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THE SUPER EXPLODER OF
MYTHS ; SWAMI DAYANAND SARASWATI
THE
SUPER EXPLODER OF MYTHS
By
Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant, VSM
Truth
has been the watchword of the Aryas. Aryas are the people who lead a life as
enjoined on them by Dharma. Dharma is the path of righteousness. The original
source of righteousness is the holy VEDAS. Right at the beginning of the
creation, God revealed the Vedas – the knowledge to the Rishis for the
guidance of Man. Thus the celestial knowledge, the holy VEDAS, is for the
guidance of the entire mankind. No sect, region or religion or race can
monopolize it. All men and women are entitled to receive and recite, preach
and practice the Ved Mantra or the contents of the Vedic hymns.
A
denial of this divine right by man to man is mythical and unethical . Many a
time an ignorant or ill advised coterie makes an endeavour to deprive a
majority of men and women of the fruits of divine knowledge, the VEDAS, and
thus gives birth to myriad of myths. Thus myths are born in ignorance,
nurtured in greed and nourished in senseless and meaningless rituals. The
generators and perpetrators of myths are enemies of mankind. To let the vast
humanity be benefited by imbibing the knowledge of the VEDAS, the coterie
which prevents the free flow of the divine knowledge must be busted. Myths
created to cow down the less privileged by the over-privileged and pampered
segments of the social order must be exposed.
Such a
super exploder of myths was an ascetic, a sanyasi, Swami Dayanand Saraswati.
It was he who gave the clarion call ``Back to the VEDAS.’’ The decay that had
set in was rectified to a large extent by Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s
relentless campaign in propagating the Vedic way of life. He launched a two
pronged attack on the decadent human society, cleanse it of moral, mental and
physical ills and pave the way for our souls to attain the state of bliss,
viz MOKSHA. Let us take a look at his modus operandi.
Haridwar-Rishikesh
road runs almost parallel to the Ganges. The scene is set on the banks of
Ganga along that road at milestone six from the famous ghat. ``Hari Ki
Pauri.’ The KUMBH fair of 1867 is in full swing. A tall, well built, fair and
impressive sanyasi is standing below an ochre flag exhorting the flocks of
believers to live by the tenets of the divine knowledge, the VEDAS. The Dev
Nagri inscription on the flag cannot but attract attention. ``Pakhand
Khandini,’’ i.e. an exploder of myths and deceptions. The essence of the
Sanyasi’s sermon on the Sand was:
(a) God is Omnipresent and is NIRAKAR i.e. imageless. He is not bound in a form. He is never born and, therefore, does not die. (b) God is the fountainhead of all true knowledge. (c) VEDAS are divine; prescribes the path of righteousness for man. (d) Forsake falsehood, myths, and superstitions. (e) Those who swindle the common man in the name of false precepts are not Dharma gurus but Bhrashta gurus and parasites on society.
The
sanyasi giving discourses under the Myth-Exploder Banner was none other but
Swami Dayanand Saraswati. He distributed a small pamphlet ``Exploding
Myths,’’ free of cost. Its theme exposed the falsehood of Vishnu Bhagwat, a
Puran full of falsehood, by highlighting its negative approach, its propagation
of false gods thereby betraying ignorance of the Vedic way of life. People
who made money by throwing the Vedic Dharma overboard and narrated cock and
bull stories by inventing false gods were nothing but thugs and criminals
preying on people.
Swami
Dayanand Saraswati took it upon himself to cleanse the society of false gods
and criminals masquerading as god men. These men and women were like cancer
and jeopardized health of the society. False Gods, superstitions and false
gurus not only sapped strength of society but prevented growth of scientific
approach and scientific mind. He enjoined on the Arya Samaj founded by him in
1875 in Mumbai to wage war against the negative, superstitious god men and
promote the theistic scientific approach of the Vedic Dharma. He and his
fellow Aryas enacted 10 principles of the Arya Samaj in 1877 in Lahore to
guide the common man to attain bliss, the MOKSHA.
Swami
Dayanand Saraswati traveled far and wide in India to explode many a myth -
these were indeed making man moribund. From Multan in the west to Calcutta in
the east, from the Himalayan heights in the north to the plains of Pune in
the Deccan were his preaching playgrounds. The myriad myths that he exploded
and spurious institutions that he attacked, smarted under his verbal and
written onslaught. The learned Swami held discussions with preachers of
faiths like Christianity, Islam and converted captains and commoners,
preachers and priests to his own point of view, the Vedic Thought. Among the
55-odd books and pamphlets that he wrote, the most widely read is the
``Satyarth Prakash,’’ or the ``Light of Truth.’’ Let us go through a few of
its noble and enlightening gems of true knowledge contained in 14
enlightening chapters.
The
Vedic trinity is: God; soul; and matter. In Hindi it is: Parmatma; Jeevastma;
and Prakriti. The most common myth is: God comes to this world in the form of
a man. The ignorant ones call it ``an avatar.’’ In the Vedic trinity, God is
God, there is only one God, and God has no image or idol. And, therefore,
idol worship is an exercise in futility. Likewise, a Jeevatma can never
become God or Parmatma. Men of weak minds elevate stronger men to Godhead.
Consequently, there are god men galore even in the 21st century,
notwithstanding all avenues of enlightment that are available to the modern
man. Today god men, sadhus and fakirs are just fakes and frauds – out to
cheat the gullible in the guise of teaching tenets of religion. Vedic mantras
quoted in the Satyarth Prakash show us the path to enlightenment; teach us to
be mentally robust, physically fit and militarily strong to vanquish all
foes. Mind is the man. Make your mind strong through meditation, pranayam and
righteousness. You will, thus, make the fake fakirs vanish in thin air. The
myth of god- men making gold watches for the rich and ash for the poor in a
magician style will stand exploded.
In a
society where the guru cheats the shishya (disciple) and the shishya cheats
the guru, both are bound to sink together. Let us not cheat each other and
malign the pious bonds. Sailing in a made of stone , are they not? No way but
to sink! They are indeed sunken souls and cannot be redeemed because of their
bad Karmas, action based on deceit.
Let us
take a close look at the falsehood perpetrated on the so called scientific
societies. Can a Virgin be impregnated without mating with a man? Here is a
case of normal pregnancy of a married woman whose marriage has not been
consummated. She never had a chance to share the marital bed with her legal
husband. There is a natural birth and the boy born thus is hailed as a son of
God. Ask yourself, the enlightened ones! Isn’t it out and out a case of
promiscuity being sanctified in the name of Father,Son and the Holy Ghost.
Isn’t it the biggest myth in man’s mythology? Swami Dayanand Saraswati
exploded this myth neat and proper in the 13th chapter of the ``Light of
Truth.’’
Preying
on feeble minded men, many Muslims are masquerading as Bengali Tantrik babas
in rich areas like Greater Kailash of New Delhi. These frauds are neither
Bengalis, nor babas nor tantriks. Just Thugs. Here is an area where myths
must be exploded. A subsidized sale of ``The Light of Truth’’ will be in
order. Further the Muslims all over the world should reconsider the process
of slaughter of animals after reciting a verse of Koran. ``Let us begin in
the name of Allah, who is kind and merciful.’’ And the animal is slaughtered.
It is a contradiction of terms in precept and practice and needs urgent
reconsideration.
Let us,
therefore, take a pledge that we will explode myths, follow the path of truth
as enjoined on us by the VEDAS, as interpreted by Maharishi Swami Dayanand
Saraswati and enshrined in the Ten Principals of the Arya Samaj. Let us all,
men and women strive for salvation – the MOKSHA.
UPVAN,
609, Sector 29, NOIDA-201303 INDIA
Telephone : 0091-120- 2454622 Mobile : 0091-9811173590 Email ; sawantchitranjan@yahoo.com |
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