Satyarth Prakash is the greatest work of Swami Dayananda Saraswati, the illustrious founder of Arya Samaj, a great socio-religious organization. It is his masterpiece which contains a vast reservoir of ancient knowledge with his own comments, supported by quotations from the Vedas, Shastaras and other holy scriptures. It covers almost all matters, religious, social, educational, political, moral and spiritual, besides several other aspects of human life. In nutshell, it embodies the right description and exposition of Vedic philosophy and culture which prevailed throughout the world in ancient times.
The meaning of Satyarth Prakash as translated into English language is ‘Light of Truth’. It is the beacon light which guides the people from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. The main objective of Swami Dayananda in writing this book was to propagate the reality of true religion and to distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong. He has expounded truth as truth and error as error.
Satyarth Prakash presents a noble charter of life for all the people and contains principles and rules of conduct for all mankind. The book which is considered as immortal as the truth is the product of a genius who all through life struggled hard to discern reality, sifted truth from falsehood, wisdom from ignorance, true religion from false and thus brought forth an everlasting treatise of great religious, social and philosophical importance. Satyarth Prakash, undoubtedly is the light of truth to guide people on the path of truth.
The English version of Satyarth Prakash extends over 700 pages in fine print. The original versions in Hindi, English and Urdu became very popular when the movement of Arya Samaj was at the peak of its glory. The followers of Arya Samaj kept it as a family asset and studied it with great devotion and dedication. But with the advent of modern era, most of the younger generation may not be aware of even the main contents of this great work which may perhaps be lying unattended and attracting dust in some corner of a house or in the precincts of an Arya Samaj. As the available old books are quite voluminous, the younger generation and the modern elite who have several other passions and activities, may find it very difficult to read it. Keeping this in view, the preparation of a smaller version which contains the essence of the great book, is considered necessary and worthwhile.
This small volume is compact and concise and consists of only around a hundred pages, but it contains the essence of the original Satyarth Prakash. It covers almost all main thoughts and views expressed in the original bigger book, except some details and minor points which have been omitted, here and there. The intention is to bring out a small, homely, easily readable compact volume desired for the modern day very busy people who do not find enough time to go through a bigger volume.
I hope this smaller book will prove to be a popular version of Satyarth Prakash, among the present day English knowing general reader who will find it as an easily accessible window to gain access to the vast reservoir of knowledge contained in the original Satyarth Prakash.
