Pandit Guru Datta Vidhyarthi

From his life, one thing becomes very obvious: you don’t necessarily need a long life to make a difference in this world. Hard work and perseverance were a couple of his utmost qualities. In a short lifespan of twenty six years, what he did in the fields of acquiring knowledge, writing, uniting Hindus, and spreading Vedic knowledge is second to none. Pandit ji was born on April 26, 1864 in Multan. After finishing high school, he went to college in Lahore. He became a member of Arya Samaj Multan in 1880. When the message reached Arya Samaj Lahore in 1883 that Swami ji was critically ill, this nineteen-year-old young man was sent to serve Swami ji in Ajmer. When he saw Swami ji live his last moments on that fateful evening of Dipawali, he had tears in his eyes when he saw that this great man was leaving his body with such peace and fearlessness. He resolved – then and there – that he would continue to spread the message of Arya Samaj for the rest of his life. He became an integral part of the DAV system, traveled extensively all over Northern India to collect funds for it, lectured on Vedic dharma, did tremendous social service, taught mathematics and science without salary in the DAV college. He had a full command on both Sanskrit and English. I hope we learn by his example that these two things are not mutually exclusive and that our gurukuls teach English with as much priority and importance as Sanskrit so that the Vedic message and yoga become truly international in their real sense. He wrote extensively on the different subjects including the Vedic system, philosophy, Upanishads, and teachings of Swami ji. He tried to explain words like “mitra” and “varun,” that these may mean oxygen and nitrogen and source of water and life. He did not hesitate to counter the criticisms of Christian missionaries. His lectures and teachings were well-liked almost universally. He did not care at all about his own health. He apparently became very ill with tuberculosis and died on March 19, 1890. He has studied Satyartha Prakash eighteen times. There were articles in several newspapers giving homage to the untimely death of this great soul. There is a lot to learn from his life and even if we follow his ideals just a little bit, vedic dharma will flourish and world will be a better place.