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once reasonable and ennobling, and the Vedic Dharma, which he
expounded, was highly conducive to the harmony of physical,
moral and spiritual nature of man. The highest Western thought
could not influence him in any way; he stood on a far higher plane,
and the religion which he offered to the people was truth without
the least tinge of falsehood — pure, sublime and soul inspiring.
As soon as the ideals and truths of this religion were made known,
the people accepted them with eagerness. The ever swelling tide
of conversion to alien faiths was at once stemmed; excitement and
uneasiness soon ceased, and there was all peace and harmony.
Guru Datta also was attracted towards the Vedic Dharma,
and his inquisitive faculties were totally satiated. His intimate
friends at the time were Pandit Remal Das and Lala Chetanananda,
and both of them had already been converted to the Vedic faith.
Guru Datta often talked to them on Godhead and other problems
of religious import. He read Rishi Dayananda's Satyarth Prakash
(first edition) at their instance, and joined the church of Arya Samaj
Multan5 on 20th June, 1880. That was the happiest day in the annals
of the Arya Samaj and marks a new era in its development, since
the powerful advocacy of the Vedic Dharma by him has been the
means of securing to the Samaj the sympathy and co-operation of
many a talented man.
Soon after his accepting the membership of the Samaj, he
commenced the study of Ashtadhyai, and such a strong fascination
had he for it that he called on the office bearers of the Multan Arya
Samaj to send for a Pandit to teach him, failing which, he would
consider their
dharma
to be shallow. The office bearers gave a
prompt attention to this request, and at once sent for a Pandit
Akshananda. Guru Datta read with him for a few weeks. The
teacher could not satisfy the pupil as he could not reply to his
endless questions. The Vidyarthi learnt only 11/2
adhyayas
from
the Pandit, and then left off rather unceremoniously. He studied
the book independently, perhaps with the help of Swamiji's
Vedang
Prakash;
he had a commendable mastery over it. While at Multan,
he came across another book, called "Easy lessons in Sanskrit
Grammar" by Dr. Ballantyne. He read through it in a few days.
Pandit Guru Datta, after finishing it, began to read the Sanskrit
portion of the Rigvedadi Bhashya Bhumika and fully understood
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