During this period of studying for various courses, his allegiance to the reformist ‘Arya Samaj’ movement continued. He was too deeply committed to its ideals. During his Lahore education period he drew closer to Arya Samaj. He even considered the founder of it, Swami Dayananda Saraswati as his spiritual father.
Many other reformist movements were also on. Most of them were inspired by western thoughts, culture and Christian religion. They were using English education and western culture as the direct solution of the evil practices Indian society was suffering from. In the process Indian traditional culture was being vilified.
Arya Samaj was following different ideology. It believed in Vedic wisdom and was rooted to native culture and values. It was fighting the social evils from within and reforms it worked for were in the nature of self-correction without seeking refuge under western umbrella.
Meanwhile, Indian National Congress had come into existence and politics of freedom was gradually building up across the country. The situation was such that political movements were bound to get mixed up with reformist campaigns. A political agenda without reforms programmes made no sense.
Lajpat Rai regularly attended all Arya Samaj meetings and took part in the debates. In the debates his natural oratory skills showed up. To his pleasant surprise he discovered that he had a natural flair for public speaking.
Lajpat Rai was politically conscious youngman. It was bound to be because social conditions in the country were being taken advantage of by alien rulers and their henchmen. The slavery of the British hurt his pride. The freedom movement was a ray of hope for him. In the debates he spoke passionately against the foreign rulers and the need for the liberation of the motherland. The listeners could see in him the freedom fighter in the making.
For the spread of Arya Samaj movement he became its active member. Lajpat Rai toured towns and villages exhorting people to join Arya Samaj. He spoke in meetings urging the masses to shun evil practices to redeem the Hindu society. He inspired the setting up of Arya Samaj branches everywhere he went.
His typical appeal would be—‘‘We are the people of the most ancient and famous culture belonging to this great country, India. But unfortunately the social evils, blind faiths and the manipulations by vested religious sections have brought us down to the present sorry state where an alien culture is lording over us. Arya Samaj is determined to fight these evils to regain our lost glory. I invite you to join this battle by actively participating in Arya Samaj movement.”
