A noble movement

Today there are about 6,000 people in the city who are part of five Arya Samaj bodies in various parts of Pune at Nanapeth,Khadki,NDA,Pimpri and Warje. S C Nagpal,managing trustee of Arya Samaj,says,”We as a community always focus on social causes. We do not worship any idols,hence for us,everything that is omnipresent is God. Education and science are the keys to everything,this is what we believe in.” The Arya Samaj runs an English medium school for underpriviledged students at Nana Peth. The school charges only Rs 100 per month,in spite of the expenses being close to Rs 500. The DAV schools and colleges are also affiliated to the Arya Samaj. The community also started a charitable Homeopathy dispensary eight years ago.

Conducting lectures and seminars on social,political issues,ethics and patriotism,organising medical camps,are all their core activities. They organise weekly meetings and satsangs . Atleast 50 people attend such events at their Nanapeth centre,but on special occasions. The response sometimes swells to more than 150 people. “Performing havans or agnihotra are an essential part of our tradition and not the main cause of the existence of our group.” Even during such events they usually invite scholars to deliver lectures on various topics.

Arya Samaj has been very supportive of women’s education as they believe that a home-maker should always be educated,so that the upbringing of future generations is done well. This has especially helped them in the era when women were not allowed to even learn to read and write vedas . The participation of women today is about 1/3 in all activities. Mr. Nagpal says,“We take young kids to institues like NDA and CME so that they are exposure to these fields,apart from what they see in their day-to-day life. A trip to the Mecedez Benz factory was also one of our outdoor activities for children.”

Sudarshan Manchanda,secretary of Arya Samaj,says,”We face some issues at times when we have to work towards our principles. Funds is sometimes a concern,especially as we rely completely on donations. We have asked the government for a piece of land to establish a ‘Ethics Institute’ which will spread humanitarian ideas in the society”.