In an event that was every bit as unique as Guruji'slife, ten Hindu organisations came together to jointly host and celebrate Shri Guruji'slife and mission at Advait Cultural Centre, Forty Lane, Wembley (UK), on April 12. Another unique feature of the event was that the audience consisted largely of the leaders of various Hindu organisations in the UK.
Leaders of Shri Kutch Satsang, Swaminarayan Mandir, National Council of Hindu Temples, Hindu Forum of Britain, ISKCON-Bhaktivedanta Manor, Hindu Council of UK, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (UK), Singh Sabha Gurudwara-Southall, National Congress of Gujarati Organisations (UK) and Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (UK) spoke after one another on the qualities and contribution that Shri Guruji had made.
Swami Madhav Priyadas from Shri Swaminarayan Mandir first paid tribute to Shri Guruji'smother for giving birth to Shri Guruji who sacrificed his life for the nation. He wanted to pay tribute to Shri Guruji because he was no ordinary saint. Ordinarily saints represent a section of society or a geographical region of a nation. However, Priyadasji saw Shri Guruji as a saint of the whole nation and an exemplary karmayogi whose every action was for the good of the nation.
Shri Gauridas from ISKCON-Bhaktivedanta Manor, paid tribute to Shri Guruji by pointing out how he was a man of substance and character. He concluded by saying, ?What we lack in society today are leaders of character and if Sangh can provide one thing to modern society, it should be to produce men and women of character fit for modern leadership?.
Shri Ramesh Kallidai, general secretary and vice president of Hindu Forum of Britain and Hindu Aid respectively said, ?Trying to pay homage to Shri Guruji was like holding a candle to the Sun?. He sighted the expansion of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as one of Shri Guruji'sgreatest achievements because he felt that RSS'spromotion of the Hinduvad (doctine/theory) was the only way of making true vision of our sacred seers and saints of ennobling the universe and uniting it.
Shri Kallidai went on to say that the phenomenon of the RSS and Shri Guruji was so exemplary that even some of its opponents praised it. He cited the example of Smt. Indira Gandhi who on the passing away of Shri Guruji had said, ?We have lost in Guru Golwalker a famous personality who was not a Member of Parliament but who held a respected position in the nation by his personality and the intensity of his convictions?.
In an evening of many firsts, Shri Nitish Bhardwaj, who had played Lord Krishna in popular Mahabharata TV serial, launched officially in UK, Karmayogi, a documentary on the life and work of Shri Guruji, directed by himself. He spoke about the honour of capturing Shri Guruji'slife on film and echoed the other speakers by calling Shri Guruji ?a sannyasi in white robs?.
The concluding speech was delivered by RSS Sahsarkaryavah Shri Suresh Soni who spoke about how Guruji had sacrificed his life in thinking about and acting on how to awaken the Hindu society with the firm belief that Hindu jage to Vishwa Jagegaa. ?Shri Guruji and the RSS sought to unite, organise and create assertive Hindus. Shri Guruji sought to do this by asking the Hindu society to be fiercely critical of themselves and not others and by creating individuals who put the Hindu society before themselves. Shri Guruji used to say that Hindus should not look for faults in the Hindu society. You cannot unite the Hindu society if you look for faults in it. As such he sought to build an organisation whose policies, behaviour or actions united and not divided the Hindu society and it is this philosophy that has driven RSS to where it is today. It is this philosophy that has seen the RSS stand the test of time when other divisive organisations have withered away. This philosophy and method of working was Shri Guruji'sgreatest contribution,? Shri Soni added.
In a remarkable evening the one common thread in every speech was how best to honour Guruji'slegacy. Sardar Himat Singh Sohi, president of Singh Sabha Gurudwara-South Hall, felt that the best way to pay tribute to Shri Guruji was to work hard for Hindu-Sikh unity.
While Shri Sudarshan Bhatia, president of National Council of Hindu Temples, said that a real homage to Shri Guruji would be to sit down and analyse what we need to do to unite Hindus across the world so that we turn the whole world into one family, Shri Lallubhai Parekh, president of National Congress of Gujarati Organisation (UK) appealed to the audience ?to carry forward the vision of Shri Guruji?.
(FOC)
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