Swami Dayanand On Bhakti

Swami Dayanand On Bhakti

Author- Tarachand D. Gajra
Presented By- Priyanshu Seth

Of the many charges that are repeatedly brought against the Arya Samajists, one is want of Bhakti. 'With an Arya Samajist', so says the critic, 'Dharma is synonymous with discussion. Devotion he has none and Shradha finds no place in the programme of his reform work. Vehemently criticising other sects, he spends his time in picking holes in the pockets of his antagonists and depicting in darkest hues the prophets of religious other than his own. Such a man, by his very nature, is incapable of developing a devout heart and a devoted soul. But the critic does not stop here. From the Arya Samajist he turns to his Guru. Finishing with the living members of the Samaj, he engages himself in digging out the bones of the dead and devoted Dayanand. "The Arya Samajist is not a Bhakta because his Guru Swami Dayanand never preached Bhakti. He spent his time in railing against other religious denominations. That appears to have been the sole aim of his life." This perhaps comes from a rather severe critic. But often a man who admires the Swamiji and the Samaj in several ways, heaves a sigh and says "All is well, but, alas! there is no spiritual life, no Bhakti, no devotion in the teachings." It is my belief that the above view of the critics is unfounded and due to the ignorance of the real teachings of the Swami. I therefore take his opportunity to glide with the reader through some of the works of Swamiji to get a true idea of his teachings on higher spiritual life.

Before I do this I shall just throw a glance at the history of India during the post Mahabharata period. The beginning of this period is one of the most certain dates in the history of India. The battle of the Mahabharata is not shrouded in mystery as several other events of Indian history are. The causes, the effects and the events of the war are well known to every one. At the time of the war, there was present in India a sage who was respected and revered by all in existence then. Bhishma and Vidura, Yudhishthir and Dhritarashtra, Kirpa and Drona all recognized his merit. Vyas sweetly sings: "The side on which the Yogeshwara (Powerful Yogi) Krishna stands and on which the holder of bow, Pratha plays his part, on that side you find prosperity and victory, happiness and firm morality, so I think." Thus then this great sage as described by the writer of Mahabharata is capable of having at once the earthly and the heavenly, the physical and the spiritual good. And why? The simple reply is that his teachings, his beliefs and ideals are all-embracing, harmonious. There is no one sidedness, no atrophy of one faculty, no hypertrophy of another.
Long after the battle of the Mahabharata, long after the teachings of Bhagwan Krishna were forgotten, the people of India passed through a strange transformation. Instead of the all sided development of man meaningless ritual and dead ceremonials were taken to be religion. The degradation was very great. The reality was altogether forgotten and the ritual distorted into immorality by the mischief of selfish and passion-loving Vam-Margis. India alone did not pass through this stage. There were other lands which underwent a similar transformation. The animal sacrifices of the old Testament and those of Vam Margis are closely allied. The assertion in the Scandinavian Scriptures that "animal sacrifices were invented by the selfish and the wicked" lends support to my view. But this is rather wandering away from the main point.

All morality was forgotten and Karma was mistaken for ritual. To put life in the dead skeleton was required a Messiah; to make the ritual a living force or to sweep it away and replace it by a living morality was wanted a reformer. He came in the form of the Great Buddha who to my mind stands primarily as the apostle of action, the preacher of Karma.
But great movements are often wrecked on the rock of human weakness. The followers of the 'Light of Asia' soon learnt to associate Karma with more austerities and asceticism. The spirit was dying when Swami Shankar-Acharya began his work. Karma is bound to degrade into mere forms if there is no Jnan behind it. To fulfil this want Shankar Swami called forth the people to 'Jnan' When I say so I am not to be understood to say that Shankar Acharya did not care for Karma and Bhakti. Not the least of it. Jnan stands prominent in his preaching because it was required most prominently in that age. Shankar's work after some time came to be forgotten and a newer movement, pushed on by a number of prophets, was inaugurated. This movement, whatever else may be said of it, has for its keynote 'Bhakti', Chaitanya or Lord Gauranga went through Bengal singing the praise of the Lord Kabir and Nanak worked in the Northern India; Tukaram, Dhyandeva and several others in Southern India. Complete devotion was what they preached. "No attachment to the world was what they taught" Justice Ranade speaks of a saint who killed his child by throwing it in a pit when he was accused of loving his child more than the Lord he talked of. Thus had the history run for some time. But during the confusion that came over the land after these saints were gone, the movement inaugurated by them bacame dead. Some had picked up one idea, others another. Those who had adopted Buddhism consciously or unconsciously stood for all kind of tortures and austerities. The Lamas and the monks of Buddhistic temples believed that the path to Nirvana was to live a severe life, to kill the flesh and to follow a certain prescribed routine detailing the number of times a man should stretch himself like a stick on the ground before the idol. The practices were imitated and adopted by several of the pure Hindu sects. Those who believed themselves to walk in the path of the great Shankar, came to identify the path of salvation with the cry "Aham Brahmasmi" (I am God). For them there was neither Karma (action), nor Bhoga (fruit of action). Devotion and Bhakti, too, had no place in their programme of human life. As for Jnan it was all lip deep. There was no realization of any kind. A smattering or a complete ignorance characterised the Sadhus and the laymen were no better. They had developed strange notions of Bhakti. Some held and preached that the repetition of 'Rama' was sufficient to take them to Heaven. Others thought a particular kind of Tilak (mark on forehead) stamped most sedulously was true devotion. Bathing the idol, keeping food before it and ringing the bells was a model of Bhakti to others. The mistaken notions of Bhakti in some cases led to the degrading institution of Devadasis and of giving over the children to the Fakirs and Saints. In the cases of others Bhakti was identified with over-doses of excited prayers, fumings of heart, simmerings of mind, suspension and destruction of reason. This when carried to excess produced dances and often amorous singing culminating in Ras Lila and Sufistic love for fair faces.

This was the situation when Swami Dayanand began his work. The keynote to his work is harmony. Yes harmony I say and say it inspite of so many critics. They who think that Swami Dayanand has created a sect and added to the wranglings of the sectarians, have never dispassionately studied his works. They have seen only one side and not the other. Dayanand's work in pulling down these wrong notions of ages is familiar to them, but his labour in building up a newer and manlier race is not known to them. They have seen Dayanand as the destroyer of superstition, but not as the constructor of a higher and better kind of religious consciousness. But the Swamiji's aim of life can properly be realized only when both the slides are seen.
The harmony is in fact the keynote to his mission can be seen from the principles of the Arya Samaj. He clearly lays down here that bodily, spiritual and social progress should go hand in hand. The idea is emphasised in the following words in the Satyarth Prakash. "By the increase of bodily strength and activity the intellect becomes so subtle, that it can easily grasp the most abstruse and profound subjects. It also helps to preserve and perfect the productive element in the human body which in its turn produces self-control, firmness of mind, strength, energy and acuteness of intellect." Taking hold of this keynote we can well understand why Swami Dayanand speaks of Jnan, (Knowledge) Karma (Action) and Upasana (Devotion) at the same time.

To Swami Dayanand one without the others has no meaning. If a man has to develop himself harmoniously he must cultivate all the three together. This idea of harmony is found in the writings of Swami Dayanand very conspicuously and the reason is not far to seek. A believer in the Vedic revelation- a revelation that divides itself into three parts, Jnan, Karma and Bhakti- Dayanand could not help emphasising harmony and speaking of all the three together. Dayanand clearly points out that the realization of the Lord is the highest aim. This can be very clearly seen from the following passage which Dayanand quotes from the Upnishad-
"Oh Nachiketa! that God, who is worthy of being realized and who is described in the Veda as free from all pains and miseries, and for realizing Whom the Veda opens its teaching, for realizing Whom is followed the path of true piety, is observed the vow of Brahmachary; and owing to the desire of union with Whom, the learned meditate and preach; that Brahma I briefly describe to you. He is Om."
He adds "Thus that Brahma, Who is worthy of being realized is present everywhere". 'Brahma then is the only object to hanker after' and therefore Dayanand's Revelation- the Veda "Describes especially the Brahma" and has "Brahma as its foremost subject". And why should it not be so, when "His glory is seen in, and vividly described by all the Vedas and Shastras, by nature and its beauty". The object of all the teachings of the Veda being the realization of the Lord, every human being is required by the Swami "to follow the threefold path of Jnan, Karma, and Upasana to realize the higher spiritual life." What higher spiritual life is, is hard to described in words. It is a matter of experience and experiment. They alone can fully grasp the import of the words of wisdom, who in their life have realized the reality behind the phenomenal word. To the ordinary mind mode often the truths of higher life have no reality. But the Reformer and the Prophet has to work for the salvation of these ordinary men. This compels him to put in words what has been realized by the soul. And Dayanand a real benefactor of mankind has tried to vividly describe these higher spiritual truths. Let them who doubt the statement peruse the 7th and 9th chapters of the Satyarth Prakash and ponder over the inspiring and elevating passages in the Bhashya Bhumika. What should invite us more eloquently to this higher life than the following words of Dayanand "For our protection we pray unto God, who is the Creator and Governor of the living and non-living, the Illuminator of the heart and the mind. He is the giver of strength to all. He is our Support and Protection. Oh God! Thou art the Giver of knowledge, wealth and fame. Have mercy upon us, take us under your protection and look after us……… Verily that God alone is the Support of all and hence is He called Saha……… May we through the mercy of the Remover of all pain realize the truth and may we follow the Dharma the expression of His will……… Oh Lord! The master of vows! mat I take the vow of following the path of rectitude……… Oh the Mighty One lead me on to this path, give me strength to observe my vow faithfully and sincerely"………
What can bring to our mind more vividly the thought of worshipping the Lord than the statement- "The bliss of Salvation can be obtained only by realizing the Lord and by uniting with Him through Dhyan (meditation) performed with all the powers of soul and Antahkarana (the internal power of mind)"? What can teach us more forcibly the ideal of resigning the self to the Divine will than the injunction, "Oh man, in order to realize the Lord, dedicate your whole life. Let all- the breath, the eye, the tongue, the mind, the soul, the Brahma or the knower of all the four Vedas, the performer of Yajnas- the lights- sun etc, Dharma (righteousness), happiness, the actions such as : Ashvamedha, the prayers and praises, the study of the Veda, in fact all the sources of pleasure and happiness be dedicated to the Great God?" What else can make our devotion complete and our love all - forgetting, if not the following precept- "There is neither a second God, nor a third God, neither a fourth God, nor a fifty God………" or the assertion "You will get true happiness and fame only when with sincere soul and humility and humbleness you devote yourself to the Sanatan (Brahma Eternal)."

These are but a few quotations taken at random from the works of Swami Dayanand. But they are sufficient to show the spirit of the Rishi and to prove that he was one of the greatest- if not the greatest- spiritual teacher and 'apostle of Bhakti' in modern times. Scientific and systematic in all other things the Swami does not leave the Bhakta to grope in the dark or to work at random. He goes out, seeks the Bhakta and takes him by hand on to the path of higher life. The course of prepration is carefully laid down. The body, the physical part of the man is first trained to be strong and vigorous and able to bear all troubles, so that the devotee may feel no encumbrance, no hindrance as he advances on the path of spirituality. Tapa and Brahmachary are the two great factors. A strong body should also be pure before the soul within can find itself in possession of a clean house where to invite the Lord. Daily bath, cleanliness and purity- purity secured by curbing the lower passions- are required to play their part. Thus is the 'Mala' destroyed.
Arjuna said to Krishna 'Oh Bhagwan the manas (mind) is chanchal (unsteady)'. What Arjuna felt 5,000 years hence, we feel even now. His difficulty is our difficulty. How many of the admirers of Swamiji might have enunciated their own difficulty in the words of Arjuna?
Then Swamiji teaches to conquer the mind by Pranayam (Deep controlled breathing). As a tender flowerplant stands in a tank so does the Manas stand in the tank of Hridaya. (Thoracic region full of air). The plant responds to every movement of the tank. The smallest waves make it vibrate. The plant can be kept in one position by stopping effectively the waves in the tank. The mind can be made steady by stopping the waves of the fluid filling the Hridaya. This is to be done by Pranayam. Two hours every day is the 'Jijnasoo' required to sit in a retired corner and perform Pranayam. One fails to understand why inspite of it the critic speaks of no Bhakti and no devotion in the Arya Samaj? He fails to understand how Swamiji's method is of a silent, serious and systematic character. There is no play of vague sentiments and of restlessness- the things which now-a-day are considered as essentials of Bhakti.

Suggesting how to steady the mind, the great Rishi removes the Avaran (curtain) that separates the Bhakta from the Brahma, the devotee from the object of devotion, the worshiper from the worshipped. Avidya (ignorance) should be dispelled. For this is required a peculiar atmosphere. The clouds never allow the sun to show its glory, till the surrounding atmosphere is favorable. So the cloud in the mind, 'Avidya', obstructs the devotee from getting a glimpse of the most Glorious Sun. The atmosphere is to be made favorable by constant and fervent prayer. The prayer that the Swami prescribes, the Vedic Sandhya is beautiful beyond compare. It starts by contemplating God as the personification of light and Love and as distributer of peace unto all. With the mind put in this attitude, the devotee looks to his body, the physical thing nearest to him and prays that its different parts may be strong and vigorous. Praying for power, he forgets not to pray for goodness. He remembers.

It is excellent, To have a giant's strength. But it is tyrannous. To use it like a giant, and prays that with the strength of the body he might have purity and excellence. The Mantra (verse) is highly elevating and there is a natural connection between the phrase of the Lord in which He is viewed and the importance of the organ or the sense that is to be pure. If the prayer is for the purification of the head, the Lord is viewed as the Life giver and supporter of the world. How beautiful and natural the relation. For the purification of the Hridaya (Heart) the Lord is contemplated as 'Mahan' (the Great). Great are the powers of heart-great both for good and evil. Regard and admiration, respect and reverence, generosity and charity, affection and love, all flow out of it. It too is the seat of evil passions like dislike and aversion, contempt and scorn, narrowness and stinginess, malice and hatred. Through the heart are the enemies conquered. Its evil passions repel all friends and change them into rebels. It can take man to Heaven, it can pave his path to hell. Verily it is 'Mahan' (Great) and well has God been invoked as 'Mahan' (the great one). They only can realize the underlying beauty of the Mantra, who ponder over and meditate upon it.
The body being strengthened, the organs purified, the devotee approaches his Lord and tries to realize Him as the Soul of his Soul, as the Giver of Beatitude and as the Dispenser of Peace. A close connection is formed. Seeing the power within, the devotee looks without to see its play. The world is the product of that power. Rit (knowledge Divine) and Sat (Nature) proceed from it. The mountain like wave of the sea, the thunder of the Heaven, the lightening in the cloud, the moon and the sun, the stars and the constellations, the expanse of the earth and the glory of Antaraksha (intervening space) all are the manifestations of the self-same power. To view the power more closely, to realize it more vividly and to feel it more intensely the devotee turns all round, seeks it in all directions. To the east he views it in the sun, the giver of light and heat and finds that its rays are a protective force. In reverence bows he to the rays, bows he to the power of the Lord and through them bows to the Lord Himself- free from all earthly connections. To make his environments suitable for the growth of spiritual life, he prays that his protective power- a combination of Light or Jnan (knowledge) and heat or Prem (Love) might serve to make him friend to all and all freinds to him and might put an end to every kind to hate. Similarly is the glory of the Lord seen in all the six directions and every time is the pious wish for protection and peace most piously expressed. The vivid realization of the play of the Divine power in nature and her glory makes him once more go deep down into the recesses of the unseen and low passing by the flag-staffs (Ketavah) of nature the Bhakta sees now face to face Uttam Jyoti (the Grand Light) free from all darkness, everlasting, ruling all and giving light to all. Realizing the bliss he cries, "Wonderful art Thou- wonderful art Thou- Thou art the life of all the things; Thou art the source of the power of the sun and the eye. Under Thy control are the earth and heaven. Verily, Thou art the Soul of the moveable and the immoveable. May I realize the reality! May I realize the reality!"

The trance passes and the dead reality forces itself on the Bhakta, for long life, for vigorous body, for sound organs, the devotee prays. But then comes to his mind that most sacred of the Vedic hymns- the hymn with which he was initiated into the path of Dharma and for a pure heart and elevating thought he approaches his Lord. Finally realizing the Peace- giving, the Bliss- yielding nature of the Divine, completely he resigns himself to the Higher will. This is Dayanand's method for destroying Avidya (Nescience), this is his Sandhya. Undoubtedly it is a most potent factor in inculcating the true spiritual life. May the critic realize this! May God remove his prejudice!

Before I take leave of you, dear reader, I shall mention a few more points. By the side of Sandhya or the Brahma Yajna, stands in Swamiji's system Havan or Deva Yajna. It is not to be mistaken for a mere mechanical process for the purification of the air. It has a deep significance. It throws the individual into the universal. It connects man with the forces of nature and establishes a direct communication between them. It practically teaches man to seek his good in the general weal, to feel his life in the all- embracing life. And look at the 'Mantras' (Verses recited); how forcibly and elegantly do they remind the 'Yajman' (performer of Havan) of the higher spiritual life. Oh! how beautifully does each speak of the Lord and His power! Each Mantra reminds the repeater of his own insignificance in the great 'Yajna' of the Lord and so he himself says "I do this for Thy sake, I do this for Thy sake".
It should also be borne in mind that the Sadhana (Process of arriving at the Higher Spiritual life) prescribed by Dayanand is Akhanda (continuous). Through Brahmachary, Grihastha and Vanprastha stages it is to be continued. Those who choose to have a detailed view of this may well spend a few days in going through the Sanskar-Vidhi (Hand Book of ritual) of Swamiji. I shall content myself with merely referring to the Mantras which a Grihasthi is required to meditate upon each morn. How eloquently do they teach him to yield his will to the Divine Will, to resign himself to the Lord.

Brother Arya Samajist! I have tried to vindicate the Swamiji. I have tried to remove misunderstanding regarding him. It is now for you to vindicate yourself and to vindicate the Samaj. In my humble opinion, it should be yours to walk on the path chalked out by your great Guru and to try to become a Bhakta yourself. Do you feel for the ignorant masses? Do you feel for the superstition- ridden sons of humanity? Does your heart grieve to see the troubles of mankind? Do you ever shed tears to see the load of sins with which the earth is heavy? Does your imagination ever fire you to be a sincere and devout follower of the Rishi? Do you ever feel that you are called upon to discharge the trust that has been left in your hand? Then brother! wake up and follow my humble suggestion. This alone will be sufficient to give us peace within and goodwill without; to bless us and make the world happy!

Footnotes:
1. Ordinarily taken to mean Horse-sacrifice. But interpreted by Swami Dayanand as the act of governing people properly. This is considered a deed of highest merit. For further details, please see the author's Animal Sacrifices in the light of World Scriptures.
2. Burning of clarified butter and odoriferous substances to purify the atmospheric air.