Principles of Arya Samaj

Arya Samaj Foundation is based on it’s 10 principles.

आर्यसमाज के दस नियम

  1. सब सत्यविद्या और जो पदार्थ विद्या से जाने जाते हैं , उन सबका आदि मूल परमेश्वर है ।
  2. ईश्वर सच्चिदान्नदस्वरुप , निराकार , सर्वशक्तिमान , न्यायकारी , दयालु , अजन्मा , अनन्त , निर्विकार , अनादि , अनुपम , सर्वाधार, सर्वेश्वर , सर्वव्यापक , सर्वान्तर्यामी , अजर , अभय , नित्य, पवित्र और सृष्टिकर्ता है । उसी की उपासना करनी योग्य है ।
  3. वेद सब सत्यविद्याओं का पुस्तक है। वेद का पढ़ना-पढ़ाना और सुनना-सुनाना सब आर्यो का परम धर्म है।
  4. सत्य के ग्रहण करने और असत्य के छोड़ने में सर्वदा उद्यत रहना चाहिये ।
  5. सब काम धर्मानुसार अर्थात् सत्य और असत्य को विचार करके करने चाहिये।
  6. संसार का उपकार करना इस समाज का मुख्य उद्देश्य है अर्थात शारीरिक, आत्मिक और सामाजिक उन्नति करना ।
  7. सब से प्रीतिपूर्वक धर्मानुसार यथायोग्य वर्तना चाहिये ।
  8. अविद्या का नाश और विद्या की वृद्धि करनी चाहिये ।
  9. प्रत्येक को अपनी ही उन्नति से सन्तुष्ट न रहना चाहिये किन्तु सब की उन्नति में अपनी उन्नति समझनी चाहिये ।
  10. सब मनुष्यों को सामाजिक सर्वहितकारी नियम पालने में परतन्त्र रहना चाहिये और प्रत्येक हितकारी नियम में सब स्वतन्त्र रहें ।

10 Principles of Arya Samaj

  1. God is the efficient cause of all true knowledge and all that is known through knowledge.
  2. God is existent, intelligent and blissful. He is formless, omniscient, just, merciful, unborn, endless, unchangeable, beginning-less, unequaled, the support of all, the master of all, omnipresent, immanent, un-aging, immortal, fearless, eternal and holy, and the maker of all. He alone is worthy of being worshiped.
  3. The Veda’s are the scriptures of all true knowledge. It is the paramount duty of all Arya’s to read them, teach them , recite them and to hear them being read.
  4. One should always be ready to accept truth and to renounce untruth.
  5. All acts should be performed in accordance with Dharma that is, after deliberating what is right and wrong.
  6. 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.
  7. Our conduct towards all should be guided by love, righteousness and justice.
  8. We should dispel Avidya (ignorance) and promote Vidya (knowledge).
  9. 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.
  10. 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.

Significance of these Principles

To understand the significance of these principles, they can be divided into three categories.

The first and second principles pertain to the duty of man towards God.

Third, fourth, and fifth principles focus upon the duty of man towards himself.

Principles sixth to tenth point out the duty of man towards others.

None of these principles incline towards communalism.  They are eternal and have universal appeal and acceptability.

The first principle states that God is the source of all true knowledge. All true knowledge and every conceivable matter that can be known through various branches of knowledge has only one divine source. At the beginning of Creation this knowledge or Gyan was revealed to the Rishis namely Agni, Vaayu, Angiraa, and Aditya who passed it on to those disciples of theirs who were deemed worthy of acquiring it. Thus it was known as ‘Shruti’ or that which is learnt through the process of hearing. It was only later that it was scripted and was available for the benefit of the entire human race in the form of scripture known as Vedas.

The second principle describes God. He is the Creator of this Universe. Nobody can create Him nor can anybody limit His infinity into a finite form. Just as air is present everywhere, yet one cannot see it, similarly God who is Omnipresent cannot be seen in any form. Form limits the existence of any living being. One who is present here cannot be present elsewhere. Man is bound by physical limitations but God is infinite. Physical form can be destroyed and can perish but God is infinite. Physical form can be destroyed and can perish but God is unborn and undying. He was existing, is existing and will always exist. There is nobody equal to God in might, in meting out justice, in beneficence, in purity, in benignity and in mercifulness.  He is matchless and hence cannot have any comparison. He is all knowing. He is the Supreme, divine force and Lord of all living beings. It is only He who is to be worshipped.  This principle throws light on the divine qualities of God, the worshipful God to whom we must all pay obeisances.

Third to fifth principles point out to man’s duty towards his own self. Man is a unique creation of God bestowed with intellect.  He can think and reason. His thinking and reasoning can get better direction by the study of Vedas which are the source of all true knowledge. Knowledge leads to enlightenment of the intellect. For enlightening himself as well as others, it is the paramount duty of every Arya to read and teach, to hear and propagate the teachings contained in the Vedas. This message is conveyed through the third principle of Arya Samaj.

All religions stress upon and extol truth. Truth is unsullied, unalloyed and is the essence of existence. It is the undercurrent flowing in everything that is genuine and real. ‘Na he Satyaparo dharma’ – there is no greater dharma than truth. It is one and the same for all people. One must be ever prepared to accept truth and discard untruth.

‘Satyameva Jayate’ Truth ultimately prevails. It does not require the support of crutches to establish itself. It is only untruth that has to be proven. In an effort to prove one untruth as truth, the support of several untruths is required and all this leads to nowhere. A life disciplined by truth purifies the soul of a person and desist him from committing sin. The fourth principle of Arya Samaj directs a person to accept truth from whichever source it comes and unhesitatingly give up untruth however appealing and alluring it may appear.

One who has accepted Truth in totality does not accept it just as a principle but imbibes it so as to transform his inner self.  This transformation manifests in his mind, speech and action. Truth sharpens his power of discretion – to differentiate between right and wrong, proper and improper, good and bad, virtue and evil. All actions are expressive manifestation of our thoughts.

‘Yat manasaa dhyaayati, tadvaachaa vadati, yatvaachaa vadati, tatkarmana karoti, yat Karmanaa karoti tadabhi sampadhyate’ – as you think, so you speak, as you speak, so you act, as you act, so you come. Good begets good and evil begets evil. The options are open, the choice is your. Those who take the wrong path are lost in wilderness. Those who take right decisions achieve what they desire and those who take wrong decisions end up in disaster. The discerning mind takes a decision after weighing the pros and cons of any particular subject and the weighing scale is Truth. Truth is substantive, Untruth is hollow. So the fifth principle of Arya Samaj states that all our acts must be performed after thoughtful deliberation.

Sixth to tenth principles point out man’s duty towards Society. Man is a social being. He is born in a family which is an integral unit of society. His very existence and sustenance depends on society.  He takes more than what he gives to society. As such it is obligatory on his part to repay the debt he owes to society. The sixth principle of Arya Samaj states that the main object of Arya Samaj is to do good to the world and to benefit the largest number of people. This is possible when he demolishes the barriers that separate man from man, nation from nation. For him the entire world is an extended family – ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’. He belongs to the world and the world belongs to him. It is for the betterment of the world that he, in his own humble way and with his limited resources, should contribute his might. Arya Samaj aims at unitedly benefiting the world by progressing physically, spiritually and socially. By propagation of ‘yogabhyas’ and ‘yogasanas’ physical exercises pertaining to physical fitness – healthy human race is created which can strengthen society and which can work efficiently and ably and contribute for the progress of Society. The Arya Samaj aims at generating an atmosphere for spiritual progress of mankind. Spiritual upliftment ennobles people. This nobility is the outcome of cleansing the inner self of hatred, jealousy and enmity.  It inculcates the spirit of fraternity thereby creating a society where people live and let live. Social betterment encompasses progress in all fields of life-social, economic and political.  Social progress envisages a society which is free from want, hunger, penury and suffering. It is the endeavour and aim of Arya Samaj to help in creating such a society.

The seventh principle refers to our conduct towards others. We must love all living beings. There must be genuine warmth of feeling in our hearts while interacting with others. We must strive in establishing universal brotherhood. This must be our prime duty. In dispensing our duties we must give due respect to different categories of people – affection to youngers, love to equals, respect to elders, compassion towards the weak, reverence towards the learned and good will towards all living beings. Cultivation of these virtuous qualities can make the world a better place to live in.

The eighth principle makes it obligatory for the members of Arya Samaj to dispel ignorance and spread knowledge. Ignorance is darkness, knowledge is light. Where there is ignorance people live in darkness, not knowing which direction to take. They grope in darkness, trying to find a way out but their efforts end in futility. The best way of clearing the shadows of darkness is not expending one’s energy removing darkness, instead just light a lamp and darkness will automatically vanish. The light of knowledge drives away the darkness of ignorance. It generates an awakening among people to know, to learn and to be enlightened. Arya Samaj is committed to spreading knowledge by eradicating illiteracy and encouraging people to gain all the knowledge that is contained in Vedas.

Man is basically selfish. His actions are motivated by self interest. He dos not hesitate to stoop to any level of degradation if there is a clash with his self interest. A self centered person lives for himself only. He seldom thinks of the good of others. The ninth principle of Arya Samaj states that one must not be confined to one’s own self, he must not be content with his own progress alone, he must strive for the progress of others also. This can be possible when man sheds the mantle of selfishness, makes space for others, lives and lets others live and moving a step forward, expands the horizon of his outlook and enlarges his heart to such an extent that he begins to consider the progress and prosperity of others as his own progress and prosperity. This conveys the message of co-existence and co-operation.

‘Man is born free but is bound in fetters’. The wisdom of these words dawns upon him who realizes that if society has given him certain rights, it has also directed him to fulfil his duties. One’s right another man’s duty. He is free to exercise his right but is also duty bound. All those rules which are for the benefit of society are made and promulgated so that the interests and rights of all the people may be safeguarded. Hence the tenth principle says all must be free in following those rules which are beneficial for all, for this exercise of freedom will not be harmful to anybody. In compliance to these rules one must subjugate himself to them and not violate them even for his self interest. It is only then that law and order can be maintained in society.

These ten principles or commandments of Arya Samaj are for the guidance of those who associate themselves with and become an integral part of the institution called Arya Samaj. They are the tenets which Arya Samaj follows and propagates. Arya Samaj believes in Monotheism – believing in the existence of one God who is the creator, sustainer and destroyer of this universe. God is all pervading and is present in every atom of the universe. ‘Na tasya pratima asti’ – He does not have any physical form.  Therefore, there is no idol worship in Arya Samaj.