7th Chamanlal Memorial Lecture in New Delhi
FOR some time some western scholars are trying to prove that what Swami Vivekananda said was basically borrowed from the West and he said nothing new. What is funnier about it is that some so-called Vedanta scholars in India too have started supporting this propaganda. The proponents of this new ideology also claim that the Neo-Hinduism propounded by Swami Vivekananda oppressed the dalits and lower sections of the society in India, said former entrepreneur, public speaker and president of Infinity
Foundation USA Shri Rajiv Malhotra. He was delivering 7th Chamanlal Memorial Lecture in New Delhi on March 23.
The Lecture was organised by International Centre for Cultural Studies (ICCS) at Constitution Club in the memory of former Sangh Pracharak Chamanlal, whose simple demeanour is still etched in the minds of thousands in Bharat and abroad. Chamanlalji was known for his meticulous record keeping and maintaining contact with swayamsevaks abroad. The topic of the lecture was ‘the Future of Swami Vivekananda’s Renaissance’.
Former Union Minister and president of Janata Party Dr Subramanian Swamy was present as chief guest. Prominent among those who were present on the occasion included RSS Sahsarkaryavah Shri Dattatreya Hosabale, veteran Pracharak Shri Madan Das, Shri Ranga Hari, Shri Madhubhai Kulkarni, Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Dr Manmohan Vaidya, veteran VHP leader Acharya Giriraj Kishore, etc. Prof Kapil Kapur, president of ICCS, Delhi, presided over the function. HSS International coordinator Shri Saumitra Gokhale also shared the dais.
Shri Rajiv Malhotra who has stirred the western intelligentsia with books like Being Different, pointed out that the so-called Western thinkers have coined some very silly arguments even about the terms like karmayoga, etc. used by Swami Vivekananda. They say all such concepts were copied by Vivekananda from the West. He said he is shortly going to come out with a comprehensive book exposing the whole conspiracy and also countering all these baseless arguments. The book appears to come any time this year.
He said fact is that What Swami Vivekananda said has already been in our age old scriptures and our ancestors practised them for centuries. He said the pre-colonial Hindus practised all the things that the colonial scholars say today as their own inventions. He pointed out that he would also highlight the unifying facts found in our scriptures since the ancient times.
Dr Subramanian Swamy said we are not a composite society, as some people repeatedly try to prove even in our own country. “Our identity is purely Hindu and Hindu mindset is the most crucial thing for us today. Just being 1.25 billion is not enough. What we think and do also matter. Any strength is useless if our mindset is in imperfect state,” he said.
He appealed to the countrymen to abandon the slave mindset and follow what Swami Vivekananda said for the uplift of the nation. Talking about the Hindu identity, he said the ancestors of majority of the Muslims and Christians were Hindus, which has been proved by DNA. He recalled his long association with the late Chamanlalji, whom he described, as an amazing personality. He also lauded Chamanlalji’s contribution during the Emergency. In the beginning, introducing the personality of the late Chamanlalji, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh International Coordinator Shri Soumitra Gokhale said Chamanlalji wrote diaries covering over 27000 pages but no where he mentioned anything about himself. He said the towering personality of Chamanlalji made so many admirers of the Sangh world over. His simplicity moved even many top leaders of the world.
A book written by Shri Devdatt, a sadhak at Pondicherry, on the history of Nepal was also released at the function.
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