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Swami Dayananda Saraswati Biography
Swami Dayananda SaraswatiSwami Dayananda Saraswati (15 August 1930 – 23 September 2015) was a renunciate of the Hindu order of sannyasa and a renowned traditional teacher of Advaita Vedanta, and founder of the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam1.
He was born as Natarajan in Manjakudi, Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu on 15 August 1930 to Shri. Gopala Iyer and Smt. Valambal. He was the eldest of four sons. His early schooling was done in the District Board School at Kodavasal.
His father's death when he was eight, meant Natarajan had to shoulder a significant portion of family responsibility along with his education.
After the completion of his education, Natarajan came to Chennai (Madras) for earning a livelihood.
Natarajan worked as a journalist for the weekly magazine Dharmika Hindu (run by T. K. Jagannathacharya) and also for a while for former Volkart Brothers (now Voltas Limited). He also decided to be a fighter pilot at one point and joined the Indian Air Force, but left after six months as he felt suffocated by the regimentation there.
In his absence his younger brother Srinivasan took charge of the agricultural fields of the family household and made sure that the family had the income to survive and live peacefully off the income.
Natarajan became interested in Vedānta2 after listening to the public talks of Swami Chinmayananda in the year 1953.
He became actively involved with the then newly formed Chinmaya Mission in various roles and he became its Secretary within the first year of its inception. He attended the Sanskrit classes of P.S. Subramania Iyer, a retired Professor of English. He introduced the mode of chanting the Gītā verses that is still followed.
Swami Chinmayananda instructed Natarajan to set up Chinmaya Mission's Madurai branch which he was able to fulfill.
In 1955 Natarajan accompanied Swami Chinmayananda to Uttarakashi and helped him in the preparation of a Gita manuscript for publication.
In Uttarakashi, he met Swami Chinmayananda's Guru, Tapovan Maharaj, who advised him, 'You have a duty to yourself which is also important. Stay here. Do japa, meditate and study.'
Natarajan could not take up that offer at that point in time. However, he promised Swami Tapovan Maharaj that he would be able to come after one year and he did.
Natarajan returned to Madras and took up the editorship of 'Tyagi,' a fortnightly magazine of Chinmaya Mission. Upon the advice of Swami Chinmayananda, Natarajan shifted to Bengaluru (Bangalore) in 1956 and continued to edit Tyagi which was also moved to Bengaluru. During his stay there, Natarajan joined the Sanskrit College in Chamrajpet and had the privilege of studying one on one with Prof. Veeraraghavachariar.
In 1961, with the permission of Swami Chinmayananda, Natarajan went to study under Swami Pranavananda at Gudivada (near Vijayawada) to clarify many of his doubts on Vedanta and self-enquiry.
The stay with Swami Pranavananda helped Natarajan learn one thing clearly – that Vedanta is a means of knowledge (pramāṇa) to know the truth of the Self. In Natarajan's own words: “I saw the Swami giving direct knowledge to the people he was teaching. This resolved all my conflicts. My problems with Vedanta had been my mistaken notion that it was a system.”
This critical shift in his vision about Vedanta impelled Natarajan to once again study the sastra with Sankara's commentaries. In 1962 he was given Saṃnyāsa initiation by Swami Chinmayananda and received the name Swami Dayananda Saraswati.
In 1963 he went to Mumbai (Bombay) to the newly inaugurated Sandeepany Sadhanalaya (academy of knowledge)3 of Chinmaya Mission, where he undertook the responsibility of editing the magazine of the mission Tapovan Prasad. In addition, Swami Dayananda taught chanting of the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads to the students of Sandeepany.
In November 1963 Swami Dayananda undertook a study-pilgrimage to Rishikesh and stayed in a grass hut in Purani Jhadi now known as Dayananda Nagar. He spent three years there, studying Brahma Sutras under Swami Tarananda Giri at the Kailash Ashram.
Around 1967, due to the ill health of Swami Chinmayananda, the Mission approached Swami Dayananda to give public talks and lectures. Accordingly, between 1967 and 1970, Swami Dayananda travelled to different towns and cities in India spreading the knowledge of Gita and the Upanishads.
In 1971, Swami Dayananda agreed to conduct a long-term study program at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, Powai, Mumbai and formulated a curriculum that would systematically unfold the vision of Vedanta.
Between 1972 and 1979, Swami Dayananda conducted two 2 1/2 - year residential Vedanta courses in Mumbai. In his words, 'At Sandeepany the teaching is traditional and rigorous. What would take a Sadhu in the Himalayas nine years to learn, the students at Sandeepany learned in two-and-half years.'
At the request of students in the United States, in 1979 Swami Dayananda established a three-year study program at Sandeepany West in Piercy, California. In 1982, he returned to India and continued to spread the message of the Upanishads through public talks and lectures.
Responding to the request of students, devotees and disciples, Swami Dayananda established the Arsha4 Vidya Gurukulam at Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania in 1986 wherein a three-year residential course was completed in 1990.
Swami Dayananda along with his students has taught ten long term Vedanta Courses (eight in India and two in the United States) and many of his students from these programs are now teaching all over India and abroad. More than two-hundred of his disciples are teaching Vedānta and Pāṇini grammar around the world.
As a teacher of Vedanta, Swami Dayananda has established four traditional teaching centers and many more across the globe through his students with a primary focus on teaching Vedanta, Sanskrit and related disciplines. These traditional teaching centers carry the banner 'Arsha Vidya' or 'Arsha Vijnana', i.e. Knowledge of the Rishis and offer Hindus and non-Hindus, men and women alike, an opportunity to study Vedanta.
The most well-known student of Swami Dayananda Saraswati is Narendra Modi, prime minister of India. Other students include Anantanand Rambachan, a professor of religion at St. Olaf College, Minnesota (USA), and Vasudevacharya, previously Dr. Michael Comans, former faculty member in the Department of Indian Studies at the University of Sydney and also Ira Schepetin.
The sannyasi disciples of Swami Dayananda are many in number. Swami Suddhananda Saraswati heads the Dayananda Asram at Rishikesh. Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati heads the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam at Saylorsburg. Swami Nijananda, Swami Tadrupananda, Swami Tadatmananda, Swami Paramarthananda, Swami Tattvavidananda, Swami Suddhabodhananda, Swami Pratyagbodhananda, Swami Brahmatmananda, Swami Paramatmananda, Swami Sakshatkrtananda, Swamini Brahmapraksananda, Swamiini Brahmalinananda, Swamini Svatmavidyananda, Swami Sadatmanada, Swami Shankarananda and Swami Santatmananda are some of the senior disciples of Swami Dayananda.
In addition to teaching, Swami Dayananda has initiated and supported various philanthropic efforts. He founded the All India Movement for Seva (AIM for Seva) in 2000 as an initiative of the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, an apex body of Hindu religious heads of the various sampradayas which itself was convened by Swami Dayananda's coordinating efforts.
Swami Dayananda worked tirelessly over several decades to promote multiple inter-religious dialogues, and was an author and contributor to many Joint Declarations, with Jewish and Buddhist leaders. He was a vocal opponent of religious conversion, calling it assault on faith.
Swami Dayananda Saraswati passed away on 23 September 2015 at his ashram in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India.
List of books authored by Swami Dayananda
(in alphabetical order)
• Action and Reaction
• Bhagavad Geeta Home Study (considered his magnum opus, running into 3,000 pages, now in its 4th edition)
• Biography - Contributions and Writings by Smt. Sheela Balaji
• Biography - Teacher of Teachers by Smt. Padma Narasimhan
• Can We? (Essays: 6)
• Compositions
• Conversion Is Violence
• Crisis Management
• Danam (Essays: 4)
• Dialogues With Swami Dayananda
• Discourses on Important Topics
• Discovering Love
• Do all Religions have the same goal? (Essays: 1)
• Eight Significant Verses of Bhagavad Gita
• Exploring Vedanta (Shraddha- Bhakti-dhyana-yogad avaihi & Atmanam ced vidnyaniyat)
• Freedom
• Freedom from Fear
• Freedom from Helplessness
• Freedom from Sadness
• Freedom from Stress
• Freedom in Relationship
• Friendship (The Essence of Vedic Marriage)
• The Fundamental Problem
• Gurupurnima (Essays: 3)
• In the Vision of Vedanta
• Insights
• Introduction to Vedanta – Understanding The Fundamental Problem
• Japa
• Kenopanishad
• Knowledge and Action – The Two Fold Commitment
• Living Intelligently
• Living Versus Getting On
• Mahavakya Vichara
• Mandukya Upanishad
• Moments with Krishna (Essays: 7)
• Morning Meditation Prayers
• Mundakopanishad – Bhasya and Tika unfolded (2 Vol. Set)
• Need for Cognitive Change
• Need for Personal Reorganisation
• Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
• Personal Re-engineering in Management
• Personnel Management
• Prayer Guide
• The Problem Is You, The Solution Is You
• Public Talks-2: Discovering Love & Successful Living
• Purnamadah Purnamidam
• The Purpose of Prayer
• Ramayana
• The Sadhana and the Sadhya
• Sadhana Pancakam
• Satyam and Mithya
• Self-Knowledge
• Shri Rudra
• Stressfree Living
• Successful Living
• Surrender and Freedom
• Talks and Essays (Vol.I)
• Talks and Essays (Vol.II)
• Talks and Essays ( Vol. III)
• Talks on "Who Am I ?"
• Talks on Meditation
• Talks on Shri Rudra
• Tattvabodha
• The Teaching of the Bhagavad Gita
• Teaching Tradition of Advaita Vedanta
• Ten Essential Verses of Bhagavad Gita
• Understanding Between Parents and Children
• The Value of Values
• Vedanta 24 x 7
• Vedic View and Way of Life
• Vishnusahasranama (with translation and commentary)
• Vision of Gita
• Vivekachudamani (Talks on 108 Selected Verses)
• Wedding Ceremony Based on Hindu Concepts
• What is Meditation? Meditation Series: 2
• What You Love Is The Pleased Self
• Yoga of Objectivity
• You Are the Whole
Sources
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayananda_Saraswati_(Arsha_Vidya)
• https://arshavidya.org/category/video/swami-dayananda-videos/
Footnotes
1. Gurukula, house of a Guru (Sk.)
2. Vedānta or Uttara Mīmāṃsā is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedānta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, the philosophies contained in the Upanishads, specifically, knowledge and liberation. Vedānta contains many sub-traditions on basis of a common textual connection called the Prasthānatrayī: the Upanishads, the Brahma Sūtra and the Bhagavadgītā.
3. According to Visnu Purana, Sāndīpani was the preceptor of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Balabhadra Rāma from whom they learned all the Vedas, art of drawing, astronomy, gāndharva Veda, medicine, training elephants and horses and archery. Sādhanā literally means "methodical discipline to attain desired knowledge or goal." Laya in this context means “house, dwelling”.
4. Ārṣa, Sk. Vedas, speech of a sage, sacred descent, relating or belonging to or derived from sages, holy text.
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