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You are here : home > Values > Respectfulness > Swami Dayanand Saraswati's Respect for the Poor

Swami Dayanand Saraswati's Respect for the Poor

Swami Dayanand Saraswati was an accomplished leader and a great yogi. Here’s a story on how he set a good example through his actions and taught people to love and respect everyone irrespective of their caste and status.

Swami Dayanand Saraswati was an Indian philosopher and a political leader. He was the founder of Arya Samaj. The first call for Swaraj “India for Indians” was given by him which was then taken up by Lokmanya Tilak. He was also a yogi who had gained various Yogic Siddhis.

A lot of people admired him for his virtues and one of his greatest admirers included a humble barber. He belonged to the town of Anupshahar in Uttar Pradesh in India. One day out of sheer admiration he decided to serve rotis to Swamiji. He belonged to a lower caste so he was a little hesitant while offering rotis to Swamiji. While serving rotis to Swamiji he said “ Despite being an unclean person, I am offering these rotis to you. I apologize for the same”.

Swamiji was very pleased by his gesture and gratitude. He accepted the rotis offered by him.

During this time, 20 other Bramhins who were sitting nearby were observing the scene. They objected to Swamiji for accepting rotis from a person belonging to the lower caste. Swamiji smiled and said “There is nothing called upper caste or lower caste. The gesture and the feelings of the person matter the most.” “The man who is offering the roti is not unclean, the thoughts of people are making him unclean”. “The rotis that he offered are the pure food of the almighty”. “Rotis would have only been unclean if he would have purchased it with black-money or if he would have offered it with ill-virtues”. “ I accept his rotis as the food offered to me by almighty”. In this way, Swamiji accepted the rotis respectfully from the barber in front of all the other Brahmins.

We can learn from the above story that every individual in this world deserves to be treated with respect and love. Our hearts should be full of respect for everyone. Only then we can attain true happiness and salvation of the soul.

Moral: We must treat everyone with love and respect with an open mind and heart.