From Our Correspondent
Living thousands of miles away from Bharat for generations, it is indeed a wonder that many people have stuck to Hindu samskars till today. Not only this they have carved out a niche for themselves in their lands of residence on the basis of their ideals and Hindu way of life. Rashtriya Vikas Mandal, Nasik organised a camp for those who are working for the unity and welfare of the Hindu society in such distant countries. The training camp began at Dr Munje Institute of Management, Nasik on July 25 and concluded on August 13 with impressive physical exercises, ghosh, yoga, dand, yogchap, niyuddh and surya namaskar by 68 Swayamsevaks from 10 countries spread over four continents. Shri Bapu Saheb Mokashi, Prant Sanghchalak of Konkan was Sarvadhikari of the Varg.
This Varg was unique in many respects. The participants spoke 12 Bharatiya and eight foreign languages. The oldest Swayamsevak was 57-years old and 80 per cent Swayamsevaks were below the age of 25 years. Belonging to different economic strata, they came to the camp from thousands of miles on their own expenses. Their ancestors left this country, generations before. Thirty-three of the Swayamsevaks came to Bharat for the first time and two came after a gap of over 15 years.
Daily routine of the Varg used to start at 5 a.m. and went up to 11 p.m. Besides training in physical exercises like yogaasana, Bharatiya games, Indian martial arts, use of danda, playing Bharatiya musical instruments, sanghik exercises, danda yuddha, etc., experts guided them in Shrimad Bhagawad Gita, the global spread of Bharatiya Sanskriti, Vedic Mathematics, spoken Hindi, etc. Glimpses of Hindu Sanskriti were given to them via pravachan, discourses, group discussion, LCD presentations, etc.
The participants felt completely at home during their 20-days stay in the Varg. Working of the Varg was mainly conducted in Hindi and English. Keeping aside their own food habits, all the participants took Marathi food with great aplomb. In the evening, girls from north-eastern states studying in Nashik, presented some sanghik songs in their melodious voices. All the participants accompanied them with one voice.
Speaking at the concluding ceremony, Dr Shankar Rao Tattwawadi, convenor, Vishwa Vibhag apprised the audience of the condition of Hindus in different parts of the world. He said that Hindus reached in about 125 countries of the world in three instalments-first, about 150 years back, mostly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to Fiji, Mauritius, West Indies and South Africa as sugarcane labourers, second, about 100 years ago, to the countries of eastern Africa, mostly from Gujarat as teachers, etc., and third was the more recent trend in which highly educated Indian professionals are going to developed countries like USA, UK and other countries of Europe, Australia, Middle East, etc.
Shri Madhav Chitale, an international expert in water and land management, while presiding over the concluding function, said that today was the age of internationalism. “With the establishment of United Nations after Second World War, efforts are on to forge a common ground for common good of the humanity. International Bank of Reconstruction and Development, which later became World Bank, World Health Organisation, World Meteorological Organisation, etc., are the steps in this direction only. Internationalism has gradually led to mutual understanding and the Hindu concept of vishwamangalyam – the core of Hindu philosophy is showing them the right direction, he said.
Shri Mohan Bhagwat, RSS Sarkaryavah said that at the time of growing cut-throat competition world over, the responsibility of showing new light has fallen on the shoulders of Hindus. He said the Hindu society had become a trustee of world culture. “Efforts are going on in the world to alienate Hindus from their culture. Today’s world is science-oriented where people test every principle on the touchstone of logic. Need of the time is that Hindus must become strong and strength will come only when they are united. This is the fourth Shiksha Varg and unique in the sense that it has been initiated on the request of those who have come here to participate in it. Let us hope that Hindus after becoming united will present good signs of global progress to the world while the rest of the work will be accomplished by the new generation,” he said.
