Page1
Bunch Of Thoughts
M.S. Golwalkar
Shri Guruji - A Profile
Born in 1906 (Magh Bahul Ekadashi, Vishwavasu Samvat - 19th February 1906) at Ramtek, near Nagpur, Maharashtra, Sri Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, otherwise endearingly addressed as ‘Guruji’ by one and all, was the only surviving son among the nine children of his parents, to whom he was their beloved ‘‘Madhu’. It seems, the destiny spared him, for it was he, who in later years as the second sar-sanghachalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was to be the cynosure of the nation.
A prodigy that he was, he after having graduated from the Hislop college of Nagpur, joined the Hindu University of Varanasi for his Master’s Degree in Science, during which period the benign and inspiring influence of Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya, the founder of the University and a reputed Hindu leader of yester - years, prodded young Madhav Golwalkar to work for the Hindu cause. Later for a couple of years he served his Alma Master as a professor and it was then that he earned from his students the affectionate sobriquet of ‘Guruji’, a reverential attribute which stuck to him permanently in the years that followed. He was initiated into Sangh, when he was still a professor, by Shri Prabhakar Balwant Dani, a student of his who in later years became the Sar-Karyavah (General Secretary) of the Sangh.
Guruji returned to Nagpur in 1933, to be with his parents, and there he came under the magnetic influence of Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, the founder of Sangh, an event which metamorphosed him, just as it happened between Sri Ramakrishna and Narendra. Having decided to remain unmarried, he studied law and in fact, practised too for a year or two, while devoting most of his time and energy for Sangh activities.
But his inner urge was for spiritual persuit. He was intimately associated with Ramakrhishna Ashram earlier, and he kept alive his association with that religious order while at Nagpur also. Having been overpowered by that strong impulse, he, to the utter surprise of all who knew him including his beloved parents, left for the ‘Saragachi’ Ashram of Ramakrishna Math in the Himalayas, to be ‘Sannyasi’. He was there for a few months, after which he was initiated with ‘Mantra Deeksha’ by Swami Akhandananda, a Gurubhai of Swami Vivekananda. But his was the nature not to be confined within the four walls of the Ashram and his Guru too, in his last days, bade him to serve the society at large from outside the Ashram.
Guruji returned to Nagpur from Saragachi in 1937, and then onwards, plunged himself, heart and soul into the Sangh work. Dr. Hedgewar bequeathed to him, the onus of Sar-Sanghachalakship on the eve of his demise on June 1940.
Author : M. S. Golwalkar
|