Jayadayal Goyandka is famous as a commentator of the Bhagavad Gita and founder of Gita Press. Commentary of Jayadayal Goyandka is known as Tattvavivecani. In his commentary, he calls the Bhagavad Gita a storehouse of spiritual knowledge.
Jayadayal Goyandka was born in 1865 CE at Chooru (Rajasthan) in a middle class Aggarwal family. From childhood, Goyandka took a keen interest in the Bhagavad Gita.
The primary aim of the Gita, according to him, is to help man realize God through the two paths of samkhya (knowledge) and karmayoga (action); the path of bhakti (devotion) is not distinct, samkhya and yoga are part of it. Thus Jayadayal Goyandka recognizes only two principal paths.
Such was his devotion to the Bhagavad Gita that he started a press called the Gita Press in 1926 at Gorakhpur. The Gita Press is now a name to reckon with in the field of publication of Hindu religious literature.
Shri Goyandka was able to get the support of scholars such as Ghanshyam Das Jalan, Hanuman Prasad Poddar and Swami Ramsukhdasji. He combined in himself scholarship, spirituality, and the spirit of social service. He lived a life of Spartan simplicity. As a social worker, he established a rihiskul in 1926 at Chooru.
He was also instrumental in promoting Sri Gita Ramayan Prachar Sangh, Sadhak Sangh, Sri Gita Ramayan Pariksha Samiti, etc.
An exemplar of “simple living and high thinking”, Jayadayal Goyandka passed away on April 17, 1965, when he completed a Vedic span – a hundred years.