Sadhu T. L. Vaswani

Sadhu Thanwardas Lilaram Vaswani Sindhi: साधू थानवर्ड्स लिलरम वासवानी (November 25, 1879 – January 16, 1966) Sadhu T. L. Vaswani was an Indian educationist who started the Mira movement of education and set up Sadhu Vaswani Mission in Hyderabad, Sindh, and later moved to Pune after 1949. A museum, Darshan Museum dedicated to his life and teaching was opened in Pune, in 2011.

Sadhu Vaswani was born Thanwardas Lilaram Vaswani, in Hyderabad Sind. When he was a boy, he attended the Academy at Hyderabad-Sind. As a boy, he first learned about the sacred texts called the Upanishads from Upadhyaya Brahmabandhav, a Brahmin from Bengal who adopted Christianity. Later in his lifetime, Sadhu Vaswani was recognized as an accomplished proponent of the Upanishads and a skilled interpreter of the Bible and the Qur'an.

He passed his Matriculation and completed his B.A. from the University of Bombay in 1899. After completing his B.A. examination, he received the Ellis Scholarship and became a Dakshina Fellow at D.J. Sind College in Karachi while studying for his master's degree. He received his M.A. degree also from the University of Bombay in 1902. He then asked his mother for permission to devote his life to the service of God and man. His mother desired that her son have success in life and would not agree. As a result, Vaswani agreed to take a teaching job at his alma mater, Union Academy. His mother sought to arrange a marriage for her son but Vaswani vowed to remain a brahmachari and never to marry. He soon accepted a position as Professor of History and Philosophy at Metropolitan College in Calcutta. There in Calcutta Vaswani found his guru, Sri Promotholal Sen, called Naluda.

After receiving his M.A. degree, at the age of 22, Vaswani took a job at Union Academy, his alma mater. After a few months, he accepted a position as a Professor of History and Philosophy at City College, Kolkata in 1903. In 1908 he moved to Karachi to join D. J. Science College as Professor of English and Philosophy, before participating in the Indian independence movement.

In July 1910, when Vaswani was 30 years old, he and his guru, Sri Promotholal Sen, sailed from Mumbai to Berlin. In August 1910, they participated in the Welt Congress or the World Congress of Religions in Berlin. Sadhu Vaswani spoke to the conference as a representative of India and expressed a message of peace, tranquility, the helping and healing of India, and Atman. He founded Sadhu Vaswani Mission in 1929, in Hyderabad.

He was 40 years old when his mother died. He fulfilled his promise to her to work and make an income during her lifetime, but after her funeral he resigned his employment. In 1948, Vaswani reluctantly migrated to India from Sindh, which lay in the newly formed state of Pakistan. Prior to his exile, he and his followers had stirred controversy after prasad was distributed as usual at his weekly meeting that took place two days after the death of Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The prasad ceremony was seen by local Muslims as an act to celebrate Jinnah's death.

He was an early supporter of Mahatma Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement. Upon his motion and under his influence the Sind Political Conference of the Indian National Congress passed a resolution regarding the NonCooperation program. He wrote many books, which include: India Arisen; Awake, Young India!; India's Adventure; India in Chains; The Secret of Asia; My Motherland; Builders of Tomorrow; and Appostles of Freedom. The Government of India issued a postage stamp in his honour.

Annually, the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, which exists to continue the life and mission of Sadhu T. L. Vaswani, celebrates the International Meatless Day on Vaswani's birthday, November 25, because he had strongly advocated universal practice of vegetarian living.