By: Chinmay Bajekal
November 19, 2004

Rishi Aurobindo once said, “The country whose youth are inspired by the glory of the past, pain of the present and dreams of the future always moves on the path of progress.”

On Vijayadashmi this year the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) entered the 80^th year since its foundation in 1925. Its movement of re-building the Nation has always been the need of the hour for India. After a thousand years of slavery there was always a need for a movement to awaken the dormant Indian spirit that lay suppressed due to foreign subjugation for nearly one millennium. The freedom struggle that led to the political Independence of the country failed to fulfill this need. And so even after 57 years of Independence India is yet to retain its past glory.

The founder of RSS Param Poojaniya Doctor Ji had realized that mere political Independence was not enough for India to achieve complete freedom. The long period of slavery had left its scars on the Indian psyche as well, and our people were in need to be freed from the slave mentality which the British had cultivated in our minds through their educational institutions.  

The great thinkers of India like Swami Vivekananda, Rishi Aurobindo and many others had always recognized the fact that India with her ancient culture possessed the potential to become a ‘Global guide’ (Vishwa-Guru). India is undoubtedly the oldest living civilization in the world today. At a time when Europe had not yet appeared on the world map, India existed as a civilized Nation. The Vedas which form the core of Indian literature are the oldest texts in the library of man. The Mahabharata happens to be the oldest and the longest poem in the world. The Ashoka iron pillar built centuries ago which remains without a spot of rust till date shows the depth in India’s knowledge of metallurgy. 

According to British historian Arnold Toynbee, “It is already becoming clearer that a chapter which has a western beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in the self-destruction of the Human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in history, the only way of salvation for mankind is the ancient Hindu way.” 

In the Mother of Pondicherry’s own words, “India has to be saved for the good of the world, since she alone can lead the world to peace and a new world order.” 

So we learn that the great thinkers always believed that India with her culture had a lot to offer to mankind for his betterment and progress. Thus a movement of ‘National renaissance’ was needed the most for India to regain its lost position of a Vishwa Guru. 

But how could India go about with its movement of National renaissance when her own children perceive her culture to be that of some barbaric invading nomads called Aryans? Or if her children believed that she never existed as one civilization and the credit went to the British or any other group of invaders for uniting her under one map? At a time when millions of Indians faced starvation and lived as illiterates, how could such a country guide the world?  

Thus first we need to get our own house in order. This is precisely why the task of ‘re-building the nation’ was undertaken by the Sangh. As long as India is kept down by forces like illiteracy, corruption, communal divisions, social evils and lot more, it is not possible for her to lead the world by example.  

Since several decades, the Sangh has been actively involved in getting India rid of these forces that stand as obstacles on her path to ‘supreme glory’. The Sangh’s perspective of a solution to communal divisions is a practical one. It perceives the Majority (Hindus) and the minorities in the country as descendants of a common race, and the inheritors of a common ancestral culture and heritage. It opposes the policy of dividing the country into groups of majority and minority. The Sangh’s dream is making every Indian irrespective of his religious background to feel a sense of belongingness towards the age-old culture of India and refer to himself as a Hindu. Hinduism is a culture where there is no restriction on the name by which the Almighty is referred to and the method by which he is worshipped. Thus the so-called minorities in India may continue to practice their respective faiths and yet successfully assimilate within the National Hindu community. There is an incident which occurred years back. When one Imam from India had been to Mecca on pilgrimage he was asked by a local resident if he was a Hindu. Imam was obviously perplexed by the question, but later learnt that in Arabia every Indian irrespective of his religious background is called a Hindu. Thus even the foreigners have recognized the Hindu as the National of India.  

Today the Sangh and its affiliates are involved in eradicating illiteracy too. The Ekal Vidyalaya has undertaken the noble task of imparting free education to the tribal children in deep rural India through its non-formal schools. In an interview one of its top members have mentioned its aim of removing illiteracy from India by 2011. Vidya Bharati, an RSS subsidiary, runs about 11,000 pre-primary and primary schools and intermediate colleges and 40 degree and post-graduate colleges involving 74,000 teachers. Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram runs 107 students hostels, 399 free medical aid centers, 1,197 schools of various grade, 30 centers of vocational training dispensed through 5,796 centers touching 171 of the country's 276 forest districts. The Sangh’s affiliates have also been working to make the rural population of the country self-reliant.  

During natural calamities like earthquakes or cyclones, the RSS volunteers have been swift in rendering help to the needy. Not only at the time of peace but also in times of war, have the RSS tried to help the Armed forces of our country. In 1963 the RSS contingent was invited to participate at the Republic day parade for the aid given to the armed forces during the 1962 war with China.  

The dream of this vast movement is to make India a country where every citizen is filled with intense national pride and self-respect. An India where no Indian would accept or offer a bribe. An India where everybody is proud to belong to this great nation and the thought of carrying out separatist movements against this land does not arise in the first place. For those to whom this may sound as utopia I say, think about it as this is the same land which once gave birth to Ram Rajya. And as one of the popular songs of the Sangh declares, “Hindu jage to Vishwa jagega!” (If Hindu is awakened the world shall be awakened.)

Chinmay Bajekal