Unravelling the life of a visionary
Personal Experiences
A group of people came together for an evening recently at the Bangalore International Centre. The cause this time wasn’t a social one alone. 
The All India Movement for Seva (AIM) launched the biography of its founder Dayananda Saraswati by author and follower Sheela Balaji.
‘Swami Dayananda Saraswati - Contributions and Writings’ is a piece of non-fiction and attempts to capture the life of the man, his early days, the start of his social empire and his teachings on Vedanta. The book was aptly released in celebration of the 80th birthday of Dayananda Saraswati.
Author Sheela Balaji, who has been with AIM since 2003, has many a personal experience to narrate through the pages. “When talking about Swamiji to someone, I had practically no literature to give away. Many people would mistake him for the Dayananda Saraswati who started Arya Samaj.
The last book written on him was published 22 years ago and is out of print,” says Sheela. “He has been one of the game changers in my life and a book that gave a full picture on him, being released in the year of Satabhishekam (80th birthday), seemed a good idea,” she adds.
The book was launched by Dileep Rajnekar, CEO, Azim Premiji Foundation and B Mahadevan, Professor, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. Both the guests spoke of their views of Dayananda Saraswati and his contribution to the field of education. Sheela gave a small speech on her experiences while writing the book and anecdotes that talk about the man’s greatness.
