Our Motherland is the land of Vedas. Veritably this is a land of Gold. From the time of Ikshvaku to that Pandu of Mahabharatha fame Vedic Dharma guided the lives and activities of the people of Bharath. There was a peace, plenty and contenment everywhere. King Aswapathi proclaimed before the learned Brahmins who had come to discuss Brahm-vidya that there was thief, no miser, no drunkard, no man without fire of worship, none without knowledge of truth, none who was a debauch, and no women of unchaste character[ Chandogya upanishad:5.11.5]
In this even changing world nothing can maintain itself in a high state. After a period of higher development in Science, art and
philosophy a period of decrepitude and decay always follows.
Nearly 1000 years before Mahabharata war the seeds of degeneration began to be sown. Gradually these seeds began to grow till in the fullness of time their fruits dropped a curtain on the great civilization of Bharath in the shape of epic Mahabharata war. In that war not only veteran Soldiers but also learned Brahmans got killed.
After this Great War learned Brahmans ceased to exist and their places were taken up by selfish people who began to play loose and fast game with the Vedic texts in order to sub serve their petty ends. Animals and even men began to be sacrificed in the Yagnas to propitiate false Gods and Goddess. People fell into a deep ditch of ignorance and indolence. This state of affairs continued for a very long time which was eventually protested by Gautam Bhuddha and Mahavir. They sang the song of Ahimsa and became responsible for founding of Faiths called Buddhism and Jainism in Bharath after their death. These Faiths landed up in Atheism leading to spread of atheism in whole country.
Hence, in order to drive away atheism Acharya Shankar came on the scene He was dazzlingly brilliant and demolished the Buddhist tenets by sheer logic in the Shastrathras [Religious debates] held with Buddhist Scholars. He preached Advaitha but soon his theory of Advaitha got corrupted in the form theory of Illusion called Mayavad. In order to remove these false theories on God and Soul Acharya Madhava rose in the South and he propounded the theory of dualism. This was followed by Acharya Ramanuja who propounded a theory which was called Vishistadwaitha. Thus number of new and newer faiths started taking roots. These men were followed by reformers like Nanak, Kabir, and Basaveshwar etc. These men propounded Bhakthi cult. It should be noted that from Acharya Shankara onward the faiths that were founded had no Veda content and they were all Non-Vedic cults even though these men of great understanding held Vedas high in their deliberations.
With the result of multi-city of faiths often opposed to each other, the Unity of people suffered greatly. With disunity ruling the roost, Bharath at last fell before the mighty force of Islam and became a slave country. In the middle of 19th Century the English who had originally come as traders to Bharath, snatched the political power and became rulers of the country. The country was thrown to sufferings again.
19th century is an important milestone in the history of our country. The 1857 war of independence failed and the Britishers took over the reins of power directly hitherto wielded by the East India company. The British who were Christians besides wielding political power had their own agenda of Christening the Bharath. It is at this of point of time attempts were made to undermine the the Culture and Dharma of India. Christian Missionaries descended on India with their own imagined stories of rights and wrongs of Hindu Dharma and attempted to rescue poor Indians to Christian heaven.
They tasted success in some parts of India because of peculiar Socio-economic conditions prevailing there. In order to lay firmly the feeling of Sanathana Dharma as being inferior vis-à-vis Christianity Lord Macaulay introduced modern English education which successfully created men dark in color but English in tastes and manners.
It is not that British had a runaway success in their attempt to proselytize India. Reform movements rose which sought to remove certain bad religious and social practices among the Hindus which checkmated the drive of Missionaries. Brahma samaj in Bengal, Satyashodak samaj and Prarthana samaj in Maharashtra were cases in point. But these reform movements although lofty in their aims and objectives had some inherent defects. In that they were carried away by the greatness of Bible and stood away from Vedas which is the loftiest and earliest treatise on Dharma for all times and ages. Because of their rejection of Vedas [which Hindus held sacred and as a word of God] these movements failed to reach the masses. Now these bodies are almost defunct. But the one movement which was started in 19th century to restore India’s past pride and glory with Vedas as the guide was Aryasamaj founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati [1824-1883] This Vedic movement heralded a new chapter in strengthening India and initiated steps for self Rule which culminated when the country became Independent in 1947.
Swami Dayanand was tutored by Virajananda who was an ascetic Sanyasi. Although blind, he was considered master Grammarian of his times. Dayanand learnt Veda, grammar etc, under his guidance for 3 years and while bidding adieu after the training was over Swami Virajananda took a promise from Dayananda that the latter would devote the rest of his of life for the propagation of Vedas only. Swami Dayananda vowed to his guru that he will devote his whole life to propagate Vedas and remove the ignorance from society.
A brief history of Sathyartha Prakash
In pursuance of his word given to his master Dayanand started giving lectures on Vedas and while so doing he mercilessly condemned many anti-Vedic practices like, Idolatry, Caste system, ceremonies for the dead etc. His speeches attracted both common and elite alike. His mother tongue was Gujarati but spoke mostly in Sanskrit and he switched over to Hindi as a medium of communication on the advice of Babu Keshavachandra Sen who was then the leader of Brahma samaj during his visit in Calcutta in 1872-73. He started preaching in there after wards. His book
“Satyartha Prakash” [Light on Truth] was therefore written in Hindi to reach masses.
It is said that next to Ramcharith Manas Satyartha prakash is the most popular book in Hindi language. One commentator has observed that Satyarth Prakash has made both Scholars and commoners think seriously just as the way Das capital written by Karl Marx has done in Global context. In fact Satyarth Prakash was not the first work of Swami Dayanand. He wrote Sandhya in 1863, Bhagavat Khandan in 1866 and Advaithmath Kandan in 1870. It is said by the Hindi Scholars that Satyarth prakash was the trend setter in Hindi prose. People often say that Satyarth Prakash is a Bible for Aryasamajists. This is wrong. Aryasamajists have only Vedas as the final authority and none else.
Sathyartha Prakash was written as per the request made by Raja Jayakrishna das who was an ardent admirer of Swami Dayanand. He was a District collector of Varanasi in those days. Rajaji insisted that Dayanand compile his ideas in book form so that those who had no privilege of listening to Dayanand could derive benefits. In order to help Dayanand to accomplish his task he provided the facility of a writer by name Chandrasekhara Shastri who was a Maharastrian Brahmin. Swami Dayanand therefore dictated and Shastri wrote down. This way the work started on 12th June 1874 and got concluded on September 1874. In other words the first issue of Sathyartha Prakash was not written by Swami Dayanand but contained his dictations. The first publisher of Sathyartha Prakash was Raja Jayakrishna Das. He got it published in 1874 in Varanasi. Since Swami Dayanand was away on tour he could not see even the proof. Taking advantage of his absence, certain passages which were opposed to Dayanand’s thinking were got inserted fradulently. For ex, conducting Sharaddah, taking bath during eclipses Meat eating etc. Further, since, Raja Jayakrishna Das was an employee of British and also remained a friend of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan [who was a founder of Aligarh MuslimUniversity] he lacked the courage to publish the last two chapters which were critical of Christianity and Islam. Hence the first issue of Sathyartha Prakash contained only 12 chapters. When the conflicting passages were brought to notice of Swami Dayanand he promptly clarified the issues. Hence, for these reasons, the 2nd publication of