ARYA PRADESHIK PRATINIDHI UP SABHA
The Arya Samaj is a progressive faith and a way of life. It was founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. The great saint, Maharishi Dayananad Saraswati was born in 1824 in village Tankara in Gujarat.
He was a great thinker and social reformer. In 19th century, he saw the Indian society in the grip of age-old customs, superstitions and beliefs. He propounded the slogan 'Back to the Vedas’ to help people get rid of the false beliefs and adopt an objective, rational and progressive way of life. He openly stood up against all the social evils such as discrimination on grounds of caste, creed, sex, economic status and social bigotry, male chauvinism and religious dominance of higher castes over the backward castes and classes.
By propagating Vedic knowledge he ushered in a social renaissance in the Indian society. He strongly advocated the eradication of ignorance and illiteracy through education of persons belonging to all castes, high or low. He encouraged education of women and promoted widow-remarriage. Rarely in history has one single person come to be so totally identified with social and moral revival of the nation as Swami Dayanand Saraswati.
Thus Arya Samaj aims at making man a good human being and achieving the two-fold development i.e. the spiritual upliftment and the social upliftment.