Dayananda Saraswati (Arsha Vidya)
| Swami Dayananda Saraswati | |
|---|---|
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Founder of | Arsha Vidya Gurukulam |
| Philosophy | Advaita Vedanta |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Born | Natarajan Gopala Iyer 15 August 1930 Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu |
| Died | 23 September 2015 (aged 85) Rishikesh, India |
| Guru | Chinmayananda Saraswati |
Swami Dayananda Saraswati (15 August 1930 – 23 September 2015) was a monk of the Hindu monastic order and a renowned traditional teacher of Advaita Vedanta, and founder of the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam. He was the spiritual Guru of prime minister Narendra Modi.
Swamiji was born as Natarajan in Manjakudi – Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu on 15 August 1930 to Shri. Gopala Iyer and Smt. Vallambal (or Valliyambal). He was the eldest of four sons. His early schooling was done in the District Board School at Kodavasal. His father's death when he was eight, meant Natarajan had to shoulder a significant portion of family responsibility along with his education. After the completion of his education, Natarajan came to Chennai (erstwhile Madras) for earning a livelihood. Natarajan worked as a journalist for the weekly magazine Dharmika Hindu (run by T. K. Jagannathacharya) and also for erstwhile Volkart Brothers (now Voltas Limited) for sometime. He also decided to be a fighter pilot at one point and joined the Indian Air Force, but left after six months as he felt suffocated by the regimentation there. While in his absence his younger brother MG.Srinivasan took charge of the agricultural fields of the family household and made sure that the family had the income to survive and live peacefully off the income.
Natarajan became interested in Vedanta (Vedanta known also as Upanishad, is a positional name for the wisdom contained in the end portion of the Vedas, the most ancient body of scriptural and religious knowledge known to humankind) after listening to the public talks of Swami Chinmayananda in the year 1953. He became actively involved with the then newly formed Chinmaya Mission in various roles and he was made its Secretary within the first year of its inception. He attended the Sanskrit classes of P.S. Subramania Iyer, a retired Professor of English. It was Iyer who introduced the mode of chanting the Gita verses that is still followed by Chinmaya Mission centres, Arsha Vidya centres and others as well.
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