious beliefs in Hindu religion.
Dayanand condemned idol worship and preached unity of Godhead. His views were published in
his famous work Satyartha Prakash (The True Exposition).
Dayanand launched a frontal attack on the numerous abuses (like idolatry, polytheism, belief in
magic, charms, animal sacrifies, feeding the dead through sraddhas etc.) that had crept into Hindu
religion in the 19th century. He rejected the popular Hindu philosophy which held that the physical
world is an illusion (maya), that man’s soul is merely a part of God, temporarily separated from
God by its embodiment in the illusory mask of the body and that man’s object, therefore, was to
escape the world where evil existed and to seek union with God. Against this belief, Dayanand
held that God, soul and matter (prakriti) were distinct and eternal entities and every individual
had to work out his own salvation in the light of the eternal principles governing human conduct.
In rejecting monism, Dayanand also dealt a severe blow at the popular belief in pre-determination.
The swami contended that human beings were not playthings of fate and as such no one could
avoid responsibility for his actions on the plea that human deeds were predetermined. Dayanand
accepted the doctrine of karma, but rejected the theory of niyati (destiny). He explained that the
world is a battlefield where every individual has to work out his salvation by right deeds.

Why Dayanand Challenged the dominant position of the Brahmin priestly class in the
spiritual and social life of the Hindus.

Dayanand challenged the dominant position of the Brahmin priestly class in the spiritual and
social life of the Hindus. He ridiculed the claim of the priests that they could act as intermediaries
between man and God. The swami asserted every Hindu’s right to read and interpret the Vedas.
He strongly condemned the caste system based on birth, though he subscribed to the Vedic notion
of the four-varuna system in which a person was not born in any varuna (caste), but was identified
as a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra according to the occupation he followed. The swami
was also a strong advocate of equal status between man and woman; he pleaded for widow
remarriage and condemned child marriages. In a sarcastic language he described the Hindu race
as “the children of children”.
It should be clearly understood that Dayanand’s slogan of ‘Back to the Vedas’’ was a call for
revival of Vedic learning and Vedic purity of religion and not revival of Vedic times. He accepted
modernity and displayed patriotic attitude to national problems.
The creed and principles of the Arya Samaj first defined at Bombay in 1875 were revised at Lahore
in 1877. The Ten Principles were approved by Dayanand and have remained unaltered to this day.
The Principles are:
1. Good is the primary source of all true knowledge.
2. God who is All-truth, All-knowledge, Almighty, Immortal, Creator of universe, alone is worthy
of worship.

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