ARYA SAMAJ

ARYA SAMAJ

Arya Samaj, (Sanskrit: ‘Society of Nobles’) vigorous reform sect of modern Hinduism, founded in 1875 by Dayananda Sarasvati, whose aim was to reestablish the Vedas, the earliest Hindu scriptures, as revealed truth. The Arya Samaj has always had its largest following in western and northern India. It is organised in local ‘samajas’ - societies that send representatives to provincial samajas and to an all-India ‘samaja’ and local samaja elects its own officers in a democratic manner. This opposes idolatry, animal sacrifice, ancestor worship, a caste system based on birth rather than on merit, untouchability, child marriage, pilgrimages, priestly craft and temple offerings. It upholds the infallibility of the Vedas, the doctrines of karman and rebirth, the sanctity of the cow, the importance of the individual sacraments - ‘samskaras’, the efficacy of Vedic oblations to the fire, female education and intercaste marriages. In the symbol AUM surrounded by a glowing sun ‘A’ stands for creation, ‘U’ stands for preservation and finally ‘M’ stands for destruction. This represents the Trinity of God in Hindu dharma. The three portions of AUM relate to the states of waking, dream and deep sleep and the three guans – ‘rajas’, ‘satva’, ‘tamas’. In the Vedas, AUM is the sound of the sun, light and assent.