Swami Dayanand Saraswati:A Prophet of Modern Hinduism

Swami Dayanand Saraswati:A Prophet of Modern Hinduism

More than thirty-five years ago I graduated from D.A.V. College in Amritsar. Credit truly goes to this fine institution that I still cherish my fond memories of the educational experience. Even though D.A.V. College is named after a man called “Dayanand”, most students knew next to nothing about him and  nor were we taught anything about him. Then in the early 1970s a minor incident occurred that surprised many of us. The Punjab Government decided to realign some colleges to affiliate with the newly created Guru Nanak University located in Amritsar. A number of colleges including those in Amritsar were included in this transfer category and surprisingly this decision caused uproar among them. Apparently these colleges were content with their affiliation with the Punjab University in Chandigarh, and resented strongly being reassigned to Guru Nanak University. As a young student I heard distressing rumors that these D.A.V. colleges didn’t think much of the name of Guru Nanak, which to me was baffling all the more because I held D.A.V. colleges in high esteem just as I held Guru Nanak’s name. I graduated and moved on but the question remained in my remote memory as to why such institutions of higher learning like the D.A.V colleges resented being linked to the name of Guru Nanak via a university affiliation.

After commissioning in the U.S. Army and weeks before leading to the 1984 tragedies affecting the Sikhs in India, I read a few reports highlighting the role that Arya Samaj played in the breakdown of Punjabi society both before and after Punjab’s partition in 1947. Swami Dayananda about whom I did not know much at that time founded Arya Samaj. I have always exercised caution while reading news authored by various Indian groups including the Sikhs. Finally the circumstances had descended for me to begin unveiling the mystery of Arya Samaj and its founder Swami Dayanand. Little was I prepared when in 1991 I read the Satyarth Prakash, Dayananda’s master literature, which left me stunned for days. Before I dwell further on the Swami, let me say a few words on modern Hinduism, an understanding of which is essential here. What is modern Hinduism?

With the introduction of British colonialism in the Bengal region of India a new ideology took birth that was to transform classical and/or popular Hinduism. In other words, modern Hinduism (also referred to as reformatory Hinduism) is a reinterpretation of Hindu scriptures or Hindu ideas based upon the following six competing aggressive factors: (1) European colonialism; (2) Christian missions; (3) Western education & technology; (4) Western means of propaganda & disinformation; (5) Theosophy; and (6) Freemasonry. Over the years various interpretations had appeared on the horizon starting with the Brahmo Samaj and its various tributaries. Men who brought forth these new interpretations are the ones whom I call “Prophets of modern Hinduism.” They range from RamMohan Roy in Bengal to Mahatma Gandhi of Gujarat. In fact among the cadres of these prophets, all hailed from Bengal with the exception of two from Gujarat namely Swami Dayananda and Mahatma Gandhi. It should be noted that both Gandhi and Dayanand exerted far-reaching negative impact on Punjab. While popular imagination is entrenched in thinking that modern Hinduism is after all a reformatory movement and therefore a far better alternative to its predecessor, I contend that modern Hinduism is far more precarious ideologically with its unending mutations at any given opportunity and it can, and has, seriously undermined both the Hindus and their neighbors including the Sikhs. This characteristic of modern Hinduism is absolutely essential to unfolding the mystery surrounding Swami Dayananda and his legacy.

I have been researching Swami Dayananda off and on for the last sixteen years. Dayanand was a big man full of unending supply of inner energies, determinations, zeal, resolve, and so forth. He cherished a sincere desire to seek answers to many mysteries that grapple a thinking person, and he would travel extraordinary distances often in unfriendly territories hoping to find answers. Imbued with that hungry spirit, amazingly Swami would seek debates with his opponents and open the books including the Hindu scriptures. All in all this man, while on road, carried a significant load of reading materials plus other items. Such was his unquenchable thirst to learn. There are more admirable qualities about him but I think you got the idea.

Dayanand’s story began in a small town of Tankara, Gujarat in 1824; born with a name of DayaRam Mulshankar, the Swami was nicknamed Mulji. Expectedly his Brahman parents were deeply religious within the Shaivite tradition and rightly so harbored great aspirations for Mulji. By the age of 22 years (1846) Mujli’s life was anything but stable; there was a storm brewing inside of him and he ran away from home. Shortly thereafter he was bestowed with the coveted title and he became Swami Dayanand Saraswati. Life away from home and barely existing on the dusty road and back alleys for the next 15 years in faraway inhospitable places as a sannayasi pursuing yoga and surviving by begging is no easy lifestyle. Then, why pursue such a life? The Swami’s answer would be moksha. I suspect Mulji was already experiencing psychological challenges, but I can’t cast a definitive critical eye on his early years (evidence is lacking). The Swami’s life as a yogi is a specimen for closer examination, however.

If Dayanand’s younger years at home were healthy (suspicion is otherwise), I believe yoga seriously undermined Swami’s critical faculties, and possibly afflicted him with a bipolar-like personality disorder. Swami devoted significant time and effort to master the yoga, a task fraught with dangers. Reading his biographies one can’t escape turmoil the Swami was in. Here is an example: While on the banks of Ganges, upon seeing a corpse floating, Swami jumped and dragged the body out to examine it’s inside using his pocket knife. He cut open the body to inspect the heart, head, neck, etc. trying to verify the yoga anatomical details. Not finding them the frustrations grew. One can imagine Swami’s mental framework! It should come as no surprise to know that he could not find the chakras and the nadis via gross anatomy, which leads me to believe that Swami hadn’t been reading the yoga scriptures carefully. Nonetheless this wild experience should have convinced him to reevaluate the field of Hindu spirituality. But I can’t find that moment; all I find is more turmoil in him.

Further down in time, Swami found himself poisoned and he at once resorted to applying Neoli-karm, apparently one of the yogic dhoutis. Swami descended into the Ganges water, swallowed large quantities of this polluted water and passed it out via his anus in an attempt to flush his entire gastrointestinal system. By this way we are told, Swami saved his life. If this incident is true it points to the fact that Swami was deep into the yoga practices and no surprise to those of us who study Yoga that such yogic complex techniques point to his psychological instabilities. If this were not enough Dayanand acquired the habit of ingesting bhang.

CONTD.