Since ancient times, we have been living in this land as an advanced and civilised society. Civilised, cultured social life first developed here. The geographical conditions are also responsible for this. The Himalayas protect us in the north and ocean in the south. There was a diversity of plants and an abundance of rivers and land available for agriculture. Social life would have been simple, safe and peaceful. Therefore, the environment was very conducive to study, contemplate, research and experiment. The sanatan ‘flow of knowledge’ must have been dynamic as many branches of knowledge have been born here. Who am I? Do I have any connection with this existence? What is the purpose of my birth? What is life and death? It is natural for anyone to delve on such questions. The answers discovered by our ancestors thousands of years ago have stood the test of science even today.
1. All existence is a continuous loop. (Akhand Mandalakaram Vyaptam Yena Charaacharam)
2. Manav–I, means body, mind, intellect, soul.
3. All existence is the invention of one consciousness. (Sarvam Khalu Idam Brahma)
4. Man is also an integral part of that existence. (Tat Tvam Asi)
The power of human mind and intellect is so mesmerising that man can realise these principles. That is the true purpose of human life.
Twenty-four pictures have been included in the original copy of our Constitution. The first picture is of the robust Nandi bull found in the excavations of Mohenjo-daro. The second picture is of the ancient Shri Gurukula. Our country is agricultural and sage-based. Agriculture means farming. Sage means knowledge of truth.
A human being should know that I am not just a body, one consciousness is present everywhere. One should understand that just as we feel hungry, others do too. While studying for Inter (12th std), I had read a story from the Upanishad. After completing education in Shri Gurukula, two brothers were going home. A Shidori (tiffin or eatables for journey) of bhaakri (a roti prepared of millets) and vegetables was given to eat on the way from Gurukula. As they sat down for lunch, a hungry beggar approached them. The younger brother refused to give him food. “It will not be enough for us,” he blurted. The elder brother gave a slap on younger brother’s back and said, “After studying for twelve years, have you forgotten the truth that there is only one consciousness? The consciousness in you and the consciousness in him are one. If you refuse him food, then you also have no right to touch the tiffin.” That story was called Tattvamasi.
1. Sarvam khalu idam brahma 2. Tattvamasi—A lifestyle developed here based on this universal eternal truth. It is called ‘spiritual lifestyle’.
Spiritual lifestyle is beneficial to all, environment friendly, long-term useful, and humanitarian. Since spiritual thought is based on the truth of ‘Tattvamasi’, the thought of ‘Not me but you’ was effective in all social, economic, and sanskritik activities. Inequality, high and low, and discrimination naturally had no place. There should be a life that gives happiness, prosperity, knowledge, and joy. A peaceful, harmonious, smoothly running, and non-violent social life must have lasted for thousands of years.
Looking at the current state of society in our country, we can see that there was once a welfare-oriented, discrimination-free, harmonious social life here. It is unbelievable as to when and how the Saraswati of harmony disappeared. We don’t know! The egoless way of life of ‘Not me but you’ disappeared. The lifestyle that increases ego became dominant. Ego of education, wealth, family, one’s group, profession, language, dress, etc became the nature of the person. ‘Me and Mine’ became effective. The distance between people increased. Parts of the country remained in slavery for about a thousand years. The unity and integrity of the nation was severely hampered. Diseases like caste-superiority, high-lowness, untouchability, immorality made their way in Hindu society. Great men like Swami Vivekananda, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati, Gandhi ji, Swatantryaveer Savarkar, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Mahatma Phule, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Pujya Narayanguru etc tried to free our society from these diseases. Although the grip of these diseases in societal mind has loosened a little; the disease itself is so old, so deeply rooted that the efforts of a few great men alone will not make the society free from it. Every person suffering from this mental illness should have a strong desire to be free from it. The disease will not go away from the entire society with slogans and movements like “Forget caste, Give up ego.” Since the disease is old, the remedy will have to be brutal. We will have to take medicine patiently for a long time until a disease-free and united society filled with brotherhood is created. One should not even think as to what incurable disease we are taking this medicine for. Treatment should be like homeopathy. It doesn’t even feel like we’re taking medicine when having those sugar pills.
The founder of Sangh, Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, had deeply contemplated the disintegrated state and defeat of the society. The knots of high-lowness and untouchability have formed in the veins of the society, due to which people have started distancing from each other. Not just caste superiority, but a deep-rooted attachment of caste and sub-caste is present. The Dharavi slum in Mumbai is well known. One family that discards the skins of dead animals and another family that makes shoes from that skin will not go to each other’s house. They will not even drink water or have food, and marriage alliance is unthinkable. If you go to find differences, your feet will sink deeper and deeper in the mud.
Doctor ji’s observations, analysis, and conclusions were different, yet convincing to all. ‘People have started distancing from each other,’ what will inspire us to rise above petty differences and come together? Bharat is our mother. We are all her children. It is our duty to take Bharat Mata to glorious heights. This thought will continue to inspire generations. Doctor Ji started the Sangh Shakha as an experiment.
The founder of Sangh, Dr Hedgewar, had deeply contemplated the disintegrated state and defeat of the society. The knots of high-lowness and untouchability have formed in the veins of the society, due to which people have started distancing from each other
Doctor Ji added another motivational formula to the shakha. That is “You and I are Hindus, both of us are brothers.” There is no thought of caste or varna. Sports are of great importance in the one-hour shakha. Children, teenagers, youth, joined shakha due to the attraction of games. Kabaddi is imperative, a player once eliminated may come back to life. The game gives the message of immortality. Where is untouchability? There is no thought of it. Kabaddi is a river of harmony. The Sangh shakha is the sugar pill of homeopathy.
The shakha runs in the light of the eternal truth of ‘Tattvamasi’. ‘Having concern for the other’ is the key to success of the shakha. Being brothers, one should go to each other effortlessly, help in times of difficulty, and take special care when the other is sick. Swayamsevaks must have connect with families right till the kitchen of homes. The Sangh shakha is a practice of harmony. The practice of ‘Not me but you’ is the shakha.
As important as blood circulation is in the body, so is the social cohesion and harmony in society. If there is a ‘blockage’ in the blood vessels, it has to be removed by angioplasty or bypass. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar has paved the way for Buddhism by performing bypass surgery. By re-flowing the ‘Saraswati of harmony’, all obstacles will have to be removed with the great flow of ‘Saraswati’. The dharmik basis of fraternity, Tattvamasi, will have to be reawakened. Social life will have to be restructured based on eternal, universal, spiritual truth.
The goal of Sangh is to create a harmonious, unified Hindu social life free from any kind of discrimination. The Sangh calls this stage as ‘Hindu Sangathan’.
Dr Hedgewar, Sri Guruji and Shri Balasaheb Deoras are swayamsevaks and colleagues since the beginning. From 1925 to 1994, that is, from the beginning of the Sangh, they have served the post of the revered Sarsanghchalak consecutively for about seventy years. Let us briefly look at the guidance they gave to the Sangh swayamsevaks in their own words as an example.
