Ashawin Krishna 6 Vik. Samvat 2079, Yugabda 5124 : 16 September, 2022:SM 4012 (For Private Circulation only)
1. FESTIVALS: DUSSEHRA: Dussehra or Vijayadashami is the tenth day of
the Navratri festival which starts on Ashwin Shukla 1 (September 26 this year).
Nine forms of Shakti/Devi like Durga, Kali, Saraswati are worshipped with
fervour and devotion during this period. Vijayadashami (October 5 this year)
marks the end of Navratri. Navratri is celebrated throughout Bharat in different
forms. In Bengal, exquisitely crafted and decorated life-size idols of Maa Durga
depicting her slaying the demon Mahishasura are worshipped.
2. AKHIL BHARATIYA SAMANVAY BAITHAK CONCLUDED IN RAIPUR:
The Akhil Bharatiya Samanvay baithak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was held at
Jainam Manas Bhavan, Raipur from September 10-12. More than 240 representatives
from 36 organisations attended the meeting.
Dr. Vaidya added that on the occasion of Amrit Mahotsav of Bharat’s
independence, expanding the work for self-reliance was also discussed. Speaking
about the expansion of Sangh, he said that the work is spreading world-wide and
there is a huge increment in the number of shakhas.
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3. PM MODI INAUGURATED KARTAVYA PATH,UNVEILED NETAJI STATUE:
On September 8, Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi inaugurated the new-look Central
Vista Avenue in the heart of Delhi. He also unveiled a 28-foot statue of Netaji
Subhash Chandra Bose in the canopy near India Gate which had been empty since
the removal of the statue of King George V in 1968. The statue of Netaji has
been hand sculpted at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi from a
monolithic block of black granite weighing 280 metric tonne by a team of artists
led by Arun Yogiraj. The arterial road Rajpath has been renamed Kartavya Path
which, according to Narendra Modi’s personal website, “symbolises a shift from
erstwhile Rajpath being an icon of power to Kartavya Path being an example of
public ownership and empowerment”. 
4. FIRST MADE-IN-BHARAT AIRCRAFT CARRIER INS VIKRANT
COMMISSIONED: On September 2, Bharat joined a select group of nations
capable of designing and building indigenous aircraft-carrier as Pradhan Mantri
Narendra Modi commissioned and dedicated to the nation INS Vikrant - a giant
aircraft carrier having a length of 262 metre and a height of 59 metre. 
5. PM MODI UNVEILS THE NEW NAVAL ENSIGN INSPIRED BY
CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ: Scripting a historical moment for the Bharatiya
Navy, Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi inaugurated the new naval ensign in Kochi on
September 2. The new naval ensign has the national flag on the upper canton and
the blue octagonal shape encompassing the national emblem, sitting atop an
anchor depicting steadfastness superimposed on a shield with the navy's motto
"Sam No Varunah" in Devnagari.
Dedicating the flag to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, PM Modi said that with the
phasing out of the old flag, Bharat has got rid of the last vestiges of slavery
and colonialism.
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6. BHARAT OVERTAKES U.K. TO BECOME FIFTH LARGEST ECONOMY:
On September 2, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that Bharat had
surged past the United Kingdom to become the fifth largest economy in the world.
The latest change in rankings is based on quarterly gross domestic product (GDP)
numbers in current dollars for the period ending December 2021. Bharat is now
behind only the US, China, Japan and Germany, according to IMF projections. A
decade back, Bharat was ranked 11th among the large economies while the U.K. was
at the fifth position. Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi said that Bharat becoming
the fifth largest economy in the world is not an ordinary achievement and every
Bharatiya is feeling proud of it.
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7. HSS SOUTH AFRICA CONDUCTED HINDU HERITAGE CAMPS:
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh HSS South Africa conducted two Hindu Heritage Camps for
students in the age group of 6 to 16 years. Both the camps explored various
aspects of the Hindu culture through activities like Bharatiya traditional
games, cultural quiz, yoga, meditation etc. 
8. 18TH HINDU UNITY DAY CELEBRATED IN HOUSTON: The
Houston chapter of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh HSS USA held its 18th annual Hindu
Unity Day on August 27 at the ISKCON Mandir of Houston. Representatives from
more than 50 Hindu organizations attended the conference.
Along with other Dharmic organizations, HSS has been collaborating Hindu Unity
Day celebration since 2005. Hindu Unity Day provides an opportunity to share,
learn and act from each other’s experiences and learnings. This year’s event
focused on raising Hindu Dharma awareness among mainstream American society and
to continue leveraging the strength, opportunities and resources collectively to
conduct outreach programs with elected officials, opinion makers, first
responders, educational institutions, ethnic & interfaith groups, media and
others.
In group sessions, the organizations discussed activities undertaken by them to
raise awareness, and shared their learnings. They showed interest in taking up
outreach programs to mainstream community members.
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9. GANESHOTSAV AROUND THE WORLD: Ganesh murti making
workshops were conducted by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh HSS New Zealand across
Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch. Around 250 people participated
in the events. This is an annual event which has been conducted by HSS NZ since
last 10 years.
HINDU YUVA also celebrated Ganeshotsav at various campuses like University of
Texas at Dallas, Arlington and Austin and Iowa State University.
10. SURINAME SEWA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BAG DISTRIBUTION:
On September 4, Sewa International Suriname distributed school bags and school
kits to underprivileged families on the Rust & Werk plantation in Commewijne.
11. VIDYADAAN: BACKPACK DRIVE BY HSS CHICAGO: The
average back-to-school spending per household in the United States has gradually
increased year on year to reach about 865 U.S. dollars in 2022. Many children
and families are not able to afford proper school supplies due to the increased
price. A new backpack and school supplies can definitely boost children's
confidence and self-esteem for a successful school year.
12. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: Vishwa Vibhag Sah
Samyojak Dr. Ram Vaidya will be travelling to Ghana, Sierra Leone, Togo and
other countries in West Africa.
Visitors: Rajiv Sharma - Ethiopia.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: As a toy fruit or a toy elephant reminds one of the
real fruit and the living animal, so do the images that are worshipped remind
one of the God who is formless and eternal. - Sri Ramkrishna Paramhansa -GoTop
JAI SHRI RAM
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AN AGENDA FOR UNITY: AN INTERVIEW WITH RSS SAH-SARKARYAVAH DR. KRISHNA GOPAL
JI
Swadesh Singh
: Despite suffering repeated invasions for more than a thousand years, and also
suffering the brunt of partition, India has still retained its essential core
unity and its civilisational heritage. What factors do you think have
contributed to this outcome?
Dr. Krishna Gopal : When we look into the Indian history, despite the fact that
there were numerous states which were ruled by different kings, yet the idea
that each kingdom was a part of a larger Bharat was deeply ingrained in the
consciousness of the rulers as well as the people. That is why India has
remained united. It is an ideological, cultural and philosophical construct,
which for thousands of years encompassed the land mass stretching from the
Himalayas in the North to Kanya Kumari in the South and from the coastal areas
of Gujarat and Pakistan in the West, to Parshuram Kund in Arunachal Pradesh in
the East. This is a fundamental unity that goes far beyond political unity. That
is why over 560 princely states merged with India, when Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
exhorted them to do so.
Swadesh Singh : In the above context, to promote unity, when slogans such as
“Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Christian are all brothers,” were propagated, was it done
because there was an assumption that there was difference within which needed to
be bridged?
Dr. Krishna Gopal : Linguistic and geographic diversity is visible to anyone who
travels across the country. The food, the festivals, the very colours of India
change as we travel. But these are outward differences; internally, there is a
common and similar fundamental philosophy of oneness. Despite differences in
language, each language, in its core, propounds the same fundamental
philosophy. The values of life, be it in the sense of devotion, reverence for
the earth, the concept of karma, birth and rebirth, Nirvana, the idea of
salvation etc., all find resonance, whether spoken in Bengali, Oriya, or any
other Indian language. This is because there is a unity of philosophy, which is
propounded by all languages. The slogans you mentioned were brought in later.
They are political slogans.
Swadesh Singh : How is this fundamental unity you speak of to be understood
and brought to the masses in the context of present-day society?
Dr. Krishna Gopal : The fundamental unity is already existing.We simply have to
look beneath the diversity that we see all around us. If people from Assam and
West Bengal go to North India, they will observe the same devotion to Krishna as
is practised by them. In Kerala, the language is Malayalam, but the poetry of
devotion is the same. The plays and articles that have been written by the poets
and writers of Assam and Bengal convey the same sentiment. This is the
fundamental unity. We need people to travel more, study more and look beneath
the superficiality. You see the similarity in the works of Thiruvalluvar in
Tamil Nadu and of Guru Nanak Dev ji in Punjab. This is the fundamental unity.
Swadesh Singh : Over the centuries, we have had great seers who have
propagated this spirit and unity of India such as the great scholar poet
Sankaradev of Assam in the 15th century and Adi Shankara of Kerala who
established the Shardapeeth in the eighth century. In the sixteenth century we
had Raskhan, a Muslim who became a Krishna devotee as also Tajbibi, which showed
an intermingling and an assimilation of culture. India was a great melting pot
of culture, so why did the country have to bear the trauma of partition? What
happened to that fundamental unity?
Dr. Krishna Gopal : When the invasion of Islam took place about 1000 years ago,
it came to spread a particular ideology. The inhabitants of this land had never
experienced in life a situation that the invaders after winning, to spread their
ideology, would attack our original religion, destroy our temples, our ideology
and our places of worship. However, despite the fact that India’s intellectual
class was under the rule of Islam for seven to eight hundred years, even under
the rule of Islam, they fought a long struggle to keep their ideas and their
society safe. And they succeeded. In other parts of the world, subjected to
Islamic conquest, the local population was subdued and consumed by the invading
ideology. But India was the only exception. So, the first thing that has to be
recognised is that the people of India fought continuously to save their
religion, culture, thoughts and their society. But when the Britishers came,
over a period of two hundred years, they cleverly attacked this fundamental
unity of India. The cultural unity of India could not be broken by Islamic
invasions because the basis of this unity was not political. Hindus were not
kings, but pilgrimages continued. Hindus did not have an army and their temples
were broken, but the people had the Bhagwad Gita and the Ramayana, and their
faith could not be broken. So, the British created rifts within communities,
which led to deep divisions and eventually to partition.
Swadesh Singh : Today, the need is about promoting communal harmony and unity
within communities, which really means talking about Hindu-Muslim unity. If we
consider the two communities to be separate, then will not unity also be very
superficial, or are we looking at unity at the political level only?
Dr. Krishna Gopal : The Sanatan society that has been living in India has a big
basis for its unity. There are hundreds of sects in India, of different types
and having different rituals, worship practises and traditions, and yet everyone
is united. The basis of this unity must first be understood. Its basis is that
in the eternal thought of India, we have accepted some things which are all
embracing such as the thought behind the words, ‘Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah’. It is
a prayer for happiness, not just for people who believe in our idea, but for all
the people of the world, regardless of their belief system. This philosophy thus
also seeks happiness for the people of Pakistan and China and all other parts of
the globe. It is a philosophy for universal good. There is thus a pervasive
unity in Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah. We have to understand this. Secondly, India’s
Sanatan Samaj has accepted another principle for thousands of years, from Vedic
tradition till today. The underlying principle with this thought is that there
will be people who say something other than what we believe, there will be
people who believe in another idea. So, a theory was established from the
tradition of Rigveda that the believers of a second idea can be nice people too.
When the Vedic sage said Ekam Sadvipra Bahudha Vadanti, he gave a certificate of
approval to an alternate viewpoint. Any idea, said the sage, can be good. It
must not be rejected outright. This then is the mantra to unite infinite
diversity—in other words, this is unity in diversity. Hence, we have two basic
principles: One, a comprehensive imagination of happiness for all, and two, to
have a big mind to accept any idea with respect. This is essentially the formula
for harmony and unity which overcomes the diversity of languages, dialects,
climate, food, clothing and ideologies.
Swadesh Singh : You have done a lot of work on Dara Shikoh as also on a
number of Muslim saints who were trying to understand Indian philosophy and
thought. But let us talk of the last two hundred years before independence where
we see the emergence of a new kind of politics by the British. In 1905, the
British government partitioned Bengal on the basis of religion and in 1906, the
Muslim League was formed. In 1909, the Muslims were given a separate electorate,
which paved the way for them to claim a separate identity and nationality. Now,
all these people were also part of the Indian cultural tradition, and in the
villages, they followed the customs and traditions of the other communities.
Thereafter, it took just a few decades before the country was partitioned.
Today, these issues keep cropping up and talks of majority and minority have
separated the communities. How do we deal with this issue?
Dr. Krishna Gopal : The British understood one thing and that was that their
reign would end quickly if India remained united. Thus started British attempts
to create a cleavage between Hindus and Muslims. During the Muslim invasions, a
lot of cross-cultural confluence had taken place in many spheres. Muslims got
engrossed in Indian music, Muslim Qawwalis became popular, Muslims started
worshiping the tombs, we see the emergence of the Tajiya procession and the
like. We also see many Muslims translating Hindu sacred texts to Persian and
Arabic. This continued for five to six hundred years. Britain realised that to
continue ruling the country, it was essential to break this unity. Thus started
the attempts to isolate the Muslim society and set it apart by giving various
kinds of inducements. The Muslim League was formed by the British as was the
conspiracy to divide Bengal into Muslim Bengal and Hindu Bengal. Gradually, the
Muslim community in India distanced itself from its roots and the draft of the
partition of the country was prepared. But with the partition of the country,
the problem remained unsolved as a large number of Muslims remained in India.
Earlier, Jinnah would say, how can minority Muslims be safe in a majority Hindu
state. That fear still remains. So, to bring unity, it has to be done by a
change of mind and heart and feelings. This is what needs to be fixed.
Swadesh Singh : Articles 25 to 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees that the
rights of minorities will be protected. However, politics that developed in
India over the last 75 years has veered from protecting the rights of minorities
to the appeasement of minorities. Has this disrupted Indian unity?
Dr. Krishna Gopal : With independence, every citizen got the right to vote and
the vote became an object of great value. Some political parties then started
looking into collecting bulk votes and created new terminology to get such
votes. One such terminology was the word minority. This word is a foreign
construct, which came from Europe. It meant a small group that is not from that
country, having migrated from somewhere, for some reason. It referred to a
people who did not belong to that country or that race. But in India, Muslim
society was a big society. Post-independence, it was about 12 to 13 percent of
Indian society. On that basis alone, they should not have been referred to as a
minority. Most of these Muslims were converts from here. How could they be
called minorities, simply because they changed their religion? But once formed
into a block to get their votes, they were given something or the other to
ensure that they always remained separate. What should have ended with the
British departure unfortunately did not happen, because the majority-minority
concept was created. We are facing the consequences now.
Swadesh Singh : How much effort is required now to see that assimilation
takes place?
Dr. Krishna Gopal : The Indian state gives citizenship, which confers all the
rights to an individual as given in the Constitution. But to be a national you
have to change your mindset. Citizenship gives you certain rights
constitutionally. Nationality determines your duties. As soon as you become a
national, you feel connected with the nation through the tradition of thousands
of years. So, you feel the happiness and sorrow of the nation as yours. You feel
the history and geography of the nation as yours. Nationality hence should be
equal for all. The feelings of happiness and sorrow of the nation, the feelings
of those who are enemies and friends for the nation are the same. All citizens
must share this nationalist sentiment. As an example, our former President, Dr.
Abdul Kalam, who was a great scientist, developed various missiles for India. He
named them Akash, Nag, Trishul, etc. These names are symbols of the nationalist
sentiment. Our Muslim brothers and sisters must associate themselves with the
history of the country and not with the history of the invaders who destroyed
the temples, tormented the people, levied the jizya tax and caused great pain
and suffering. If they associate themselves with the invaders, then how will
they be called national?
Swadesh Singh : The debate on communal harmony for the last 75 years in
India, that is, has centred on secularism. Hindu society by its very nature is
secular. But the practise of secularism has not been uniform, both within the
polity as well as within certain communities. The Honourable Prime Minister in
his Independence Day address spoke about a ‘nectar period’, where India has to
move forward for the next 25 years. We imagine a prosperous Bharat – a ‘Samarth’
Bharat. How should we now debate the idea of communal harmony? What should be
its form? And how should society take it forward?
Dr. Krishna Gopal : There are two things which need to be discussed. The first
is providing financial and other assistance to minorities. It is done in the
name of their welfare, but the results can never be good. For example, we give
scholarships to the children of minority communities to study. It is okay, as it
is given to poor children. But suppose, in a class of 40 children, there are
five children from the minority communities who are poor and are being given a
scholarship. But there are 10 other children in that class who are also poor,
but they are not given a scholarship because they do not belong to the minority
community. This creates discord, because in the minds of those ten children, the
question arises: Why have we not been given help, when the condition of our
house is even worse than theirs? Such one-sided assistance only creates greater
differences in society instead of harmony. So, financial and other assistance
must be uniformly given to all, rather than on a segregation basis. The recent
example of the government providing toilets and cooking gas to all poor
households regardless of their religion is the way forward. Help should be given
to those who need it. If there is greater poverty in the minority community,
then automatically they will get more. Banks should be opened where there is a
need for a bank. Training should be given to those artisans who need them. This
country is ours—we should not divide it in the name of minority-majority as has
happened thus far. We need to look at all citizens with the same eye and not
from a religious viewpoint. This was so stated in the Constituent Assembly but
this could not happen. The people who were in the Constituent Assembly, the
people who were our architects of the Constitution, had this vision. We need to
realise this vision, which can be done by looking at the whole of society as
one. To end poverty, we have to look at all the poor in the whole society and
not at just one particular religious group.
Swadesh Singh : For the last 50 years, your work has focused on keeping the
whole of society at centre-stage. Since Independence, a lot of work has also
been done on equality too. I will now take up the issue of fraternity. How
should India move in this direction, as a society?
Dr. Krishna Gopal : The Constitution has given equal rights, equal freedom
to all. You can go anywhere in the country, live anywhere, get education, get
justice, do a job, do business, buy land, vote, contest elections—this is the
right of everyone. The Courts are the same for all as is the Constitution, but
this, by itself, will not lead to fraternity. Constitution can give rights. But
the Constitution is not capable of bringing about a change of mind. For that,
something else has to be done. We must remember that the history of the last 700
to 900 years has also deeply ingrained certain memories in people’s minds. The
invaders cannot be considered as role models, and so this is a mind-set change
which is required. If some people continue to consider those that vandalised and
destroyed our temples, imposed Jizya tax and tyrannised and brutalised the
people as their leaders, then the rest of the society will associate these
people with the invaders, and fraternity will not come about. The first thing
then that needs to be done is that the people living in India should be
separated from the people who wrote the history of the ruin of this country.
Secondly, as I stated earlier, there can be any number of faiths, creeds, sects
in the world; the feeling of respect for everyone is the ‘Sanatan‘ ideology of
India. This is what it means to be an Indian—respecting every faith and creed of
the world and imagining everyone’s happiness. These two attributes define being
an Indian. We have to wait till these two conditions come about, but how this
will happen is a difficult question to answer. In Indian tradition, it is a big
condition to respect everyone’s views. And imagining everyone’s happiness is the
second big condition. When an Indian goes abroad, he takes these two ideas with
him and respects the views of the people in that land, whether it is the United
States, Canada, UK, Germany or any other part of the globe. He imagines the
happiness of the people there. In his prayer, he always says ‘Sarve Bhavantu
Sukhin‘: If these two things will come to all people, then it will be easy to
bring a sense of fraternity. Yes, we have had hundreds of years of turmoil,
struggles, ups and downs and suffering, but today we are free. An Independent
India means India remembering its ancient glorious form, keeping its philosophy
in mind, moving forward in the light of that philosophy which portrays unity in
diversity. Many a time, this diversity is understood in the form of a bundle of
hundreds of different types of wood, tied with a rope. This is true, but it is
only a half-truth. Let us understand it in terms of a tree, which has multiple
branches that proliferate and extend all around. The root is however the same.
The diversity that India envisions is vastly expanded from one branch of this
tree to the other. The unity is in the root, diversity is seen only in the
branches. Conflicts can arise in that diversity, but if fundamental unity is
seen then these struggles and differences cease. This is the fundamental
philosophy of India. To see ‘One’ in many. And this vision of ‘Oneness’ has the
power to end all discrimination, jealousy and conflict. There is great power in
unity. The vision of unity is capable of quelling all conflicts and disputes.
Courtesy – India Foundation (1 September 2022)
https://vskbharat.com/an-agenda-for-unity/?lang=en
-GoTop
SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN samvadnewsletter@gmail.com http://shrivishwaniketan.
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