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Ten Principles in Hindi and English
THE TEN
PRINCIPLES OF THE ARYA SAMAJ EXPLAINED
The First Principle
The Second Principle
The Third Principle
The Fourth Principle The
Fifth Principle The Sixth Principle
The Seventh Principle
The Eighth Principle
The Ninth Principle
The Tenth Principle
THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF THE ARYA SAMAJ
The first principle is:
‘God is the efficient cause of all true knowledge and all that is known
through knowledge.’
This is the first principle out of the ten principles of the Arya Samaj
movement. This principle throws light on the fact that all true knowledge and
whatever is capable of being known through knowledge originates from God. For
all doubtless knowledge concerning God and soul, other living beings and matter,
the efficient cause is God and none else. This comprehensive knowledge known as
the Vedas meaning knowledge (Rigved, Yajurved, Samved and Atharvaved) was
enlightened by God in the souls (atma) of four sages, namely Agni, Vayu, Adittya
and Angira.
In the words of the great Manu, “All knowledge emerges from the Vedas and the
Vedas are full of knowledge.”
Sarvesham tu sa nama ni karmani va
prithak prithak.
Ved shabdebhya yevadau prithak sansthashch nirmame.
Manusmriti 1/20
Meaning:-
The names of all the materials and their various purposes have been
formulated from the Vedas since the beginning of creation.
The meaning of ‘Ved’
is true knowledge. God is the efficient cause of this knowledge because human
beings have limited knowledge and this leads them into doubt, untruth, miseries
and other problems.
Just as God gave the human
body five senses namely eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin, similarly He gave the
knowledge of the Vedas to us so that we are able to use our senses in the right
manner. After knowing that great God, the whole creation can be known and there
is nothing else to be known.
The objective of the second portion of the first principle, “all that is
known through knowledge” is to say that whatever is visible or not visible,
from the sun to the earth, is all created and operated by God.
To follow the first principle, the followers of the Vedas must think about the
principles of the world and have full faith that God is the creator of the
world.
This first principle is the foundation of the other nine principles. This is why
it has been placed first. It is the paramount duty of every noble person to
think about this principle and having firm faith in God, build one’s life
according to His instructions.
THE
SECOND PRINCIPLE OF THE ARYA SAMAJ
In the first principle of Arya Samaj
it has been explained that, “God is the efficient cause of all true knowledge
and all that is known through knowledge.” It is God who gives the true
knowledge to the world. He is the efficient cause of all true knowledge and what
ever is known through knowledge. Without His enlightenment human beings would be
lost into darkness of ignorance.
The second principle of the Arya Samaj is very much related to the first
principle. In this principle the attributes of God are explained very well in a
broader sense.
The second principle is
:-
‘God is existent, conscious, and
blissful. He is formless, omnipotent, just, merciful, unborn, endless,
unchangeable, beginningless, unequalled, the support of all, the master of all,
omnipresent, omniscient, unaging, immortal, fearless, eternal, and holy, and the
maker of all. He alone is worthy of being worshipped.’
According to the Vedic philosophy there are three beginningless entities
-
God, Soul and Matter. God exists,
is conscious and blissful. No intelligent person can reject the
existence of God. God has been there ever since and will remain to do so. He is
truth, has limitless storehouse of knowledge and the souls receive their
knowledge from Him. He is the preceptor of the ancient saints, sages and
rishis (seers). Time has no influence on God.
According to the Vedas God is formless, meaning He does not have physical
form i.e. He does not have a body like us. To govern the whole world, God has to
be present everywhere at all times. This would be impossible if He takes a
physical body because a person having such a body can only be at a certain place
at one time. Further, this will reduce the all-powerful God to one having very
limited power. If God takes a physical form then He has to undergo the process
of reproduction like the humans. He has to go through childhood, teenage, youth,
adulthood, old age and then death. If He has a body, He will be affected by
sicknesses, diseases, hunger, thirst, tiredness, natural disasters such as
hurricane and floods. He can even be injured and killed. Anybody having a
physical body has to face these challenges in life. Thus, if God is occupied in
His own problems, how can He be of service to us? The truth is that God is
totally free from the bonds of the world. This is only possible if He is not
confined to a physical body.
God is omnipotent, meaning He is all-powerful. He is the Lord of all the
powers, but this does not mean that He can do anything that He wants to do. God
also has a set of principles for Himself that He has to follow. On this subject,
give a thought to what Swami Dayanand writes. He writes, “Is it so that the
one who can do the impossible, is known as A/mighty?” So without a reason
can God create another God and Himself perish, be unjust, impure, sinner, evil
doer etc? The natural laws such as fire has heat and water has coolness cannot
be altered by God. God cannot make fire produce coolness or the water produce
heat. If He does so then the question is why did He change? Did He make an error
before and is trying to correct it? If He does that then it means that God is
not perfect. So in very simple terms Almighty means that God is capable of doing
all His work Himself, without the help of anyone.
God is just because
He gives the fruits of our good and evil actions. For the good deeds He rewards
us and for the evil and wrongful actions He punishes us. This is His justice.
The word just also means that whatever the souls are rewarded or punished for is
the result of their own actions. The Vedic principle says ‘As you sow so shall
you reap’ which means, as one shall do so shall one pay.
God is merciful and compassionate. Every soul in the world is worthy of
His mercy. Merciful does not mean that God forgives our sins. If we accept the
fact that God forgives one’s sins, then we cannot accept Him as being fair. Say
for example a person hurts someone and then asks God for His forgiveness and He
forgives. Now the person who was hurt expects justice from God, in other words
the person would like the wrong doer to be punished. When God forgives a wrong
doer, then God is not doing justice. He has not done justice either to the wrong
doer or the victim. To be fair, God has to give the results of all the actions
either good or evil. This should satisfy both the parties, the one who hurt
somebody and the one who was hurt. Merciful simply means that God gives out the
results to the souls for their actions accordingly, so that it can do spiritual
upliftment and progress in life.
The question arises how can these two qualities namely kindness and justice
exist in God at the same time? The words of Swami Dayanand Saraswati in this
regard are worth noting. “There is only subtle difference between the two words
because the end result of both is the same. The reason for punishment is that a
person is stopped from doing wrong and thus prevent himself/herself from further
suffering. This is called kindness, namely removing the suffering of others. A
person should be punished according to the seriousness of the offence. If the
offender is not punished then kindness is destroyed, because by setting free a
wrong doer, thousands of innocent people will suffer at the hands of the wrong
doer. By putting him/her into prison etc., the wrong doer is being deterred from
further wrong doings or sinful activities; thereby kindness is also bestowed
upon thousands of people.”
A doctor treats the illness of a patient by giving him/her more pain such as
operations etc. It is not possible for the doctor to remedy the problem without
giving pain to the patient. Although anesthetics are used during the treatment,
in the latter stages the pain is still experienced. Similarly God removes our
evils through punishment. Forgiveness encourages a person to repeat the sins.
This act of God namely giving out the results to the individuals for their
actions is a very kind gesture.
God is unborn. He has been there ever since and will remain to do so.
Just because He is never born, He is endless, unchangeable,
beginningless and unequalled. There is no limit to His greatness and
powers. There are no faults in Him. God is the support of all the
creatures from the tiniest to the largest. All depend on God. God is
omnipresent. He is present everywhere, in each atom and also resides in the
hearts of all. He is unaging meaning, He never gets old. He is
immortal i.e. He never dies. He is fearless that is He is steadfast
in His principles and is not afraid of anything or anyone. He is eternal
that is He is everlasting. God is Holy and the Creator of all. He
is the Creator, Operator and Destroyer of the world.
That is why we all should try our best to worship and meditate to God. We should
assimilate His attributes of truth, justice, strength and other qualities in our
lives and make the present and the future life a prosperous one.
THE
THIRD PRINCIPLE OF THE ARYA SAMAJ
The third principle is:
‘The Vedas are the scriptures of all true knowledge. It is the paramount duty
of all Aryas to read them, teach them, recite them and hear them being read.’
After throwing light on the attributes of God in the second principle, Swami
Dayanand portrays the greatness of the Vedas, in the third principle. The
message of the Vedas is given to the entire human race for their benefit by God
at the beginning of the human creation. The knowledge expressed in the Vedas are
all true facts, which means this knowledge never changes. The Vedas are the
source of all true knowledge of the world namely, God, soul, matter, science,
mathematics, biology, sociology, mechanical etc. There is no history in the
Vedas. The Vedas direct us to worship only one God.
In fact the Vedas contain all the knowledge for human existence, upliftment and
salvation.
THERE ARE FOUR BENEFITS OF STUDYING THE VEDAS:-
o
True knowledge is obtained.
o
One becomes a learned person.
o
Those who practice the teachings of
the Vedas achieve happiness in life.
o
One is able to differentiate the
truth from untruth.
All true knowledge in the
world is obtained from the Vedas. So it is necessary that one studies and
teaches the Vedas to others, listens and makes others listen to the Vedas being
read and practices and makes others practice the teachings of the Vedas in life.
THE
FOURTH PRINCIPLE OF THE ARYA SAMAJ
In the first three principles of Arya
Samaj,
the source of all of true knowledge, the
attributes of God and the significance of the Vedas have been highlighted. Now
in the fourth principle, emphasis has been placed on the purity of behaviour and
the purity of individual life.
The fourth principle is:
‘One should always be ready to accept truth and renounce untruth.’
It is the duty of every person to remain firm on truth and even be prepared to
give one’s life for truth. The question arises, what is truth and what is
untruth? What is the basis of truth and untruth? The answer is very simple.
‘To know, believe and follow in thought, word and deed a thing as it really is
and has been proved to be so scientifically on the basis of observation,
reasoning and authority, is known as Truth.’ For example, someone says that
the sun rises from the west and sets in the east and the sun rotates around the
earth. Because these statements are against the law of nature and also contrary
to the Vedic principles, they cannot be regarded as true.
We should have the power of accepting the truth in our hearts. For this to
happen, one’s thoughts, words and actions should be the same. In other words,
whatever we have in the mind, we should speak the same and act accordingly. The
great philosophers have also stated the difference between the good and evil
saying:- A person whose thoughts, words and actions differ from one another is
regarded as an evil soul and a person whose thoughts, words and actions are same
is regarded as a great soul.
Truth remains the same everywhere, for example two plus two equals four. This
truth remains true at all times, the past, present and the future and is
accepted by all types of people. Similarly truth in respect of all matters are
also accepted everywhere. One must accept truth from wherever it is available.
One should never try to undermine truth.
This principle also teaches us that we should not be stubborn and argue
unnecessarily. Just as we should be ready to accept the truth, we should be
ready to give up untruth. One should not think that irrespective of whether it
is true or false, one’s idea is correct. Even if a child proves with reasoning
that one is wrong, then one must accept one’s mistake without hesitation. The
one who longs for truth should be also humble.
THE
FIFTH PRINCIPLE OF THE ARYA SAMAJ
The fifth principle is: -
‘All acts should be performed in accordance with Dharm (righteousness) that
is after deliberating what is right and wrong.’
The noble people i.e. those persons who have good personality, righteousness,
are benevolent and devoted to truth have always regarded righteousness as
paramount in all their activities. In ‘Gita’ It is clearly stated that destroyer
of the righteousness is also destroyed and whoever protects righteousness is
also protected by righteousness. The Vedas and other philosophical texts give
supremacy to righteousness. One of the sages has even stated that it is
righteousness only that differentiates the human beings from animals. The
qualities of eating, sleeping, being fearful and reproduction are found to be
similar both in humans and in animals. A person who has a righteous conduct is
regarded as a human being and one who does not have such conduct is regarded as
an animal.
A question arises in the mind as to what is a righteous path and what is not?
The righteous path is the one through which one achieves happiness both
materially and spiritually in this world as well as in the next life and until
salvation. In Manusmriti Manu Maharaj has stated that people are kept under
control, taken care of and protected by righteousness. Righteousness is of such
importance. This is why one should do everything according to righteousness. In
every deed of ours righteousness must be paramount. Truth and untruth are very
much connected to righteousness. Righteousness is that which is able to
distinguish between truth and untruth. Righteousness has only truth in it. The
fifth principle of Arya Samaj has been formulated so that the people do not
become followers of blind faith. Their behaviour should not be like that of
sheep, which follow each other without thinking.
The following story very clearly explains what is meant by blind faith. Once a
saint left for pilgrimage. Seeing a very big crowd at the place of pilgrimage,
he concealed his container that he was carrying, in the soil and for
identification purposes he made a little soil mound on top of it. He then left.
The people following the saint did not see the saint putting the container under
the soil. They only saw him making the mound. They wondered why the saint had
done this? There must be secret in this. They did not ask the saint for an
explanation.
What next? They also started making soil mounds all over the place and this act
was copied by whoever came by. When the saint returned to the place where he had
concealed his container, to his surprise he saw many soil mounds all over the
place. His container was lost amongst so many mounds. Then with regret he said
“The people are like the sheep, they do things by just copying others and not
trying to find out the truth.”
The lesson from this story is that every right thinking person must leave
the attitude of doing things without thinking but rather, doing things after
knowing what is true and untrue. The Vedas are the source of all true knowledge
and everyone should try to follow the teachings of the Vedas.
THE
SIXTH PRINCIPLE OF THE ARYA SAMAJ
In the first five principles of Arya
Samaj the teachings in respect of the source of all true knowledge, the
attributes of God, the significance of the Vedas, following the path of truth
and righteousness, have been covered. When a person assimilates these principles
in one’s life or a society starts to put them into practice, then one is capable
of doing good to the world. That is why the sixth principle of Arya Samaj
states:
‘The prime object of the
Arya Samaj is to do good to the world, that is, to promote physical, spiritual
and social good of everyone.’
All organizations and societies established in this world have certain aims and
objectives. Most organizations are established for the progress of their own
people only. Thus the whole world can not benefit from such organizations. They
work within a very limited area. However Swami Dayanand established an
organization, the objective of which is the general welfare of the world. This
is a great objective. The question is, how can this objective be achieved? What
is the meaning of welfare?
Swami Dayanand has very
clearly answered this in the second part of the sixth principle. Welfare means
physical, spiritual and social development of all. A person who wants to do good
to the world has to first be physically healthy and strong. A sick person cannot
even take care of oneself, leave alone the world. Good health is a basic
requirement to the fulfillment of righteousness, wealth, desires and salvation.
That is why wise people give first attention to physical fitness. An unfit
person provides no hope for a society or a country. Physical fitness is one of
the means to the achievement of the four aims of life, namely righteousness,
wealth, desires and salvation. That is why it is our first duty to keep the body
fit through exercise etc. Every part of the body should be developed into strong
and healthy condition so that one can put it to use for at least a hundred
years.
After the physical development, the spiritual development has to be taken care
of. Only physical development is not enough, one has to give attention towards
spiritual development as well. Just as exercise, beneficial food, good medicine
etc. are necessary for the body, similarly study of good scriptures, penance,
worship of God, good company etc. are necessary for the strength of the soul.
The real nature of the soul is pure but once it gets attached to the worldly
pleasures and to the material world it becomes impure. It takes a lot of effort
and non-attachment to remove the impurity. That is why it is necessary to
develop the body together with the soul.
After physical and spiritual development it is then necessary to develop the
society. It is not sufficient to progress oneself only, rather it is our duty to
develop the entire society. Through unity, togetherness and by helping others we
can help the society to progress. Those who desire to progress themselves only
become selfish. One has the responsibility of taking care of the neighbours as
well. At times one has to even give one’s life for the protection and upliftment
of the nation and its people. Every citizen should be ready to do so.
For social progress we must remove the feelings of privileged and
underprivileged, rich and poor etc. and move forward having love for all in the
heart. The Vedas very clearly state that we must see each other with a friendly
eye. Therefore while developing physically, spiritually and socially, every
person should devote his/her life to the service of the world. This is the
objective of the sixth principle.
THE
SEVENTH PRINCIPLE OF THE ARYA SAMAJ
Now the question arises that while
doing service to the world, how should we interact with each other? Such a
question arises because in this vast world there are good people as well as evil
ones. There are religious saints as well as sinners and wrong doers. That is why
the seventh principle of the Arya Samaj has been formulated, which is as
follows:
‘Our conduct towards all
should be guided by love, righteousness and justice.’
Firstly, being humans it is our duty to interact with each other with love and
care. One should not speak harsh words, should not create the feelings of high
class and low class and should never hate anyone. If we have enmity with others
then they are also likely to have enmity with us. Every living being wants
happiness. Nobody likes pain and grief. For this reason we should never give
pain and grief to others. But this does not mean that we should engage in
flattery or be cheated through temptation. For example some people are lured by
astrologers and lose their riches into the hands of the astrologers. The
astrologers lure them into believing that the problems we have are due to the
stars and the planets getting angry on us. They say that the only way to
overcome these problems is to offer certain items that will please the stars and
the planets. In doing so, the people are robbed off their wealth by these
con-men. The fact is that the stars and planets are lifeless objects.
The second message in the
seventh principle is that our interaction with others must be according to
righteousness.
One should only put into practice whatever is right according to the Vedas or
the wise people and is full of logic and is practical. By following the
righteous path one achieves happiness. However if one follows non-righteous path
one suffers only pain and grief. It is only proper that we keep this principle
in mind when dealing with others. But this does not mean that we treat all,
young and adult, good and evil in the same way. That is why in this principle
the third message is that our behaviour towards others should be as they
deserve. This means that one must see if the person is junior or senior, learned
or foolish, good or evil and then treat them accordingly. To punish the evil
people or wrong doers is the duty of the ruler. In this way the good people can
be protected. It is only proper to punish an evil person or wrong doer through
firm action. Although every person in the kingdom is equal in the eyes of the
ruler, it is his/her responsibility to do justice and punish the evil people and
wrong doers. Similarly while maintaining a loving relationship amongst all the
family members one has to treat each one young and old according to what they
deserve. We must remember this seventh principle in our day to day life.
THE
EIGHTH PRINCIPLE OF THE ARYA SAMAJ
How one should behave with others
while living in this world has been explained in the seventh principle. Looking
at the eighth principle Swami Dayanand draws our attention towards the
propagation of knowledge. He states:
“We should dispel
“avidya”
=
ignorance and promote “vidya”
=
knowledge.”
Wrong knowledge, false information or understanding is known as ignorance. There
are four types of ignorance. Firstly, believing impermanent and perishable items
to be everlasting. Secondly, having the feeling of purity in impure things.
Thirdly, having the feeling of pleasure in materials which cause pain and grief
and finally believing that life exists in inanimate objects.
In worldly terms there are
two types of ignorance, one concerning the present life and the other concerning
the next life. The first refers to not knowing the correct behavioural norms of
the society in the present world or having the wrong knowledge of this. For
example not trying to uplift the family life (grihasth ashram), which is
paramount in the four stages of life or trying to degrade the family life,
suffering from believing in blind faith such as ghosts, witchcraft,
superstition, being attached to baseless social beliefs such as untouchability,
caste system, dowry system, not being engaged in study, good company or
righteous path, rather being involved with bad company, are various types of
ignorance which fall in the first category.
Ignorance concerning the next life means: - not following the path of
righteousness and not believing in God in the present life, regarding the
present life as everything and following the path of drink, dine, dance and be
merry and believing that nothing is above materialism and putting all these
beliefs into practice. Such people, only engage themselves in fulfillment of
their selfish motives without knowing what to do and what not to do, what is
righteousness and what is not, what is truth and what is untruth etc. One may
say I will always remain the same, the house, car, wife, husband, children etc.
will go with me to the next life, I am the most intelligent person and there is
no limit to my powers. Having such thoughts is ignorance. A wise person always
tries to overcome any such ignorance.
One should not be satisfied by the fact that he/she has overcome ignorance and
hence one’s duty is over. One should also make an effort to propagate true
knowledge so that others may overcome ignorance as well. In his commentary on
the Yajurved, in particular reference to verse 1:6 of Yajurved, Swami Dayanand
has stated very clearly that “After studying all types of knowledge, it must
be preached in all places.”
Knowledge and science have
no limits. True knowledge is a precious possession and it cannot be stolen by
anyone. Passing knowledge to others increases one’s own knowledge.
Therefore, it is the duty of noble and learned persons to ensure that everyone
around them receives proper education and knowledge. This has to be so because
ignorance is the root cause of all pain and grief in the world. So one should
always be ready to dispel ignorance and propagate knowledge.
THE
NINTH PRINCIPLE OF THE ARYA SAMAJ
After stating in the eighth principle
about propagation of knowledge and dispelling of ignorance, Swami Dayanand draws
our attention towards social progress. He states:
“No one should be content
with promoting his/her good only; on the contrary, one should look for his/her
good in promoting the good of all.”
Personal progress only is not sufficient to ensure the progress of the whole
society. Developing only oneself shows that one is selfish. A nation only
progresses if everyone in the society makes progress. Noble and benevolent
people devote their lives for welfare of all.
Everything in this world is in motion. Even if one atom becomes motionless then
there will be scenes of destruction. Every material undergoes two types of
motion, breakdown or development. The same rule applies to the society as well.
Therefore, a society that wants to be happy and live with prestige must always
be willing to move forward in life. The Vedas state, “Charaiveti charaiveti”
meaning, “Move on, move on.”
However if only few people
make progress then this is not good enough. The progress of all is the ideal
progress. If there is only one powerful person in a community and the rest are
weak, then such a person is most likely to cause harm to others. Unity is
strength.
One of the causes of downfall of India was that the Brahmans thought that they
were the only ones entitled to study and teach the Vedas. The women and the
shudras (people who were regarded as low class by the Brahmans) were not allowed
to read them. What ever the Brahmans said was to be regarded as true. Due to
this the propagation of the Vedas came to a stand still.
In the Vedas God states, “Yathemam vacham kalyani mavadani janebhyah,”
meaning, “I am giving the word of Vedas for the welfare of all.” Just
because of few selfish people, the progress of the nation came to a standstill.
Therefore after knowing the essence of this principle, we must all see that
everybody is progressing.
THE
TENTH PRINCIPLE OF THE ARYA SAMAJ
The tenth principle of the
Arya Samaj is in regards to social progress. Swami Dayanand states the tenth and
the last principle as follows: -
“One should regard oneself under restriction to follow the rules of society
calculated to promote the well being of all, while in following the rules of
individual welfare all should be free.”
This principle emphasizes that every person irrespective of his/her belief must
follow the rules formulated for the good of the society. However in so far as
rules concerning one’s personal good he or she is free to follow whatever is
beneficial and has no harmful effects.
In this principle the limits of freedom and restriction of the actions of the
people have been laid out. It is very difficult to say which actions one is free
to do as an individual and actions in which one is bound by the rules of the
society. Therefore for the social good of everyone well tested principles for
freedom and restriction of actions have been formulated.
Bathing is important for a person. If one chooses not to have a bath then one
has freedom of such choice. However by not having a bath, one is doing harm to
oneself as well others around him or her through unpleasant smell. Similar
principles apply to eating, drinking and other personal habits. Therefore before
taking any action one has to think carefully whether such action is beneficial
to him/her and how it may affect the wider society. For this reason one has to
follow the rules calculated for the welfare of all, even though one may not like
it. There is no freedom of choice individually, when a society is involved. In
practical terms such a rule is beneficial. If it is not followed, there will be
misconduct in the society.
Actions of a person which may tarnish the reputation of a society, religion etc.
are not to be carried out. Similarly those actions which are beneficial to an
individual only but are harmful to many and not in favour of the country and its
people, are not to be practised. For example, a person uses an organisation’s
money for personal use. Although that person benefits through this wrongful
action for a short while, the members of the organisation and others suffer.
Therefore, one must leave ignorance, find what is true and what is untrue and
knowing the importance of this principle, practise it strictly in life.
Adapted from
‘Dharmic Shiksha (Vedic Religious Knowledge) – Form Five’, Arya Pratinidhi Sabha
of Fiji, 2001.
Copyright: Arya
Pratinidhi Sabha of Fiji
Also see:
Ten Principles in Hindi and English
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