Debate on Hindu Dharma, Swami Dayanand & Satyarthprakash

[yogesh saxena]

Debate on Hindu Dharma, Swami Dayanand & Satyarthprakash
The ongoing internet debate for and against Swami Dayanand,
his Satyarthprakash, Arya Samaj, Hindu Dharma, etc. has left a bitter
taste. Here are two episodes of Swami jis life which, I believe, will
remove many doubts on both the sides. These have been taken out from
Swami jis detailed and most authentic biography, written by his
contemporary Pt. Lekh
Ram. Perhaps, he is the first great activist of the Arya Samaj to have
got martyrdom at the hands of a Muslim assassin.

During his stay in Amritsar from July 5 to August 11, 1877,
the district Commissioner, Mr. H. Parikins desired to meet Swami ji.
So, one day, Swami ji went to his residence. Besides other things, the
following conversation took place between the two:

Mr. Parikins Why is your Hindu-dharma so weak, like feeble cotton
threads (kacche soot).?

Swami ji No. It is not weak like that. It is stronger than iron. Iron
may break, but not Hindu-dharma.

P. Give me some example, before I believe you.

S. Hindu-dharma has the characteristics of the ocean. Like thousands
of waves emerging from the ocean, numerous currents rise in Hindu-
dharma from time to time. There is a sect whose members live only on
filtered water: (2) There is another sect whose followers live only on
milk: (3) There is a sect of Vam-margis who eat and drink whatever
they get, without bothering whether it is clean or unclean: (4) There
is a sect of those who observe complete abstinence throughout their
life, neither marrying nor casting an evil eye on any woman: (5) There
is another sect of persons who indulge in free sex, commit adultery
and fornication, without any sense of remorse: (6) There is a sect
whose followers worship the formless Parmeshwar alone: (7) Opposite to
it is a school whose disciples worship Avatars (incarnations of
Parmeshwara): (8) There is a sect whose followers
lay stress on Jnyan: (9) There is another sect whose members lay
stress on Bhakti: (10) In the Hindu-dharma, there are persons who
practice untouchability: (11) Opposite to it are persons who take food
cooked by Shudras and drink water from them. In spite of so many
differences, all call them Hindus and really they are Hindus. No one
can remove them from
Hindu-dharma. One should, therefore, know that this Hindu-dharma is
not weak, but very strong.

P. Which one religion do you want to promote?

S. We only want that all people should follow the teachings of holy
Vedas and worship only the formless Parameshwar, who
has no parallel, should acquire and assimilate qualities of virtue and
discard evil traits.

From November 7 to December 29, 1877, Swami Dayanand stayed
in Rawalpindi. One day, after November 14, while staying in the kothi
of a businessman (Mr. Jamasp), he held a private meeting in the Kothi
with the prominent figures of the city, after addressing his public
meeting. During the talks he made an observation, “I feel very sad
about the condition of Hindus. They don’t read the books of other
religions. When some Christian priest or Muslim moulvi comes to a
Hindu fare and tells Hindus, ‘Brahma had sex with his daughter’,
they coolly believe it. No authentic Hindu scripture contains this
utterly false story. On the contrary, there is an episode in the Bible
(Old Testament) in which prophet Lot had sex with his own daughters.
If Hindus speak of this, no priest or maulvi would come face to faceâ
€�. In the audience, there was a native
priest and also a moulvi of a mission school. After the meeting with
the Swami ji was over, they met at their residence.
Concluding that Swami ji had told lie about their prophet, they
decided to confront him. Next day they came with their books.
After the pulic lecture, they challenged Swami ji with their books
What you said yesterday about prophet Lot was false65533;. Swami ji
told them that they had not studied their books properly and asked one
of his disciples Tulsi to bring the complete Bible. Tulsi brought the
Bible and asked the two to read Genesis 19/30-38, which clearly stated
that Lot had slept
with his two daughters successively on two nights. Having read, the
priest and the moulvi felt greatly ashamed, but added that
the prophet had done it under the influence of liquor. Lala Shiv
dayal, another disciple, said, “Whatever be, Lot knew that his wife
had died long ago and that the two girls living with him were his
daughters. He cannot be absolved of the sin65533;. Both of them left
the scene.

(Translated from Hindi original)

Satyarthprakash The Satyarthprakash now in circulation is its
second edition, because Swami Dayanand found a
number of mistakes in the first edition and rectified them. He also
added some more material. In its Introduction, Swami ji
wrote: This book is intended to bring out the truth as truth and
falsehood as falsehood some error of printing or
otherwise has crept in, it will be rectified on being pointed out.
Doubts or objections raised by way of prejudice or ill-will shall
not be entertained. Bonafide suggestions in the interest of humanity
will, if found true, shall be duly incorporated 65533;

Lastly, I may add that evaluation of a great personality should
be done with reference to the political, social, religious,
geographical, global and historical background of his era. By arriving
at conclusions in the light of our own period, we often
make grave mistakes.