He particularly emphasized education for children. Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati also worked for social equality and more rights for women. He also gave the call for Swarajya – freedom.
Priests encouraged needless superstitions by creating a feeling of fear in people’s minds.Īccordingly, Swami Dayanand Saraswati preached his own thoughts and soon had a large following across India. He felt priests and other religious figures had gradually corrupted religious practices for their own benefit. Swami Dayanand Saraswati wanted the nation to return to the Vedic way of life. He felt the four Vedas were the core of religion and should be the base of all practices. Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati felt Sanatan Dharma had strayed from its roots over the centuries. Soon his thinking and ideas began to fall in place and he decided to spend the rest of his life restoring purity in religious practices. During the early part of his wanderings, Swami Dayanand Saraswati met his Guru – Swami Virajanand Dandeesha. He lived an ascetic life and devoted himself to spirituality. Wanderings in Forests and Himalayan RetreatsĪfter leaving home, Swami Dayanand Saraswati spent 25 years wandering from place to place. He ran away from home in 1845 to seek spirituality and find answers to his questions. Mool Shankar was engaged when he was about 20 years old, but he felt marriage was not for him. Mool Shankar was brought up in a strict religious environment but he had his own ideas and often questioned traditional practices. His parents were devout followers of Lord Shiva. Swami Dayanand Saraswati was born in 1824 in Tankara, near Morbi in Gujarat.
One of his major scholarly works is Satyarth Prakash, which means The Light of Truth.5 Celebration of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati Jayanti Birth and Early Life His parents Karshanji Lalji Tiwari and Yashodabai were deeply religious and followers of Lord Shiva.ĭayananda Saraswati wrote more than 60 books.