"I believe that all Jivas (creatures) are one in the Eternal One. And whoever kills a creature hurts the Eternal Heart". -Sadhu T.L. Vaswani
 
To many thousands around the world, Sadhu T.L. Vaswani is a name synonymous with reverence for all life. Indeed, he was the living embodiment of an unsullied love that knew no bounds, an all-embracing love that included all mankind, animals and all creation. He cared deeply about the birds of the air and the animals of the earth; and he protected them whenever and however he could.
 
Born on November 25, 1879, in Hyderabad Sind, Sadhu Vaswani's life was touched with a spark of divinity from a very early age. After a brilliant academic career culminating in the M.A.degree, his natural inclination lay in following the life of a fakir. But this was not consistent with the wishes of his mother. So he submitted to her will and pursued a teaching career, becoming a professor and principal of prestigious colleges in the country.

Sadhu T. L. Vaswani
 
 

Who Is Sadhu T. L. Vaswani?

Sadhu T. L. Vaswani was born on November 25, 1879, in the province of Hyderabad, in Sindh, now in modern day Pakistan. A brilliant student, after his post graduation, he took up a post as a professor in the Metropolitan College in Calcutta. Inspired by a patriotic fervour he took an active part in the agitation that ensued during the partition of Bengal.
Freedom Fighter
Joining in the fray for the struggle for freedom, he was one of Mahatma Gandhi's earliest supporters. He published several articles and wrote books exhorting the youth of India to awaken and help set her free from the foreign yoke. Education was his primary concern and he turned his thoughts towards educating the youth to carry India into the future. With this end in view he established the 'Shakti Ashram' in Rajpur where young men received the training necessary to shoulder the burdens of a young and free country. Such was Sadhu Vaswani's stature that several prominent persons visited his ashram, including Mahatma Gandhi who planted a 'Youth Tree' to commemorate his visit.
But post independence, Sadhu Vaswani withdrew from an active role in national life and began concentrating more on the establishment of an educated and enlightened society.
Renouncement
When he was forty years old his mother passed away. He renounced his position and henceforth dedicated himself to the service of humanity. Sadhu Vaswani stressed the need for a new education system saying, "Our schools and colleges are our prison-cells. They keep out the sunshine of Indian ideals and Indian culture. This isolation of modern India's brain from the mighty Soul that made 'Aryavrata' a model nation, in the ancient times, this is the tragedy of our life today".
In keeping with these views, in 1933, he established the 'Mira Movement In Education' to usher in a new era in teaching. The aim was to open the eyes of the children to their rich cultural heritage and spirituality. Sadhu Vaswani started the first school in his native Hyderabad with a meagre capital of a 2-pice copper coin. This movement soon took roots in Sukkur, Rohri and Larkana in the province of Sindh. So much had this movement grown that there were even plans of establishing a Mira University. Unfortunately, these plans were thwarted due to the riots that followed the partition of the Indian sub-continent at the time of independence. This was a time when many thousands lost their lives in the Hindu-Muslim clashes and many were left homeless. In fact, almost the entire Hindu population of Sindh, Punjab and other parts of Pakistan moved towards what was now India, while a huge Muslim population moved towards a Muslim Pakistan.
The Mira movement too moved base. It is now headquartered in Pune, a city where Sadhu Vaswani moved, after the partition of the sub-continent. The emphasis in the teaching passed on in the Mira Educational Institutions is that education is a thing of the Spirit and that the end of all knowledge is service -- service of the poor and lowly, the sick and afflicted one.
At the age of 30, he went to Berlin as one of lndia's representatives to the Welt Congress, the World Congress of Religions. His speech there and his subsequent lectures in different parts of Europe aroused deep interest in Indian thought and linked many with him.
Sadhu Vaswani belonged to a time when patriotism manifested itself as a struggle for freedom from the colonial yoke. He was a freedom fighter and worked as a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi in the Satyagraha Movement. A patriot of the purest ray serene, he wrote many books which inspired specially the youth of the country to offer themselves in dedicated service of the Motherland. They include Builders of Tomorrow, My Motherland, India Arisen, Youth and the Coming Renaissance, Youth and the Nation and Awake, Young Indial! Through his inspired words he enkindled the flame of patriotism in the hearts of the young. He looked at the freedom movement as something more than the ousting of the colonial ruler. To him it included the spiritual upliftment of India to free the masses from the shackles of poverty and to restore a sense of human dignity to every man.
Later, however, Sadhu Vaswani withdrew from the field of active politics and turned his attention to education, and other spheres, emphasizing that character building is nation building. With this in view, he started the "Mira Movement in Education" which has, today, its headquarters at Pune and aims at enriching students with vital truths of modern life and at the same time making them lovers of the Indian ldeaI and Indian Culture. The emphasis in this type of educational institutions is that education is a thing of the Spirit and that the end of all knowledge is service-service of the poor and lowly, the sad and afflicted ones.
Sadhu Vaswani's life was, in the words of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the then President of India, "a saga of unassuming service, spiritual illumination and a source of inspiration to us all". He worked on, day after day, wanting nothing for himself, seeking only opportunities to be of service to the poor, the lonely and the lost. In his efforts to bring solace to the poor, Sadhu Vaswani knew that they are as much starved of love as they are of bread. And so it is that he gave them an abundance of his love, filling thereby, a bigger void. "Not in decorated temples but in broken cottages is the Great God- wiping the tears of the poor and singing His new Gita for the New Age!" he said.
Sadhu Vaswani was a prolific writer-the author of several hundreds of books in English and Sindhi. He was a born orator. When he spoke, he filled the hall with the rich music of his words and the richer music of his heart. He was a poet, a mystic, a sage and, in the words of Dr. Cousins, the Irish Poet he was "a thinker and a revealer of the deep truths of the Spirit."
Seeing the beauty of the One in the many, Sadhu Vaswani felt drawn towards all religions as he saw them as different paths to the One God. "There are so many" he said, "who can believe in only one thing at a time. I am so made as to rejoice in the many and behold the beauty of the One in the many. Hence my affinity to many religions. In them all I see revelations of the One Spirit."
Implanted deep in Sadhu Vaswani's heart was reverence for an life. Every little thing he did was inspired by the Vision Cosmic. His heart bled at the cruelties inflicted upon animals day after day, for food. "Take my head," he pleaded," but pray stop all slaughter!t' This deep awareness of the need for reverence for all life, in whichever form it is manifest, formed a very essential part of Sadhu Vaswani's teachings and has been propagated by the International Meatless Day Campaign. For the last several years, hundreds of thousands of devotees have been observing November 25, Sadhu Vaswani's birthday as Meatless Day and Animal Rights Day expressing their shared commitment to the ideal of Reverence for all life.
Sadhu Vaswarni dropped his mortal frame on Jan.16, 1966, at the age of 86. His passing on was mourned by many. The poor, whom he tended with so much love, miss him the most. They still come to pay homage at his sacred Samadhi, at the Mission Campus in Pune. To most of his devotees, Sadhu Vaswani still lives on in every nook and corner of the Mission and in the work carried on by Dada J.P Vaswani to whom he bequeathed his Torch.
 

The Philosophy & Teaching Of Sadhu T. L. Vaswani

His Books
Sadhu Vaswani has numerous books to his credit. These include India Arisen, Awake! Young India, India's Adventure, India in Chains, The Secret of Asia, My Motherland, Builders of Tomorrow and Apostles of Freedom. He has also written books in the Sindhi language. Some of his works have also been translated into German and some other Indian languages.
Service to Humanity
A man of great compassion and spirit he was moved by the plight of the needy and the afflicted and opened several ashrams, spiritual centers and hospitals to dispense both physical and spiritual comfort to the disinherited of the earth. Above all he pleaded the cause of the Indian peasant. "The masses form the nation", he said "The worst slavery is the slavery of the poor. How to abolish it? Land, I regard, as the one thing needful. Give land to the poor and teach them scientific methods of intensive agriculture and co-operative organizations".
He asked all to turn away from creeds and dogmas to "the Religion of Life, the Religion of Self-realization, the Religion of God-consciousness, the Religion of the One Spirit who is in all races and religions, prophets and saints". Small wonder that he was revered as a saint through the length and breadth of the country. To all those who came to him for blessings the only thing he asked for was that they should go and break bread with the needy in love; for to live is to give. Even when weakened by age and unable to move he carried on with his work of serving the poor showing the triumph of spirit over the body.
Meatless day
Sadhu Vaswani's love was not limited to humans alone, he cared equally for all forms of life be it flora or fauna. In fact, at one time he felt it a crime to even pluck flowers as he felt that flowers too had a family, from which they must not be separated. There are numerous incidents of his saving goats, sheep and other animals from being slaughtered. "No price is too great to save a single life," is what he used to believe in. This is one reason the Sadhu Vaswani Mission has launched a world-wide campaign to observe November 25 (Sadhu Vaswani's Birthday) as an International Meatless Day and Animal Rights Day, symbolically seeking World Peace through a shared expression of 'Reverence for All Life'.
Attaining Samadhi
When he was 80, Sadhu Vaswani injured himself in a fall. This made him immobile in his last days. In these years, he used to be carried on a chair by his followers, which used to be placed below a tree where he would breathe in fresh air and sit with his followers. He lived on for another six years before attaining Samadhi in Pune on January 16, 1966.
Following in his master's footsteps
Nephew of Sadhu Vaswani, Jashan Vaswani (affectionately Dada Jashan Vaswani) now heads the Sadhu Vaswani Mission in Pune. Born in 1918, he adopted Sadhu Vaswani as his guide and mentor at a very young age. Sadhu Vaswani was the younger brother of Dada Jashan's father and hence a role model for young Jashan. Following in the family tradition Dada Jashan too, like his father and uncle, had taken lectureship at a college before he renounced everything to follow in Sadhu Vaswani's footsteps.
Literary Efforts
Dada Jashan is a man of words and has many brilliant works to his credit. In fact, before partition he had brought out a Journal 'The Excelsior', which even outdid the leading daily in terms of circulation figures. And the most surprising part of this journal was that it was a total one-man show, with Dada Jashan looking after the collection of data, editing, proofing, getting advertisements and printing it.
His other publishing efforts includes the periodical 'India Digest', which he started after partition in Ahmedabad in Gujarat. In fact, this periodical had on its Advisory Board Dr S Radhakrishnan, a well-known educationist, philosopher and Vice Chancellor of the Benaras Hindu University, who went on to become the President of Independent India. Dada Jashan also founded the 'East and West Series' to spread the message of Sadhu Vaswani.
 

Chronology Of Events In The Life Of Sadhu T.L Vaswani

1879 Nov. 25th Born in Hyderabad-Sind
1888 Had his first mystical vision
1895 Stood first in Sind in the Matriculation Exam of the Univ. of Bombay and was awarded the MacLeod Scholarship
1899 Stood first in B.A English from Univ. of Bombay and was awarded the Ellis Scholarship
1900 Appointed dakshina Fellow of D.J Sind College, Karachi
1902 Completed M.A Examination of the University of Bombay
1903 Appointed as Professor of History and Philosophy in the City College, Calcutta
1906 Joined D.J Sind College, Karachi, as Professor of English and Philosophy
1910 Attended the Welt Congress of Religions at Berlin (Germany) as one of India's representatives and delivered lectures in different parts of Europe
1912 Became Principal of Dyal Singh College, Lahore
1915 Became Principal of Victoria College, Cooch Behar
1917 Became Principal of Mahendra College, Patiala
1919 Resigned his job as principal and dedicated himself to the service of God and Man
1920 Participated in the Freedom Struggle
1926 Started Shakti Ashram at Rajpur
1930 Founded the Sakhi Satsang at Hyderabad Sind
1930 Started 'Sant Mala', a Monthly Sindhi journal
1930 Started the 'Dawn', a fortnightly English Journal, later converted into a monthly journal called ‘New Dawn'
1933 Opened a Youth Camp at Lahore and toured throughout the Punjab
1933 June 4th Founded the Mira Movement in Education
1933 Started 'The Mira', an Anglo-Sindhi weekly, which later became an English Monthly, still in existence
1934 Presided over the All-India Sahijdhari Sikh Conference, Shikrapur
1934 Presided over the All-India Humanitarian Conference at Bombay
1937 Started East and West, a monthly English journal
1938 Started the Shyam, a Sindhi weekly paper
1939 Founded Mira College at Hyderabad-Sind
1939 Offered Satyagraha and courted arrest. Arrested by the British Raj and released after four days
1939 Visited Ceylon to preside over the Pan-Asian World Conference for Peace in Colombo. Over the next four months, toured the island, delivering lectures
1944 Presided over the All-India Gita Jayanti Conference at Calcutta
1946 Laid the foundation of the Gita Mandir and the fellowship Hall, Hyderabad-Sind
1948 November Migrated to Bombay during pre-partition violence in Sind
1949 Feb. Came to Pune
1950 Started Radhakrishna Daya (charitable) dispensary
1950 Started St. Mira's High School in Pune
1952 Started St. Mira's Primary School in Pune
1952 Inaugurated the Animal Welfare Week in Bombay
1954 Started East and West series, a monthly English journal
1958 Started St. Mira's English Medium School for Girls, Pune
1962 Started St. Mira's College for Girls, Pune
1966 January 16 Mahasamadhi

 
 

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