Swami
Dayananda Saraswati, a seer born in the laps of Cauvery who went on to give
rise to a legion of Vedantis over the years, attained mahasamadhi late on
Wednesday night.
He was 85
and died of age-related ailments, Ashram officials told Express over phone from
Rishikesh. Born as Natarajan on August 15, 1930, at Manjakkudi village in
Thanjavur, Swami was a disciple of Swami Chinmayananda, one of the
most-respected spiritual gurus of the time. Over the years, Swami Dayananda
Saraswati established himself as one of the best scholars of Vedanta — his
disciples include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had called on the guru only
10 days ago.
Keen to
preserve the Vedic vision and traditions, Swami established a string of centres
where Vedanta was taught in the tradition of instruction passed on from Adi
Sankara. Among these, the most prominent centres in India are Arsha Vidya Ashram
in Rishikesh and Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in Coimbatore, while the Arsha Vidya
Gurukulam at Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, is an internationally renowned centre
of spirituality. In the 1960s and 1970s, as the world worried about
existentialist questions, Swami gave them ideas from Vedanta, the insights
passed on by the seers, but in a contemporary approach.
He was
informal but erudite, a treasure trove of wisdom who wore it lightly.
In the
later part of his life, Swami began a social movement called All India Movement
(AIM) for Seva, that reached out to the rural masses, offering them a helping
hand in medical educational and infrastructure which were lacking.
He also
sought to bring together the various schools of thoughts within Hinduism under
the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha (Council for the Teachers of Hindu Tradition), a
first of its kind effort in the thousands of years history of the religion.
In the
recent years, Swami was reportedly troubled by kidney ailments, for which
he was undergoing treatment in the United States. He had returned to India only
less than a month ago, apparently deciding that he did not want to undergo the
treatment anymore.
However,
gentle persuasion from his disciples including Prime Minister Modi managed to
convince him to continue it.
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