BUNCH OF THOUGHTS
M.S. Golwalkar
Appendix

ON MUSLIM PROBLEM*

(*) Talk with Dr. Saifuddin Jeelany, Journalist and a noted Arabic scholar, Calcutta. February 1971

 Q: Don't you think that a solution to the Hindu-Muslim problem must be found especially at this critical moment when the country is faced with dangers form all sides?

  A: So far as the work for the country is concerned, I do not distinguish between Hindus and Muslims. But how do people look at this problem? Probably these days everyone has become a political animal. Everyone thinks that he would be able to push forward claims or privileges for his own community by exploiting political situations. If this could be remedied, and the people became political from a patriotic - only patriotic - point of view, then all troubles will end in no time.

 Q: Has this problem anything to do with the Muslim grievance that they are not getting their due share in the country's affairs?

 A: I can understand that the Muslims should be given their due share, as everyone else. But this does not mean demanding various rights and privileges. I have heard about the demand of a Pakistan in every state. The president of a Muslim organisation was reported to have said that he planned to see his flag fluttering over the Red Fort. He never contradicted the report. Such are the things which irritate those who think in terms of the country as a whole.

            Look at their stance on Urdu. Fifty years ago Muslims in various states spoke and studied the local languages. They never thought that they had a different 'religious language' of their own.

            Urdu is not a 'religious language' of the Muslims. Urdu is a hybrid product, evolved during the Mughal rule. It has nothing to do with Islam. It was in Arabia that Islam was born. The Holy Koran is in Arabic. If at all there is a 'religious language' for the Muslims, it is Arabic. So, why this emphasis on Urdu? It is because, on the strength of one common language Muslims are sought to be united into a political force. That is all. Such a political force is bound to go counter to the interests of the country.

Some Muslims say that Rustom is their national hero. But Rustom was a Persian hero. He has nothing to do with them. He was born long before Islam. If he could be considered a hero by the Muslims, why not Sri Rama? I say, why don't you accept this history?

            Pakistan celebrated the 5,000^th birth of Panini who was born in that part, which is now in what is called Pakistan. If Pakistanis can claim Panini as one of their great forefathers, why not our local Hindu Muslims- I call them 'Hindu Muslims' - say that Panini, Vyasa, Valmiki, Rama, Krishna are all their great ancestors?

            There are so many people in the Hindu dharma who do not believe in the Divine Incarnation of Rama and Krishna. But they believe that they are great personalities, worthy of emulation. So what does it matter if Muslims do not believe that God incarnated Himself? Why should they not consider such personalities as their national heroes?

            According to our ways of religious belief and philosophy, a Muslim is as good as a Hindu. It is not the Hindu alone who will reach the ultimate Godhead. Everyone has the right to follow his path according to his own persuasion.

Let me give you the instance of the previous Shankaracharya of the Sringeri Math, His Holiness Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Swamiji. An American approached him to be converted to Hinduism. Swamiji asked him the reason. The American replied that he was not satisfied with Christianity, that it left his spiritual longing unquenched. The Acharya asked him, "Have you honestly practised Christianity? Try it first: If it does not satisfy you, then come to me."

That is our attitude. Ours is a non-proselytising dharma. In almost all cases, proselytisation is motivated by political or some such gain. We reject it. We say: This is the plain truth; if you choose, follow it.

This so-called 'minority' problem is not one of Muslims only. It is also within the Hindus themselves. For example, we have the Jains; we have what is known as the Scheduled Caste people some of whom followed Dr. Ambedkar and became Buddhists and are trying to claim that they are separate. As a 'minority' happens to have certain political privileges in our country, everyone wants to prove that he is a 'minority' and claim those privileges. This cuts the whole country into so many fragments which may well spell our ruin. As a matter of fact, we are heading for it.

When some people look at things from the point of view of political aggrandisement, dangerous difficulties crop up. But once this aggrandisement is given up, our country becomes one and we can meet the challenge of the whole world.

 Q:            Materialism in general Communism in particular threaten to engulf our country. Don't you think that Hindus and Muslims, as believers in God, should act as a united bulwark against these dangers?

 A:   This is almost the very question, which was put to me some time ago by a gentleman from Kashmir. I think his name is Nazir Ali. He is a good man. I met him at Aligarh. He said to me that this threat of godlessness in the guise of Communism is overtaking us all and we, who believe in God, should get together and meet that threat. I said, "I perfectly agree with you but the difficulty is that we have, as it were, broken the image of God and each one has got his own piece. So what is to be done? You think of God in one particular way. The Christian thinks in another. The Buddhist says there is no God ; there is only Nirvana. The Jain will say it is Shoonya. Then so many of us will say that we worship God in the form of Rama, Krishna, Shiva etc. How to ask all these people to believe in one common God? Have you any recipe for this?" Now this Kashmiri gentleman is a Sufi which I take to be a thinker and God-minded man. You will be surprised to know his answer. He said: "Why not all of them come to Islam?"

I replied, "Don't you think that some will say, why not join Christianity? I, devoted as I am to my dharma, may say, why not all become Hindus? It comes to the same thing, and the problem will never end." He then asked me what was my suggestion.

            I said, "Follow your own religion. But there is one substantial philosophy which does not belong exclusively to the Hindu or to the Muslim. Call it whatever you like. It says that there is one Single Power, one Single Existence which is Truth, which is Bliss. It is the Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer. All our conceptions of God are only our own limited conceptions of that Ultimate Reality. So that bedrock of Ultimate Reality can join us all together. It does not belong to any one religion. On this account everyone can accept this as common basis. Religion is only a way of worship. This basic faith is not a mere way of worship. This is a philosophical understanding of the universe. The God of Islam, Christianity and Hinduism is thus the same and we are all His devotees. As a Sufi you should accept this as a reasonable basis." He had no answer to this. Then we parted and there the whole matter ended. That is our misfortune.

 Q: We know that both Hindus and Muslims have a vast amount of goodwill for each other. In spite of this, occasional frictions of varying magnitudes do occur. What steps, in your opinion, should be taken to minimise or altogether stop these?

A: One of the causes of these frictions is the cow. I do not know why the Muslims should go on harping upon their so-called right to slaughter the cow. They need not. As a matter of fact, it is not their religious injunction. That was only a way of spiting the Hindus in the old days. Why should it continue now?

            Can we not share each other's festivals? Our most popular festival, which brings various strata of society together is the Holi. Suppose in this Holi festival a Muslim is sprinkled with a little coloured water, do you think that the injunctions of the Koran are violated? Why not regard it as a social affair? The Hindus have been taking part in various Muslim festivals such as Urs in Ajmer. But suppose we ask Muslims to come and take part in Satyanarayana Pooja; what will happen? Once, the D M K people took to Rameshwaram a Muslim minister. He was accorded all the conceivable honours by temple authorities. But when the tirtha and prasada were given to him, he threw away! Why should he do so? Suppose he had taken the prasada, would it have violated his religion? We have to learn to adopt an attitude of respect for one another.

            We must respect, not merely tolerate, all other faiths. Our is not sahishnutavad, but sammanavad.

Q: Who among us, you think, are the best equipped to pioneer this effort of bringing about harmony between Hindus and Muslims: the politicians, the educationists or the religious leaders?

A:  The politician is the last man! The same could be said of the religious leaders also. At  present, in our country, there are religious leaders in both communities who are extremely narrow-minded. So we want a third type of persons who will be religious in spirit, and non-political, and will have an integrated national concept in their minds. Religious they should be. Without the religious background, nothing can be achieved.

            Politicians are playing their own game by dividing the people more and more. It is they who emphasise caste and accentuate 'Hindu-Muslim tension'. In all such communal matters the villain of the piece is the politician. Unfortunately he has become the leader of the people whereas persons of great merit, character and devotion to God who should have been the real leaders of the people are nowhere.

Q: Don't, you think that the Hindus, as the majority community, have a special and greater responsibility to create an atmosphere of inter-communal harmony?

A: Yes, certainly. But consider the difficulties. Our leaders are prone to put the blame upon the Hindus and absolve the Muslims. This makes the Muslims more aggressive in their communal outlook. So, I say both must share the responsibility.

Q: What immediate gesture do you suggest on the part of both the communities to bring about harmony?

A: Education on a mass scale giving the right understanding of religion - not the non-religious education that is being imparted nowadays by our politicians, but good religious education. Give people true knowledge of Islam. Give people true knowledge of Hinduism. Educate them to know that all religions teach man to be selfless, holy and pious.

            Then, teach history as it is. Set right the present distortions. If there was aggression from the Muslim invaders in the past, say so, and also that the aggressors were foreigners and have nothing in common with the Muslims here. Let our Muslims here say that they are of this land and that the past aggressors and their aggressions are not part of their heritage.

            Instead of being taught what is true, the Muslims now are taught the distorted version. Truth cannot be hidden for long. However long you hide it, ultimately it comes out and creates only far worse feelings. Therefore, I say teach history as it is. If Afzal Khan was killed by Shivaji, say that a foreign aggressor was killed by a national hero.

Q: Much has been said about 'Indianisation' and a lot of confusion has arisen over it. Could you please tell me how to remove the confusion?

A: 'Indianisation' was of course the slogan given by Jana Sangh. Why should there be such confusion? 'Indianisation' does not mean making all people Hindus.

Let us realise and believe that we are all children of this soil coming from the same stock, that our great forefathers were one, and that our aspirations are also one. This is all, I believe, the meaning of 'Indianisation'. 

Q: Don't you think it is high time that a meeting took place between you and such Muslim Indian leaders as would co-operate with you in finding ways and means to remove this communal discord once for all? Would you like meeting such leaders?                                                                                                     

A: I not only like, I welcome it.

(With Editors, Delhi)

Q: Even after all these years as an independent nation, communal tension in India has not abated. What is your diagnosis?

A: The main reason for Hindu-Muslim tension is that the Indian Muslim is yet to identity himself fully with India, its people and its culture. Let the Indian Muslim feel and say that this is his country and these are his people, and the problem will cease. It is a matter of changing his psychology.

 Q: Obviously, you want the ascending of Hindus. Do you want to demand amendment of the Constitution for the purpose?

 A: There is no question of the ascendancy of any one. What we want is a healthy society. Ours is a Constitution, which gives equal rights to all and there is no need to amend the Constitution. The Hindu is born secular. He accepts the truth that there are different paths to God Realisation.

 Q: Why do you always talk of Hindus? Why not Indians? Why don't you include Muslims in your work?

 A: During the freedom struggle our leaders tried to win over Muslims even when Maulana Mohammed Ali said that the worst Muslim was better than the best Hindu, including Mahatma Gandhi. In the process the Hindu became very much a 'Hindustani'. But did the Muslim respond? Did he also become a 'Hindustani'? No!

            Almost all parties are all the time encouraging the Muslims to maintain their separate identity just because they want their block vote. Is that the way to make 'Hindustanis' out of them? It is obvious that the attitude of Hindus has to be set right first, before we attempt setting right the Muslims. Therefore, I am concerned with Hindus, and not Muslims.

 Q: Surely, the Muslims have become a part of our life?

 A: I am not questioning it. But why should they behave as they are doing? As a matter of fact, in no other country in the world, where Islam has spread, the earlier dress, the language, the way of living, etc. of those countries have changed. In Iran, Turkey and other countries their original dress, language, view of life, etc., have remained the same. But in our country everything, even thinking also, is changed.

            If this change was not there, there would have been no Muslim problem at all. It has cut them off from the main national current of life.

ON COW - SLAUGHTER

Q: How did cow-slaughter begin in our country?

A: It began with the coming of the foreign invaders. In order to reduce the population to slavery, they thought that the best way would be to stamp out every vestige of self-respect in Hindus. They took to various types of barbarism such as conversion, demolishing our temples and mutts. In that line cow-slaughter also began. The later aggressions by the French, Dutch, Portuguese and the English continued this so that it might help their ways of subjugation.

 Q: Some say that we have to tolerate cow-killing to respect the feelings of Muslims.

A: Then it means that we have to forego our self-respect. In the name of 'tolerance' are we to let our sentiments and feelings be trampled? The people who say that the 'sentiments' of Muslims are to be respected say so for two reasons. One is that the Muslims are organised, and if they begin to loot and plunder in order to safeguard their 'sentiments', the Government never wants to take any action against them. Secondly, once in five years the people in power go to them for votes and are anxious that the Muslims should not take to en masse voting for parties other than their own. This selfishness on their part encourages them to advance such arguments. Being encouraged by this, the other political parties also follow the same device and try to appease the Muslims putting forth similar arguments.

 Q: There is much anti-propaganda about the anti-cow-slaughter movement. How to counteract it?

A: All points have to be put before the people. There are so many standpoints - the economic, the sentimental, etc. However, I look at it from another standpoint also. Cow-slaughter began in this country with foreign domination. The Mohammedans started it and the Britishers continued it. Therefore, it is a stigma on us. We have now achieved independence and with it all such stigmas ought to be removed. Otherwise we will be still labouring under mental slavery. Now instead of being removed it has increased manyfold. In 1944-45 cow-killing was 50 or 100 times more than what it was before. This was mainly because of the foreign army camping here during the war period. Now after independence, instead of decreasing, this has increased to 20 times that of the 1945 level, though the foreign army is no more there.

            As regards our army, we know that the British had put a ban on the use of beef and pork in the army. They had learnt the lesson of 1857. And now in our own national army, they use but not pork! In provinces like U.P. etc. though there is a legal ban on slaughter of cows, the Government has instructed these states to bring in necessary amendments so that useless cattle can be slaughtered for army purposes and so on. Even useful cattle get slaughtered in this process and the purpose of the legal ban is defeated. Also, slaughter of cattle goes on all over the borders of States like Mysore where there is a ban, and beef is brought into the State. It is for these reasons that we demand a countrywide and complete ban on cow-slaughter by the Centre.

             About the question of foreign exchange also some leaders told me that we will be losing much of our foreign exchange if we don't export beef. How can we compromise on our points of honour for the sake of mere foreign exchange?

 Q: What is the intention of the Government in refusing to ban cow slaughter?

A: They may be fearing, that they will lose Muslim and Christian votes by banning cow-slaughter. Anyhow the poor Hindu will vote for them. And so the Muslim and Christian votes are to be safeguarded. America has also pressurised us that cow-slaughter should not be banned. They want hides and cheap beef from us. They don't want their good cows to be killed in large numbers. And they want us to depend on them even for milk-powder.

 Q: The previous Act which had declared a total ban on cow slaughter in Mysore State has been amended in the light of Supreme Court's direction, permitting like killing of bullocks above the age of 12. Was it inevitable?

A: The Supreme Court had passed the orders in the particular case of the Uttar Pradesh butchers, upholding partially their claim to practise a particular profession. Here, in the case of Mysore, that argument does not hold good at all. For, since cow-slaughter had been totally banned for a long time, there was no question of their profession being affected.

            Of course, even the Supreme Court's argument that freedom of profession should be respected is a myth. Prohibition has deprived a section of our people of their age-old profession. In Maharashtra a sect called Raamoshi worship Rama and then set out for plunder and dacoity. That is their 'time-honoured profession'. Then does the Supreme Court uphold their 'rights' too?

 Q: Some say there are references to beef-eating in Vedas also. Is it true?

A: The supposed references to beef-eating are in fact misinterpretations of the word gou in Vedas, which also means the indriyas, the senses. It is in this sense the Yajnavalkya used it when he said he would eat gou, i.e., conquer the senses, and make himself invincible. The misconstruing or ignorance has been conveniently used by pleaders for cow-slaughter to justify their case.

ON POLITICAL THEORIES AND SYSTEMS

Q: The Communists claim that their theory is based on a scientific principle of human evolution. Is it not one of their strong points?

A:  But, in actuality, a scientific inquiry into the true nature of human evolution disproves their claim. The Communist theory rests solely on materialism, which stands at the very lowest rung of human evolution. Evolution invariably proceeds from the gross to the subtle. Man, in his primary stage, is attached exclusively to gross material pleasures and satisfaction of his bodily desires. As he progresses and evolves himself into a higher state, he thirsts for mental happiness by the satisfaction of his emotional aspirations. He is now on the path of culture, another name for human evolution. The aesthetic element in him gets quickened. He creates art in its myriad forms. Going a step ahead, he then attempts to unravel the hidden element of beauty underlying those forms. That is the state when he begins to experience delight on the intellectual plane. He now finds joy in diving into the deepest recesses of the ocean of knowledge. Science and philosophy furnish a challenging realm to his powers of intellect for research. However, he refuses to be satisfied even with that. He hankers to forge ahead. He tries to go beyond his intellect and probe the secret of his own being. He now enters the region of the spirit. Finally he reaches the Ultimate Reality - God - that all-pervading subtle principle of Highest Bliss.

            Such is the true nature of human evolution - evolving from the gross to the subtle, from matter to the Spirit. How then can the Communists claim a scientific basis for their materialistic dogma? In fact, viewed in this light, the Communists are reactionaries, anti-progressive and retrograde.

 Q:  However, is not equality their fundamental principle?

A:  But it stands on a wrong basis - the basis of materialism. I fail to understand why, if I am mere matter, I should cherish the feelings of cooperation with others on a basis of equality. Why should I not live by devouring others? Also, their basic idea that man is a mere bundle of physical wants is not borne out by facts. Along with the physical, man has a number of other wants also - emotional, psychological, sentimental etc. These other wants are equally if not more important. Can any system of thought, which does not take into account this complexity of the human being have any intrinsic value? The only basis of true equality can be the realisation that all living beings are parts and parcels of one and the same Reality, call it God or Eternal Truth.

 Q: Are you intending to incorporate some of the principles of Communism or of some other 'isms' in the work of Sangh?

A:  I am not concerned with other 'isms'. If our ideology contains any 'ism' or any part of any 'ism' I do not mind. Even if it does, I do not bother.

 Q: In what 'ism' do you believe?

A: I do not believe that human intelligence has by now gone bankrupt that it should be straitjacketed in some 'ism'.

 Q: Is not the growth of Communism inevitable in our country, so long as economic disparity persists?

A: Economic disparity is not the real cause for the class hatred on which the Communists thrive. The idea of dignity of labour is not properly imbibed by our people. For example, a Rikshaw-wala who gets a daily earning of 3 to 4 rupees is addressed as a 'fellow', and a clerk getting but Rs. 60 a month is addressed as 'Babuji'. It is this difference in outlook which gives rise to hatred. A way out would be that graduates should take up such professions so that manual labour will attain dignity. In Karma there is no distinction of high or low. Every work is the worship of the same Almighty in the form of society. Bhagavad-Gita says, Swakarmana  tam abhyarchya siddhim vindati manavah.

            The theory of 'exploiter' and 'exploited' classification is also wrong. Sometimes the owners and at other times the workers go on strike. The labour's demands as also the owner's losses both fall on the consumer, who will be the really exploited.

 Q: What is your alternative to the Communist pattern of economy?

A: It goes without saying that the primary needs like food, clothing, shelter, etc., should be fulfilled for one and all. The State should not assume, as in Russia, all powers. So I suggest that through cooperative enterprises production should be stepped up. We can adopt the modern techniques for production but should maintain the spirit of our social structure.

 Q: Is Democracy a Bharatiya concept?

A: We had tried all experiments - including Democracy - even prior to the West.

 Q: Do you believe Democracy to be the best form of government?

A: Bernard Shaw has said, Democracy came for want of a benevolent despot. Any type of government will do, if the men running it are honest and selfless. It all boils down to the quality of the human being.

 Q: Supposing a despot who is honest comes to power. Is he preferable to Democracy run by dishonest men?

A: With despots, it is difficult to continue the tradition of good government generation after generation. Some arrangement for change must be there. Human nature being what it is, such arrangement has become necessary. Democracy is one such arrangement.

 Q: What was the role of a king as ordained by the Hindu scriptures?

A: He should abide by the dictates of Dharma. When he aspires to become a Chakravarti, he performs the crowning sacrifice, the Ashwamedha Yaga, and says thrice, Adandyosmi (I have conquered the world and nobody can punish me.) Each time he says that, the chief priest of the sacrifice takes the Dharma-danda in his hand and hits on his head saying Dharma-dandyos (Dharma is there as your punisher).

 Q: Why is not Democracy successful in our country to the extent it ought to be?

A: The person in charge of running the democratic structure are themselves not democratic in their attitude. For example, if a person wants to remain in power for all time, it is not a democratic attitude. A real democrat will say, I will make way for others. But in our country, people want to stick to their positions till death takes them away.

 Q: How is  the proper mental attitude to be brought about?

A: By educating the people. By education is meant the moulding of right attitude towards the nation, the people and the national ethos.

ON ECONOMIC PROBLEM

Q: What are your views on nationalisation of industries which is being much talked of these days?

A: Nationalisation of industries means State Capitalism, which is as good or as bad as Capitalism. I look to a system of Industrial Cooperatives wherein every member of the Cooperatives – why, every member of the society at large – would understand both his responsibilities and obligations more than his rights and the way to evade duties. Bharatiya culture lays stress on the duties and obligations of oneself to the community. I would like free Bharat to recapture that spirit.

 Q: What is the pattern of industrialisation best suited for our Indian conditions?

A: Small-scale and home industries be spread everywhere. They should feed the bigger centres of industry. For example, Japan’s industrial structure is like that. In bicycle industry, for example, each part can be separately made and assemblage can be made at one centre. Only some specified industries pertaining to defence etc., may be single large-scale endeavours.

            This alone will ensure a harmonious build-up of agriculture and industry. It will also help to eliminate the growing disparity between village and city life.

 Q: Idustrialisation seems to have become the one criterion for measuring the progress of countries these days.

A: That is the reason why the world is heading towards conflicts and wars. In the competition for the disposal of surplus production to other countries, conflict for markets develops after a stage. Fight ensues. Secondly, men are thrown out of work by machines. But this should not be. The Western theory of creating multiplicity of wants, more machinery to meet them and so on, will only result in making man the slave of the machine.

            It should be clear that machine is for the happiness of man. It is like Bhasmasur, and will destroy the maker if not held in control. Persons with moral force and wisdom can alone control and direct such a Bhasmasur. Men with such sovereign authority must be able to guide the destiny of man.

 Q: What, in your opinion, should be the criterion to decide the nature and quantum of machinery to be developed in our country?

A: The policies of economics, industrialisation, mechanisation, etc., should be decided on the basis of maximising employment so as to keep the money distributed among the people. There is an instance of a newly constructed dam for which machinery worth some crores of rupees, for digging, leveling, etc. was purchased from foreign countries. When I happened to meet the engineers concerned I asked them why they had taken to mechanised labour and whether it was cheaper. They replied that the cost would have been the same even if work was done by manual labour. The total wages of the few thousand workers employed for construction would have been about the same as the expenditure on the machines. By this kind of policy we had given away money to the foreign countries and also thrown thousands of our own people out of employment.

 Q: All plans and even crash programmes to rid the country of the spectre of poverty seem to have fallen flat. There are some, who are looking forward to some economic wizard to do the magic.

A: The example of post-war Japan and west Germany are a living testimony to the magic of total economic transformation brought about solely on the strength of the patriotic fervor and disciplined efforts of the people there. Japan, which had borne the brunt of atomic holocaust and been reduced to a shambles, has now made such phenomenal progress that even America is unable to stand in competition with the Japan market. America is begging Japan to link their yen with the dollar. As any one who has visited Japan can bear witness, this is due to the intense spirit of patriotism of even the humblest factory worker there. The heart of every Japanese beats to the tune of “Nation First”.

            Germany, too, had suffered near-annihilation of all its industries, in addition to the wiping out of the flower of its youth. It was also burdened with the repaying of war debts in the form of maintaining the forces of the conquering nations stationed on its soil. Added to all these trials and tribulations, the country itself was partitioned after the war. Still the Germans did not lose heart. West Germany has risen literally from its ashes with a new life and vigour and is now competing with all the modern nations. Even here, the miracle has been achieved by her patriotic people. The capitalist and the worker, the scientist and the teacher, the trader and the peasant, each of them had made supreme sacrifices in order to achieve all-round prosperity and progress of their nation. This is how those countries could abolish poverty and destitution from their lands and not merely by shouting slogans or trumpeting about their gigantic plans. This is the only way open to nation; there are no short-cuts to national progress and prosperity.

ON  AGITATIONS

Q: There is a spurt in violent agitations these days. Is there any special reason?

A: The growing discontent, sense of frustration and probably a lamentable lack of confidence in the Government seem to have provoked the people in various parts to launch agitation to get their grievances redressed. Unfortunately, a feeling is growing that unless there is an agitation and unless it becomes violent, the Government does not wake up to the situation. And when the Government does wake up, it also indulges in indiscriminate retaliatory violence. I think this feeling is dangerous in the extreme. It is the duty of those in power to act in time and with sympathy and see that there is no cause given to the people to entertain such dangerous notions.

 Q: But what about the destruction of public and private property indulged in by students – in the name of agitation?

A: The sorriest part is, nobody seems to be much bothered over it. On the contrary, our Prime Minister has given a clean chit to them saying that it is a ‘sign of awakening of the youth”. What a strange and perverted interpretation! Can we call a thing as ‘awakening’ merely because some kind of activity is seen? A person in a highly delirious state in acute fever also becomes violent and moves about his hands and feet in an ‘energetic’ fashion. Should we call that ‘awakening’? On the contrary, is it not a sign of serious imbalance of the bodily humours?

            After all, what are the ‘grave provocations’ for these violent disturbances? At one place, a student was suspended from the examination for indulging in copying. Immediately other students came to his ‘rescue’ and started attacking the teacher and the college, and the hooliganism snowballed into a ‘student movement’. At another place, a student misbehaved with a lady – a refugee from Burma – running a fruit stall. When she cried out for help her husband came out and thrashed the student. Well, that was sufficient for hundreds of his hostel-mates to invade and attack the Burmese gentleman. So also the agitation which go on with slogans for or against Hindi – all of them indulge in destructive tactics.

            Once a few student leaders met me and justified their starting of a movement against the ‘raising of tuition fees’. They argued that financially their families were in a tight corner and it was to lighten the burden of their parents that they were forced to launch the movement. To this I posed a simple question: If you are really so much concerned about your parents predicament, surely you must have cut down your expenses on cinema, hotel and other items of luxury and fashion. Is it so?” To this, of course, they did not reply!

ON THE POPULATION PROBLEM

 Q: What are your views about our population problem?

A: This much is well – known that if you give man security he does not breed over-much.

 Q: In that case the Indian peasant, secure in the possession of a few acres of land, should not breed much!

A: No, he is too poor to feel secure. Rains may fail; epidemics may come; he is always next – door to calamity and death. It is his unconscious will to survive that makes him produce many children in the hope that at least some will survive.

 Q: In Japan the indigent are given free facilities for birth control. Should we have some such plan here?

A: No. That a man should be compelled to limit his family only because be does not have the money to feed it, would be a reflection on the society. The remedy is not to limit his family, but to give him work. I can understand the sterilisation of the incurably diseased, but not of the poor. It does not have even the excuse of mercy killing. It is not a crime to be poor.

            There is another objection. Once you encourage birth control, the well-to-do would resort to it more than the poor. The educated, well-to-do man understands these things. He practises them. But the poor just do not understand these things. There is, if anything, a fear of them. As a result, any propaganda for birth control will only affect the strength of the educated classes. On balance, therefore, it will mean a fall in the quality of the population.

            Does this country or, for that matter, any other country have enough understanding of the principles of eugenics to execute a scientific planned population policy? Not very long ago they considered cross-breeding of races to be the panacea of all human ills. But already they are having second thoughts. Experiments show that while out-breeding is injurious, in-breeding may not be injurious. Even these are only negative findings. It has been found that cross-breeds, after some generation, prove inferior to either of the parent species. It would need continuous selective cross-breeding to maintain the quality of breeds. The point is, are men to be treated as animals? I hope they realise that human society is not a cattle-farm.

            They talk of birth control. But they do not talk of self-control. They have no objection to sex running riot, so long as they don’t get more children than they care to bring up. It is consenting to murder of embryonic life. People in such a society will be only moral monsters.

 Q: If science, through antibiotics etc. is increasing the population by reducing the death-rate, then why should it not be used to control births?

A: I do not think that antibiotics, etc., are life-savers in the long run. They hurt body vitality. It will be realised before long that they are really life-killers. Population will control itself. Nature works in its own way. It has been found that before and after every war there is a spurt in birth rate. It is men’s instinctive reaction to the danger of extinction. Likewise, as conditions improve and men feel securer, there will be an automatic fall in the birth rate.

ON RELIGIOUS MATTERS

 Q: There is a charge against our mathadhipatis that they have not cared to look to the religious needs of our masses. What are your feelings in the matter?

A: True, till now most of them have confined themselves to their mutts and were living as if in ivory towers. As a result, our people, especially those residing in far-off hills and jungles, were totally deprived of religious succour. In Assam, for example, the four Satradhikar Goswamis had not moved out of their mutts for he last hundreds of years. Though all their mutts are situated in the same river island of Brahmaputra, they had not even seen each other. When all the four of them came together in Vishwa Hindu Conference of Assam, each one asked who the other was. But now the situation is changing. The revered Dakshinapath Swamiji has been undertaking tours, meeting his tribal devotees and giving them the Omkar deeksha. And this has created a new wave of devotion and enthusiasm among the tribal Hindus in those parts.

Q: But the mathadhipatis themselves seem to have lost their moral authority.

A: Once, our workers approached a number of Mathadhipatis to invite them to participate in Vishwa Hindu Sammelan. The Mathadhipatis belonged to several sampradayas. Some, though belonging to some sampradayas, were of the major mutts and the rest were of the minor ones. The first question that the ‘major’ mathadhipatis posed to our workers was about the seating arrangements – whether elevated seats would be specially arranged for them. For, sitting on the same plane as the ‘minor’ swamis would lower the prestige of their peetha! When, however, they were told that no distinctions could be made among the sannyasins, some of them refused to come. Alas! The sannyasi who is supposed to be the embodiment of renunciation of all the worldly attachments and distinctions has now descended to the level of worrying about his ‘position’ and ‘prestige’. What a travesty that he should begin to imagine that his worth is to be measured by the height of his gaddi!

            There is one more reason. These days even sadhus and mathadhipatis have begun to fall at the feet of politicians. Once, when I was in Delhi, a geruva-clad sadhu came to meet my host who happened to be a highly influential man of the capital. I asked the sadhu as to what work had brought him there. He said that he wanted my host to speak to some Central minister so that the lands belonging to his ashram be saved from the clutches of law. When I suggested to him that being a sannyasi be should not bother himself about the properties, he countered by asking me as to how his ashram could go on without any property. I asked him whether the original founder of the Ashram had any property, whether he had not attracted the people to the path of dharma on the sheer strength of his tapasya. The sadhu confessed that it was so. Then, I asked him, why should he also not follow in the footsteps of his guru? To that the sadhu had no reply.

            When the common mass of the people come to see all such perversities among the sadhus and mathadhipatis, how can we expect them to be influenced by their preaching? Moral or spiritual values are things, which have to descend from the top downwards. So, it is up to the men at the top to set their examples above board.

Q: Spiritual fervor appears to be less today. Fewer young men are coming forward to become sannyasins. What is wrong with our society?

A: Of late, institutions are more cared for and not the mental and spiritual side of the youth. Swamis and sadhus have to take upon themselves the burden of training youths in spiritual sadhana. They must teach the disciples in the traditional way, including Samskrit grammar. Swami Vivekananada was regularly teaching his disciples Samskrit and even on his last day taught grammar to his disciples.

            And, ultimately, from where do sannyasins spring up? From our Hindu homes and Hindu people. The home atmosphere has to be made congenial to spiritual growth. And as for nursing and moulding our society, it is all but forgotten. Many of our leading sannyasins fight shy of even uttering the word Hindu. Such an attitude would only dry up the source of our inspiration.

 Q: In view of the arduous and time-consuming religious practices traditionally prescribed, our common mass of people are unable to adopt them in their daily life. Are there any simple practices and samskars which can be usefully prescribed for them?

A: I would say that for them initiation to any one of our simple devotional practices, even Rama-nam or any of the names of God, will be potent enough. To say that merely because there is no formal initiation into any particular mantra or sect they are devoid of devotion, is not right. That section of our society has produced some of the greatest spiritual stalwarts who have commanded spontaneous homage from even the so-called higher castes. Over centuries, that section has cultivated, through simple methods, single-minded devotion and shown remarkable qualities of the heart. It is up to our dharmagurus to go to them now and invoke the latent devotion and virtues in them.

            Here, our dharmagurus have to guard themselves against a prevalent practice. Each one of our dharmagurus may be belonging to a particular mutt and a particular sect. Doubtless it is their duty to uphold certain traditional methods of worship so far as their respective mutts are concerned. But when they come out in the public, come in contact with the general mass of the people, they will have to emphasise only such points as will be applicable to one and all. Preaching or arguing in favor of a particular system of philosophy and a particular form or name of God and criticising all others will only harm the great mission of consolidating and rejuvenating the entire Hindu people.

 Q: There is a common notion that our scriptures preach only individualism and not corporate life and this has led to our degeneration and downfall.

A: The oldest and the supreme scripture of ours is Rig Veda. It sums up by giving certain specific directions to the people to live a corporate, organised and glorious life. It says:

 Lak xPN~/oa la on/oa la oks euafl tkurke~A

(Let us all march together, let us all speak in one voice and think with one mind.)

Q: Some say that the theory of Moksha leads a person to think of oneself alone and makes him keep aloof form his obligations and duties. Is it  correct?

A: That is only a misunderstanding of the concept of Moksha. The ‘self’ that is contemplated upon is not the physical self. It is the ‘self’ which is Immanent and Transcendent and is All Comprehensive. As such, man who thinks of ‘Self’ does not become conscious of his small personal self but identifies himself with the joys and sorrows of his fellow human beings.

Q: The process of re-conversion to our Hindu fold has not caught on in our society. What can we do about it?

A: A majority of our poor men - for example, the financially hard-hit fishermen in our southern coast - have become Christians not so much because of faith in Christianity but due to their poverty. For such fishermen we should try to form marketing societies for their fish and free them from the sole monopoly of the Christian purchasers. Gradually, we should establish small bhajan sanghas in the name of Sri Rama, Krishna or Vivekananda or any other popular saint and tell them how they lived a pure and dedicated life. Thus we should generate in those innocent hearts a desire to live a pure, simple and pious life. And then we should slowly bring home to them how the Christian missionaries have nothing of the nobility of Christ in them. A feeling should be developed in them that small help from good people is always better than larger help from bad people.

            And about actual taking them back into the fold of our dharma, today's method of more advertisement than actual work will not at all be beneficial. There should be no fuss about it. We should contact the Hindu monks running some mutts and ashrams in rural areas and convince them of the need to make an all-out effort in this direction.

 Q: In the Christian missionary hospitals the Christian patients are given priority, free treatment, etc., They justify the discrimination by saying that they receive financial aid from foreign Christian countries and missions and so they must serve the Christian interests first.

A: This attitude is thoroughly repugnant to the very spirit and purpose of medical profession. The one single, noble aim of this profession is to relieve the suffering humanity from its ailments. When a certain human being comes before the doctor, considerations of his religion, status or sex should never be the basis for treatment. The need of the sick should be the only criterion.

 Q: They (Christian missionaries) also justify their proselytising activity saying Christianity alone will satisfy the spiritual hunger of modern man.

A: But Christianity has failed to stem the tide of materialism in their own countries! Though a great number of Christian missionaries are working here to convert our men, the Christian countries themselves are going further and further away from Christ. Nowadays, very few people attend the church there. Churches present a haunted look. In fact, some of them are being kept for sale! It only means that some other philosophy, more comprehensive and capable of satisfying the modern mind, of meeting the many complex challenges of present times and imparting spiritual content to their life, has become necessary. The present trend in those countries points to Hinduism as their future refuge.

 Q: Is it not strange that in this land of ours where so much of yajna and pooja are being performed and so such of mantras are recited, our character has been going down all the while?

A: Yajna is not merely pouring some ghee into the fire. Its true meaning of invoking the spirit of sacrifice in our life is forgotten, and the mantras too have become mere mechanical repetition. There is no heart put into it. It has become like a gramophone record. In fact, recorded mantras have become 'popular'. How can such programme have any effect?

Q: Often, the various ills of society like untouchability, poverty, sense of high and low are attributed to the tenets of Hindu philosophy.

A: On the contrary, the basic tenet of Hindu philosophy commands us to visualise the entire society as one living embodiment - Virat Purusha. Every individual, wherever he is placed, is a living limb of that great corporate body. Just as the body looks after the needs of every little organ, so also the society should view the interests and needs and aspirations of every individual. In a living body can there be any part which can be "untouchable", "neglected" or "downtrodden"? Can there be any sense of "high" and "low" between one and the other? It is because this unifying social consciousness has been lost that these various evils have cropped up.

Q: What do you think is the main reason for the Hindu phobia among the leaders?

A: Politics! In the beginning stages, the Congress leaders also used to propound the essence of Hindu Nationalism. They were even talking of Hindu Rashtra. We find this expression in the speeches of Lokamanya Tilak. Sri Aurobindo could not consider Bharat as anything less than Maha-mata Maha-Durga. Ravindranath Tagore sang the same glory of Hindu Nation in his celebrated poem Devi bhuvana mana mohini. The immortal song of Bankimchandra,  Vande Mataram, portrays the very essence of our true Hindu Nationhood. Several times, the greatness and glory of the ancient culture, civilization, history and heritage of this land were trumpeted from the Congress platform. But, in course of time, as political tactics began to take the place of the appeal of nationalism, words also began to change; for example, "Hindu: changed to "Hindi", then to "Hindusthani" and  then to "Indian".

            Even to this day, the same disease continues. I came to know of a curious incident recently. During the centenary celebration of Sri Aurobindo in 1972 there was a proposal that the Central Government should extend financial assistance for the publication of Aurobindo literature in all our Bharatiya languages. Then it seems the Government put forth two conditions: firstly, that the map of Akhand Bharat in the Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry be removed and replaced by the present political map of India; the second condition was, that in the future editions of Aurobindo literature words and expressions like "Hindu", "Hindu Rashtra", "Sanatana Dharma" etc. be deleted. But the Mataji of the Ashram spurned those conditions. The Ashram authorities replied to the Government that it would not be bothered if the Government did not finance; the soul of Aruobindo's teachings could not be changed. This is how the Government with its various pulls, frowns and favours tries to subvert the word "Hindu".

 Q: How is it that so many sects, sub-sects and ways of worship - often mutually conflicting - could come up in our society?

A: When during the days of foreign tyranny over our country, there appeared to be no rays of hope to come out of the dark night of slavery and misery, it was natural that the people took to the only available refuge - the Feet of God. They began to worship and call upon the Almighty in a hundred and one ways. The Acharyas who propounded various philosophies always derived their authority from the Vedas. Thus the people's faith in the Vedas remained undisturbed. A single unifying thread continued to hold the people together, in spite of diverse faiths of worship. But some of the Acharyas  who came later on ignored this basic aspect. The effect of this was that the words of those Acharyas themselves became the final authority to their disciples who thus formed themselves into an exclusive sect. Hence it has now become necessary to emphasise the basic convictions and principles inherent in all these various sects and faiths and highlight the fundamental oneness of them all.

 Q: The present one, it is said, is the age of science. As such, some say that our Dharma should be modified and recast so as to be in tune with the postulates of science.

A: But Dharma is not like a weather-cock to be tossed about with every whiff of wind, scientific or otherwise. Dharma enshrines the eternal laws of life. In fact, the application of science for development of human happiness and civilisation should be so ordered as not to come in conflict with those basic life principles. So also, applying the same scientific yard-stick to all aspects of life would be destructive of the diverse and rich expressions of human life in various countries and climes, steam-rolling them all into a dull, stereotyped, materialistic form.

ON  RSS

Q: Is RSS a political organisation?

A: It is not political in the sense that it does not participate in day-to-day elections, the race for power and all that. It is a cultural organisation, which emphasises the oneness of the country and the people. If there are any things, which appear to be detrimental to the oneness of the country, we try to express our views and educate the people about them.

 Q: How can you hope to carry out your policies and programmes without political power?

A: There are two ways of carrying out a national programme. One, through the state power; the other, by changing the people's attitudes. We have chosen the latter path.

 Q: How is it you often express yourself on political questions?

A: There are many matters which are not merely political. It may well be that a matter has cultural as well as political import.

 Q: Do you accept or reject the use of violence in any form for the furtherance of political aims?

A: There should be absolutely no violence between one citizen and another.

 Q: Do you think violence can be justifiable to effect a change in Government?

A: When, say, an extreme situation obtains in which the limits of oppression have been reached, the people are undergoing acute suffering, the rulers have become autocrats, veritable monsters, and all peaceful avenues of changing them have been clogged - violence in such circumstances would be justified.

 Q: Our state is secular. The Government may, therefore, well fear that the Hindu cultural organisation of the Sangh may uproot secularism.

A: The question is hypothetical. Who says the secular state does not permit cultural activities? It is perfectly legitimate for the Sangh to integrate the various castes and sects within the Hindu fold on the basis of our common culture.

Q: Is it true that Sangh teaches hatred for non-Hindus?

A: This is one of the most irresponsible and despicable charges against Sangh. The whole world is aware of the utter catholicity and tolerance of the Hindu culture. The Hindu, even in his dreams, cannot hate a person merely because he happens to belong to another faith. How can Sangh, which is dedicated to rejuvenation of such a sublime culture, be ever conceived of as teaching hatred?

Q: Some people charge you with violence.

A: They are led by Communists who believe in violence and practise it and want to destroy the Constitution. It is our detractors who are violent. Look at their violent language and their violent threats.

Q: Some persons charge that the RSS has a hand in communal riots.

A: Their imagination seems to run riot! The charge is ridiculous in the extreme. The riots are not of recent origin. Such disturbances have taken place in our country even before the RSS was born. There were the gruesome Mopla killings and Baluchistan riots. At Nagpur too there were riots during 1923-27. In fact, there have been no riots since 1927 in Nagpur, after the RSS grew strong there. If the RSS were to have engineered riots, then no non-Hindu would have been living there, its headquarters, by now. The disturbance that took place about two years ago in Nagpur was in that part of the city where we have no branch. Even the government admitted that we hastened to calm the situation. A strong RSS alone, instead of being the cause for riots, can permanently put a stop to them.

Q: RSS is a good organisation. But there is some sort of suspicion in the minds of the public. Why is it so?

A: We should thank the leaders and their slander campaign for that.

Q: Some are very loud in their opposition to the theory of Hindu Rashtra.

A: The very same people accept it in private!

Q: There is an impression that RSS is confined only to the educated classes and has little to do with the downtrodden and the backward sections of society.

A: All work begins with the educated class. Then only it reaches the substratum of the society. We are now fairly on the way to embracing every section, howsoever unfortunate or weak it may be.

Q: Some feel that ideas like Hindu Sanghatan are useless in the present context; it is only total revolution doing away with all that is old, which can deliver the goods.

A: There have been no doubt revolutions in the world. But mostly they have been in the nature of 'continuance' or 'revolutionary evolutionism'. Where the traditional link has been snapped there the whole social life has become extinct.

 Q: How about China?

A: They have not broken with their past. Wait for some more time. All their traditional ways will become patent again. Their present designs to spread their tentacles of power and influence are in keeping with the tradition of their old emperors.

 Q: But Buddhism must have made a change in that?

A: Buddhism never entered deep into the soil of China. It was worn only as an outer garment and not accepted as a way of life. A scholar has written that even now China is essentially the land of Confucius. But even that is only partially true. A little of Confucius and a lot of their old emperors form the mainstream of their life. Communism is also a temporary phase. Their life had become so very corrupt that there was no escape from a terrible armed revolution.

 Q: Hitler also started in a manner similar to yours, collecting youths and instilling in them disciplines and unity. But later, he suppressed all the other political parties. What is the difference between that Nazi organisation and yours?

A: Hitler's movement centred round politics. We try to build life without being wedded to politics. It is many times found that many are gathered for political purpose. But when that purpose fails, unity is lost. We do not want any temporary achievement but an abiding oneness. And so we have kept ourselves aloof from politics.

 Q: How is it achieved?

A: We achieve it by ourselves leading a life of sacrifice for the society. When a sufficient number of persons are induced to think and act in this manner, the rest of the society will follow.

Q: The mission of Sangh is described as sarva-vyapi - all pervasive. But what does this word exactly connote?

A: To give a comparison : Light is sarva-vyapi, but it does not carry out all the works. It only dispels the darkness and shows the way for all. That is the nature of the Sangh-work also. If the Sangh were to take to preparing and executing plans of action in every field of life, then there will be confusion all round. It would have to prepare thesis on any and every problem. And that would result in the stoppage of the basic work of social rejuvenation and there would be only theses and theses galore!

Q: Within how many years are you going to achieve your goal?

A: About that I shall narrate a small story. Dr. Johnson, the great lexicographer, and some other top ranking persons of those times used to meet almost every night in a small club. The famous writer Goldsmith was also one of the members. One night when they were sitting down for supper the moon shone in the sky. Goldsmith was enraptured. A queer idea came to his mind. He asked, "Well, Dr. Johnson, how many fish will be required to reach from here to the moon?" Nobody had any reply. Irritated at the queer question, Dr. Johnson said, "Well, we do not know. You tell." Then Goldsmith said, "Even one, if it be long enough!" So that is always my reply to those who ask how long we will take. It may be done even tomorrow, if we all join together!

A press correspondent:

Q: Who after Golwalkar?

A: Well, you! Why not you?

 Q: Thank you. To occupy Gurupeetha, it is not so easy!

A: Well, you have to fortify yourself if it is not easy! Now this question does not arise with us at all. It comes only when a man is taken to be an indispensable entity in the organisation. The Sangh has not been built up in that fashion. Someone will come forward and shoulder the responsibility. On my part, I have already told my friends that I am fairly on the way out like a batsman going back to the pavilion.

HOW SHALL WE VOTE ? (*)

(*) A summary of Sri Guruji’s article prior to 1957 general elections(18-2-1957)

            Shortly the people will go to the polls to elect representatives to the Lok Sabha and the various Vidhana Sabhas and entrust the governance of the country to them for the coming five-year period. Five years is quite a long period in which much good or harm can be done to the people depending upon the nature of the representatives. There is no provision in the Constitution for recalling representatives who might fail to answer to the electorate or who might go back upon the promises lavished upon the people at the time of the elections. Such failure or, at times, wilful flouting of the people's wishes is not rare. And in spite of such lapses, the electorate have no machinery to recall them despite their disapproval of their elected representatives opinions and doings.

Effect of No Recall

            With this knowledge, that once they are elected they are secure in their comfortable - and now lucrative - seats for the whole period of five years, each candidate and the party setting him up, are sure to indulge in extravagant promises and conjure up before the ill-informed and under-educated voters a veritable paradise provided they are elected and given the chance to bring their heaven on earth. Everything is fair, it is said, in love and war, and elections are fought as 'war' against all other parties and candidates, and so promises made during electioneering propaganda are considered to be deserving of being fulfilled only in their breach. No one seems to see anything immoral in it; and so candidates are sure to vie with one another in weaving a web of lies to catch the voters in their meshes. The person or party with the greatest genius for this campaign of lies is likely to pool the greatest number of votes and seize power to use it as they choose, in total disregard of what they had promised to the people. There may be a few exceptions but considering past experience they are likely to be just a little oasis in the desert and, may-be, they will have but a slender chance to be elected.

            Heavy is the responsibility of the voter, therefore. For it is in his hands now to seal the fate of the country for five long years, for once he has cast his lot with one or the other group he has no means of remedying his error or judgment and preventing any harm that may overtake him. So the voter has now to bring all his strong commonsense to bear upon his problem of extreme moment and make the correct choice.

The Two Half-Truths

            Leading persons are busy advising the voter. Two main theories have been forthcoming. They are old theories - as old as the democratic system of general elections to the legislatures. Nothing new about them - only a fresh reiteration. One had come - so the newspaper reports say - from no less a person than Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru calling upon the people to ignore the personal character and qualities of the individual candidates and pay attention only to the party - in this case the Congress - and cast their votes for the party. The other view - advocated recently by Sri C. Rajagopalachari - is to ignore the party and examine the individual candidate and study his character; for he rightly says that it is the character of this representative of the people which in the last analysis is of utmost importance in the conduct of State business within and without legislatures. Both these views are partially correct. For, a party without persons of good character and selfless devotion to the total national cause is like a body with paralysed limbs, useless and even harmful, for all its tall claims, platitudes and professions; and persons of good individual character, jostled together without a common aim, common programme, and common affiliations, and consequently not bound together into an organised homogeneous party, are like parts of various machines jumbled together, each good and perfect within itself but unfit for co-ordinated action, incapable of any achievement. Both these views, therefore, have to be taken together and a good party with candidates of character and devotion to the national cause, free from all self-seeking, of ability and capable of co-ordinated action, and imbued with coherent national views, has to be chosen by the electorate. Unless this discrimination is exercised there is likely to be much cause for repentance.

            What then is the voter to do? Which party should he choose? Which type of candidate should he favour?

Reject Totalitarianism Under Any Garb

            Of the major parties in the field, some have kept the ideal of 'socialism' before them. However, socialism has resulted in Nazism in Germany and Fascism in Italy and the history of their rise and fall with all that the world has had to suffer from totalitarian dictatorship is too well known. There is no guarantee that the same sad tale will not be repeated in our country. Every citizen must guard with jealous care his prized freedom and not allow his dignity as an individual to be subordinated to dictatorial tyranny, nor should he allow himself to be subjugated and converted into a bounded slave purchased for a mere pittance. He should, therefore, steer clear of all so-called socialistic ideals and, with firm determination, turn his back upon all who like to indulge in those un-social doctrines.

            The communists are wedded to the Russian group and dream of establishing the Russian system in our country. What that system is can be imagined from the recent events in Hungary. The last 40 years of their existence have witnessed such blood-baths, such mass massacres as have no parallel even in the darkest and least civilized periods of human history. And the enslavement of the average human being, the regimentation of ideas, thoughts and sentiments, the total suppression of all freedoms resulting in degrading the human being into a mere lifeless tool are frightful effects of this queer ideology. This is wholly repugnant to the age-old heritage of the people. Indeed there is little to choose between communism and socialism, both being perverse offsprings of the same reactionary process of thought seeking to concentrate all power of the state and of wealth, and of the means of production thereof, in the hands of a few, spreading the tentacles of iron control on all aspects of life, thus making of individual human being a lifeless, joyless existence.

Chips of the Same Anti-Hindu Block

            In addition, all these parties pride themselves on being non-Hindu. The various laws interfering with the Hindu way of life and striking at the very roots of our existence as a homogeneous people with a distinctive Dharma and culture, the disinclination to respect the Hindu sentiments in relation to the cow, and their partial treatment of Muslims, their pro-Muslim communal outlook in reservation of seats out of their candidates by the Congress, the encouragement of Muslim agitations - well, all these reveal the un-Hindu character and ideology of such parties in all its ugliness. The Hindu people, their Dharma, Samskriti and all they cherish and hold in reverence stand in danger of being wholly obliterated if the reins of power are entrusted in the hands of such un-Hindu - often anti-Hindu - elements. Some really good individuals may stand as candidates under their labels. If the voter is guided merely by such goodness he is sure to find that the candidate when returned will be bound by the bogey of party discipline and his goodness and his regard for the Hindu ideals will be of no avail and he will allow himself to be carried away by the crushing party machine.

For a Right Choice

            I address myself to the great Hindu people, to strive for whom has become my Dharma, the hoary immortal Hindu People whom I worship as the veritable manifestation of the Eternal Divine. I pray that they rouse themselves to their self-consciousness and freely and boldly exercise their right of vote without being misled, without being distracted or frightened into upholding any individual or party. Let them be alert and discriminate, and resolutely vote for men and parties dedicated to the Hindu People and the Hindu Cause, free from narrow-minded parochialism, progressive, broad-minded and catholic in their outlook, free from unseemly hatred and uncalled-for antagonism to people of differing views, dominantly and essentially Hindu, possessing sterling character, individual and national, determined to serve the people and the country with or without office in total disregard of pelf, power, or position, name or fame, who know the value and method of homogeneous coordinated action and possess faith and devotion to the Motherland, the Nation and the People and who can shoulder the heaviest and most onerous task completely disregarding all personal comfort, and the voters will not have voted in vain. They will have chosen rightly, and helped in laying unshakable foundations of a flourishing and honourable national life with all that it connotes in our dear Motherland - our Bharat Mata.

Guidance to Workers in the wake of election results (*)

(*) Letter to a worker.

             I think you are aware of my disinterestedness in electioneering politics…..

             Those who have lost must take the results not only sportingly but in the true spirit of our culture of doing one's work without attachment and with equanimity in victory and defeat. Those who have won have a right to be happy but not inflated, and those who have lost may naturally feel sorry but need not be crestfallen or despondent. After all, it has been, as it always should be, a game between parties belonging to one body-politic and must be played in a thoroughly friendly and brotherly spirit.

             During the campaigning it is not unnatural that much acrimony and bitterness is let loose. But I feel that all these undesirable feelings should be completely washed away and the correct understanding that we are all one, children of our Motherland and of our nation, should be assiduously cultivated and all, irrespective of party affiliations, should determine to work in co-operation for the good of all our people. Properly seen, it will be found that the area of agreement is extensive and of differences negligible.

             With this attitude our democratic system will survive any onslaughts by elements desirous of wrecking it and bringing about chaos in the country.

A few excerpts from Shri Guruji's guidance prior to and during 1947-48.

             Now there is a talk of 'Creating a new composite nation'. We are a nation in the making. And so on. Some persons also argue, that in the face of a common enemy (the British), Hindus, Muslims, Christians and all should join together and form a united nation. No doubt, adversity breeds strange bed fellows. But, when the common danger is no more, once again the old animosities will raise their ugly heads. The English and the Irish, who faced many common outside attacks and were even under the administration of one United Kingdom for hundreds of years, could not form a single nation. A common danger can infuse greater consciousness of their common national life among the people who are already one nation, but cannot fuse various nationalities into one nation. For example, during a hailstorm many animals and people may take shelter in any nearby house. But they do not form a single family. A common heritage, a common sense of historical associations and of belonging to a single entity are the essential characteristics of a 'NATION'.

            There is a peculiar concept that even one perfect man (an avatar) will suffice to remedy all the defects in the society. We do not know if really such a perfect man is anywhere to be found. In the modern age, however, many persons coming together with their individualities, but merging into an integrated whole may well form one perfect personality. This is just like all the limbs and organs of man having a single instinct and a single guiding motivation and all of them fused together can work as one corporate personality. When that personality works on the lines of affection and love and not of hatred or antagonism, it will attain the state of divinity, an avatar. This is precisely what we are trying to achieve.

            There is a criticism that there is no element of spiritual training in our organisation activities. But the point is, what is really spiritual? Will mere intellectual or philosophical preachings or discussions do? Or will just lecturing on the greatness of our Dharma and culture suffice? Once in Nagpur, lawyer - an old gentleman was in his house along with his daughter and her two children. The house suddenly caught fire. The old man was reading a religious book at the time. When he saw the smoke he thought that it was not from his house and remained indifferent. But when his daughter rushed out screaming that their house had caught fire, instantly the old man's indifference vanished. He became frantic. He ran out all his philosophical nonchalance disappearing in a moment. His elderly friends also appeared on the scene sympathizing with him. In the meanwhile, a batch of our Swayamsevaks had quietly rushed there and saved the two sleeping children and the daughter and had summoned the fire brigade. The Swayamsevaks came back with their blackened hands and clothes to report that the neighbours were just looking at the fire and offering lip-sympathy. Well, is not this kind of training which the Swayamsevaks receive in Sangh 'Vedanta' in action? In fact, this is precisely the samskaras what our Hindu society needs today.

Momentous developments are taking place in our country at present. Talk of Independence and Swaraj is thick in the air. A question is often posed to us whether hereafter there is any need for an organisation like ours. Our simple answer is that a disorganised and weak nation can never take full advantage of Swaraj and enjoy its fruits. It will be like a sick man having neither appetite nor digestive power being presented with rich and tasty dishes. It is only a strong and healthy man who not only can enjoy the dishes but also can digest it and grow stronger.

            **In the midst of the din of Swaraj and Swatantrya, some people may not immediately listen to our voice. How shall we then go about our task of convincing the people? There are three types of physicians. One goes to the patient, examines him, gives the prescription and goes away. He takes no more care of the patient. He does not bother whether the patient follows his prescription or not. The second type coaxes, cajoles and employs sweet and persuasive methods to make the patient swallow the pill. If the patient still remains stubborn and refuses to take the medicine, the third type of physician catches hold of his hands and forces the pill down his throat. We have chosen the middle path that is of the second type of physician.

**For any society to lead a good life, no limb of its body should remain weak of disabled. It is like having a weak link in chain. After all, the strength of a chain lies in its weakest link. The weak link among the Hindus is the absence of feeling of oneness. We do not seem to posses a sense of social life, no desire to help each other, no love towards our own fellowmen. However, we should understand that in spite of the bewildering external diversity, which is inevitable in a country so vast as ours, there is a steady undercurrent of complete oneness flowing beneath. It is like a tree, every one of its multiplying branches receiving the nourishment from a single common root.

 **Now-a-days many feel that we should adopt the model of England or America or Russia for reconstruction of our national life. Somehow, they have come to feel that we cannot stand up on the basis of our own ancient time-tested values and our inspiring historical traditions. There is an all round denial of our own national identity. We are even ashamed to call ourselves as Hindus. In our country, it seems there are only Muslims and non-Muslims The reason why the righteous pride in our own life-values has been eclipsed is because of the infatuation for foreign models and ideas. Even our Constitution makers seem to be influenced by these dominant tendencies. All this drift and lack of direction can be stopped only when we recognize our Hindu society with a purely positive, self-respecting and assertive attitude towards our great and holy cultural and spiritual heritage.

 **During the late forties and especially when the talk of partition was thick in the air, Shri Guruji was invoking in his public speeches, the inspiring integrated picture of Bharat Mata. He would issue the call to youth to stand up in defence of her honour and dignity. In an emotion-charged voice he would thunder that Mother Chamundi was giving a call to her children to go forth staking even their lives in the path of duty.