By Mohanrao Bhagwat
THE prime qualities that Ma. Rajju Bhaiya had were to love all, treat all as his own, take everybody along with him, stay steadfast on truth, tell what is the truth and adopt simplicity. On the basis of these qualities he had laid some principles of good behaviour, like treating all in the same manner. Without being influenced with age, status, eminence of a person, but treating each person as an individual, was his first principle. Many examples of this nature were seen in his life.
Once a Swayamsevak from a village of Chandrapur district in Maharashtra brought his younger brother for admission to a college in Pune. By then Rajju Bhaiya had relinquished his duties as Sarsanghchalak to hand them over to Ma. Sudarshanji as he himself was recuperating his health at Kaushik Ashram. The Vibhag Pracharak of Chandrapur district had also given him a letter and telephone numbers of some prominent people.
The Swayamsevak reached Pune with his brother at 4 o'clock in the morning. He had come to Pune for the first time. On seeing their village outfits and style of talking when seeking the address, a tough-looking goonda began to stalk them. Both the brothers became frightened. They began making frantic phone calls to the local Sangh workers from a nearby telephone booth. Everyone who was contacted would invariably ask, ?Where are you? Somehow or the other come to my house or reach the Sangh Karyalaya.? But they were terribly terrified, not knowing what to do. They were not able to tell even from which place they were calling. They even dialled the number of Kaushik Ashram. It was about 5.30 a.m. at that moment. Rajju Bhaiya himself picked up the phone. Without any fanfare the Swayamsevak spoke out directly, ?I am a Swayamsevak from Pipali village of Chandrapur district. I want to talk to Rajju Bhaiya.?
?All people are basically nice. One should deal with every person by believing in his goodness. Anger, jealousy, etc., are offshoots of his past experiences, which affect his behaviour. Primarily every person is nice and everyone is reliable.?
Rajju Bhaiya replied, ?Yes. Tell me what you want, I am speaking.?
The Swayamsevak explai-ned the sequence of events concluding that the goonda was standing nearly and over-hearing their talk. He was also preventing them from going anywhere. Rajju Bhaiya replied, ?I can'teven walk without any support, what help can I give you?? The Swayamsevak said he knew nothing about the city. Then, literally shouting on the phone, Rajju Bhaiya said, ?You try to stall him there. I will send the police right now.? Rajju Bhaiya had said this in such a loud tone that the goon standing close to the phone, heard it and quietly slipped away.
Later, the Swayamsevak met Rajju Bhaiya and narrated the entire incident. If you look at it from the practical point of view, then you see that on one side was an ordinary Swayam-sevak from an unknown village and on the other side was the former Sarsanghchalak, who was concerned for the Swayam-sevak as an individual and not because he was big or small, a city-dweller, a village Karyavah or a Sarkaryavah.
Why did he do this? He told me the following when I became Sarkaryavah. He said, ?All people are basically nice. One should deal with every person by believing in his goodness. Anger, jealousy, etc., are offshoots of his past experiences, which affect his behaviour. Primarily, every person is nice and everyone is reliable. We should accept this when dealing with people.? At least two to three times he told me that anger never proved helpful. He even said that during his work in the Sangh, he became angry twice or thrice and all the times he suffered some loss; gained nothing. I feel that to exercise control over one'sanger and behaviour, one has to keep a well-balanced mind and this he had achieved.
The capacity to treat all person in the same manner and consider all people good and reliable helped him take many people along with him. He never mentioned his difficulties; he remained eng-rossed in Sangh activities.
A few days ago, I went to attend a meeting of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. During an informal discussion, Acharya Dharmendraji told me that once, when Rajju Bhaiya was in Mumbai, he too happened to be there. When Acharya Dharmendraji went to meet Rajju Bhaiya, the latter was having his breakfast. The meal was so spicy that only one look at his face conveyed everything to Dharmendraji, who could not help remarking, ?Rajju Bhaiya, why are you swallow-ing this poison? What pleasure are your deriving from eating so much of chilies in the food??
Then Rajju Bhaiya opened his mouth to reveal his tongue. There were boils on his tongue. Acharya Dharmendra sugges-ted him to ask for something else, like porridge for instance.
But Rajju Bhaiya replied, ?No, a very old Swayamsevak has brought this meal for me with great love; that'swhy I?m eating it.? This shows that Rajju Bhaiya was more concerned about the Swayamsevak than for his own discomfort.
Once Rajju Bhaiya came to Nagpur on a short tour. He was Sarkaryavah at that time and I was a Pracharak in Nagpur. Normally, when any adhikari comes to Nagpur, his itinerary is chalked out for a continuous stay of two to three days. Hence, about five to six programmes were arranged for him to attend daily. That day, after attending his morning schedule, he reached the Sangh Karyalaya. I was accompanying him to escort him to his room when my hand inadvertently touched his hand. I felt as though I had touched burning amber. I immediately took hold of his hand and felt his body burning with fever. I said, ?You have temperature.? He replied, ?Don'tworry; it has been continuing since the past two-three days.?
I said, ?No, no, the schedule…?
He cut me short, ?No, don'tcancel the programme. I have to talk while sitting; it would be no strain on the body. I?m able to walk and as I am eating food too, I can surely talk.? He attended all the programmes.
He would keep himself in the background and the ideal in the forefront. This was the second prime quality of his personality. In the modern times, I think these two qualities are very essential for every Swayamsevak.
Once in a semi-conscious state, Rajju Bhaiya had said, ?The Sangh work is increasing; need is for increasing the tempo.?
Work can be expedited only when each Swayamsevak gives supremacy to Sangh work. Let him be a student, a householder or an ascetic, every Swayam-sevak has to accept that Sangh work comes first, while the rest is secondary. When such a situation is reached, the momentum of Sangh work will get a fillip. Rajju Bhaiya set the example with his own life?Sangh work first; I come second.
Secondly, we all should for ever remember Rajju Bhaiya'smoolmantra (watch-word)??All people are primarily good, all are reliable??to work for bringing unity in the society.
Only the Sangh Swayam-sevaks have the capacity to take the entire society along with them. I think, to fulfill the objective of the next phase of Sangh work, the two main qualities that every Swayam-sevak should have are which Rajju Bhaiya conveyed through his personal life.
(The author is Sarkaryavah of RSS.) <!– Photo Caption Rajju Bhaiya with Govardhan Maharaj
Leave a Comment