SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN

Akie Abe, wife of the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Tomohiko Taniguchi, Chairman of Nippon Kaigi, a prominent Japanese non-governmental organisation, met RSS Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale at the RSS office in New Delhi on 8 October. Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Sunil Ambekar was also present.

The meeting featured a cordial and substantive exchange of views on strengthening Bharat–Japan relations, with particular emphasis on civilisational bonds, cultural cooperation and people-centric initiatives. Mrs Abe, who is also Chairperson of the Foundation for Social Contribution, and Mr Taniguchi expressed a shared interest in deepening engagement between the two countries. The RSS leadership, the Foundation for Social Contribution and the Nippon Kaigi delegation agreed to strengthen the cultural ties between Bharat and Japan.

"The sacrifice of Ram and Sharad Kothari continues to inspire people to work for the nation and society, while the social service initiatives undertaken in their memory are also worthy of appreciation," RSS Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale said on 26 September. "Paying tribute to their sacrifice should inspire society to undertake constructive and developmental work." He was addressing the annual Ram-Sharad Kothari Pratibha Samman 2026, organised by the Ram-Sharad Kothari Smriti Sangha in Kolkata to honour individuals and organisations making notable contributions to social development. West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari also spoke.

Ram and Sharad Kothari were RSS swayamsevaks and kar-sevaks in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in Ayodhya in 1990. On 2 November that year, they were among the kar-sevaks killed in police firing.

The Central Executive Committee of the Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram met on 2 and 3 October in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, in the presence of Nimbarkacharya Peethadhishwar Anant Vibhushit Shri Shyamsharandevacharya Ji Maharaj. More than 300 prant-level office-bearers and national representatives attended. The committee passed a resolution demanding that Mangarh Dham be declared a National Memorial to honour the janjati communities and martyrs of the massacre of 17 November 1913.

The resolution recalled that the British Government opened fire at Mangarh Dham to crush the Bhagat Movement led by Sant Govind Guru of the Vagad region, killing more than 1,500 janjati women, men and children. The incident remains an important chapter in the janjati community's sacrifice in the freedom struggle.

The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh organised the Akhil Bharatiya Mahila Kisan Sammelan in New Delhi on 30 September, attended by thousands of women farmers from across Bharat. In her keynote, BKS Akhil Bharatiya Mahila Samyojak Manju Dixit said women farmers are contributing more and more to the economic development of their families and the country. At the concluding session, BKS Akhil Bharatiya General Secretary Mohini Mohan Mishra said that building a developed and healthy Bharat by 2047 would need greater emphasis on 'Gau-Krishi-Vanijyam'.

The conference recognised women farmers for their work across agriculture and rural enterprise, among them Sunanda Saysing of Maharashtra for Gau-Krishi-Vanijyam, Deepali Oraon of West Bengal for organic farming and Kamala Ben of Gujarat for seed conservation. BKS Akhil Bharatiya Organising Secretary Dinesh Kulkarni, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Sampark Pramukh Ramlal and Rashtra Sevika Samiti Akhil Bharatiya Sah Sampark Pramukh Ritu Sharma were among the dignitaries.

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA, Arizona, represented the Hindu community at the annual Interfaith Golden Rule Breakfast hosted by the City of Surprise in September. The gathering brought together representatives of diverse faith traditions, reaffirming a shared commitment to mutual respect, harmony and service, with participation from the offices of Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, Congressman Paul Gosar, and Debbie Lesko of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

HSS shared timeless messages from Hindu Dharma — "Do not do to another what you would consider harmful if done to you" from the Mahabharata, and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the whole world is one family — and reflected on how the simple greeting 'Namaste' embodies the Golden Rule, honouring the divine within every individual. Government representatives and HSS agreed that such events strengthen community bonds and remind us that compassion, respect and unity transcend all traditions.

History was made in Georgia, and in the United States, when the first-ever county resolution condemning Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu hate was passed recently in the Georgia legislature. The resolution was led by Rep. Lauren McDonald and Rep. Todd Jones of Forsyth County, in the Atlanta suburbs, home to one of the largest Hindu and Bharatiya American communities in the state. The delegation drew attention to rising Hinduphobia across the nation and called for an end to such hatred.

The Atlanta chapter of the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) spearheaded the effort, with local leaders from BAPS, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Umiya Mata Mandir, Shree Shakti Mandir, Sewa International, Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America and others.

The Hindu Council of Australia (HCA) held a community information session for Hindu families, community leaders, clergy and funeral service providers on a significant development in New South Wales. Following years of advocacy, approval has been granted to use All Souls Chapel at Rookwood Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, Strathfield, for Hindu funeral and cremation ceremonies, including havan and other important final rites.

HCA representatives explained the facilities and the processes for conducting Hindu funerals there. HCA welcomed Metropolitan Memorial Parks' decision as a positive step towards cultural inclusion, and encourages families, funeral directors, temples and community organisations to consider All Souls Chapel for Hindu final rites — so that Hindu Australians can farewell their loved ones with dignity and full observance of their traditions.

Sewa Dominica has completed its sixth successful blood donation campaign, with 18 donors in a single day on 5 October. The drive was held with the medical team of the Dominica China Friendship Hospital. Organised by the Sewa Dominica service group, it was part of Sewa Pakhwada, Sewa International's worldwide fortnight of community service.

Three community-led fundraisers across Greater Houston, initiated by Sewa International USA's Houston chapter, raised more than $32,000 for Sewa's Nepal Flood Relief and Rehabilitation work.

Sargam Melodies, with Bharathi Kalai Manram and Shri Krishna Vrundavana, brought the community together for an evening of music and dinner, with performances in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam raising more than $12,000; the contribution was received by Sewa Houston case manager Bharat Patel. A Bhajagovindam at Sri Meenakshi Temple, Pearland, drew more than 100 people and was followed by a $10,000 contribution. 'Brunch for a Cause' brought families, children, volunteers and local businesses together to cook idlis, vadas, chutneys, sambar and sweets, surpassing its $10,000 goal with every dollar going to Nepal.

The support goes beyond immediate relief. As communities in Nepal move towards recovery and rebuilding, Sewa continues to support families on the ground; Sewa's Community Resilience Manager Tarvinder Taneja shared updates on that work.

Bharat's latest Domestic Tourism Expenditure Survey shows that 47.7 per cent of overnight trips taken in the previous 365 days were for pilgrimage and religious purposes. The survey, conducted between July 2025 and June 2026, recorded the purpose of travel, transport, accommodation, trip duration and expenditure.

Health and medical travel accounted for 29.6 per cent, holidaying, leisure and recreation for 22.1 per cent, and shopping for 0.6 per cent. In other words, the largest share of overnight domestic travel was not a traditionally perceived vacation.

Among households that had taken at least one overnight trip, pilgrimage and religious travel generated an average of 62 overnight trips per 100 tourist households in rural areas and 61 in urban areas — a central part of Bharat's domestic movement rather than a small segment of the tourism market.

Bharat delivered a strong performance at the 19th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) 2026 in Hanoi, Vietnam, from 25 September to 5 October, with all five members of the national team winning medals: four gold and one silver.

Gold medals went to Pranjal Dixit of Hyderabad, Sumant Gupta of Delhi, Akshat Srivastava of Gurugram and Arnav Sehrawat of Faridabad; Harshil Amitkumar Patel of Vadodara won silver. Bharat finished joint third with Vietnam in the medal tally, behind Iran and South Korea, which won five golds each.

With 307 students from 64 countries, this was the largest IOAA so far. The competition comprises theory, observation and data analysis, weighted 50, 25 and 25 per cent.

Bharatiya mathematician Professor Mahesh Kakde was awarded the 2026 Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from Developing Countries on 30 September by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The prize, established in 2005, recognises mathematicians under 45 who have done outstanding research while working in developing countries, and carries a $10,000 award.

Prof. Kakde, of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, was recognised for fundamental work in algebraic number theory, particularly for solving important problems about how numbers behave and how different mathematical structures connect. Born and educated in Bharat, he completed his Bachelor of Mathematics at the Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru, then a master's and PhD in pure mathematics at Cambridge in 2008. He worked at Princeton University, University College London and King's College London before joining IISc in 2019.

South African jurist of Bharatiya origin Navanethem "Navi" Pillay won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on 9 October for her efforts to promote peace and international law. She was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014, and her work helped shape international law on genocide and sexual violence.

The 85-year-old dedicated the award to survivors of international crimes and those defending international justice, saying their "compassion and courage continue to ensure that impunity will not be allowed to reign".

Born in Durban on 23 September 1941 to Bharatiya parents of Tamil descent; her parents insisted that all their children should be educated in spite of being born in a poor family under apartheid. In 1995 she became the first woman of colour to serve as an acting judge of South Africa's High Court, and the same year was elected to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where she served until 2003 and was its president from 1999.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called the award a tribute to her courage, integrity and lifelong commitment to justice.

The triennial conferences of the International Centre for Cultural Studies (ICCS) are among the most significant inter-civilisational gatherings in the world, bringing together elders, practitioners, scholars and cultural ambassadors from more than 50 countries and over 70 living ancient traditions — indigenous communities from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, the Americas and the Pacific Islands.

Held eight times since its first edition in Mumbai in 2003, the ninth conference will take place at the Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat. It will feature plenary sessions, panel discussions, workshops and displays of rituals and cultural practices, with knowledge shared on anthropology, philosophy, archaeology, community living, folk traditions, indigenous medicine, language preservation and environmental practice.

The conference logo was released on 21 July in the presence of NIT Surat Director Dr Anurag Shukla, ICCS General Secretary Prof. Amarjiva Lochan and other senior adhikaris.

“Vaishnava Jana To Tene Kahiye Re, Peed Parai Jaane Re” — one who truly deserves to be called a noble human being is one who understands the pain of others. To feel the suffering of others and, in that feeling, naturally act to relieve them from it: this has been called Dharma.

It was this understanding of Dharma that was carried into the nation's institutions after Independence by the architects of Bharat and the framers of her Constitution. Above the Speaker's seat in the Lok Sabha is inscribed “Dharma Chakra Pravartanaya” (for the propagation of the Wheel of Dharma). In the Rajya Sabha, “Satyam Vada, Dharmam Chara” (speak the truth, practise Dharma). The motto of the Supreme Court reads “Yato Dharmastato Jayah” (where there is Dharma, there is victory), and the Ashoka Chakra at the centre of the national flag is also associated with the Dharma Chakra.

In the Bharatiya understanding, “Rashtra” does not mean what “nation-state” means in the West. Here, the nation is understood as society itself. Dr S Radhakrishnan described this spiritual, integral and holistic Bharatiya view of life as the “Hindu View of Life”. To live by Dharma on this foundation is itself an expression of Hindutva.

The society that lives across the whole of Bharat is one; we are all equal, and all belong to one another. This is what a swayamsevak absorbs through the shakha and by living alongside fellow karyakartas from across the country. Society has witnessed, again and again, the tireless and heartfelt service of swayamsevaks in times of calamity — the horrors of Partition, earthquakes, floods, or a pandemic such as Covid-19. Even those who oppose the Sangh's philosophy have been moved by their patriotism, discipline, dedication and service, and have not withheld their praise.

In 1977, a devastating cyclone struck the Diviseema coast of Andhra Pradesh. The alacrity and courage with which swayamsevaks undertook relief work, including cremating decomposing bodies — they came to be called the Shava Sena, or corpse brigade — are still remembered. When the destroyed village of Mulapalem was rebuilt with permanent housing for every family and renamed Deendayalpuram, External Affairs Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Chief Minister Dr Chenna Reddy attended the inauguration and spoke highly of the Sangh's work. It was then that the Gandhian thinker Prabhakar Rao offered a new reading of the acronym: RSS, he said, truly stood for “Ready for Selfless Service”.

In May 2009, Cyclone Aila struck West Bengal, causing severe damage in the 24 Parganas district. Swayamsevaks were in the field almost immediately. I travelled there shortly afterwards for a Sangh training camp, and to see the relief work had to go first by jeep, then by boat and finally on foot through knee-deep mud. When I asked who else was working in the area, I was told every other organisation was confined to the main roads; in the interior, where the destruction was worst, only Sangh swayamsevaks were present.

In 2013, when a cloudburst caused catastrophic flooding at Kedarnath, swayamsevaks across the country were collecting funds for the victims. I received an email from M D Ramteke of Vidarbha: “I am a staunch opponent of the RSS. I am a staunch Ambedkarite… But I can say from my own experience that RSS people carry out relief work with great integrity. If you give them Rs hundred for the work, they will add ten of their own and spend a hundred and ten. So my appeal is this: if Sangh swayamsevaks come to you asking for relief funds at this time, help them generously.”

It is from the shakha that a swayamsevak absorbs this instinct for selfless service. Swayamsevaks have continued this work after natural and man-made disasters alike. Driven by political hostility, the Congress Government banned the Sangh twice, in 1948 and 1975, and made every effort to suppress it. Yet through democratic resistance and steadfast struggle, the Sangh emerged each time with renewed strength.

During the birth centenary of the Sangh's founder, Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, in 1989–90, the idea emerged of a Sewa vertical through which the Sangh could establish regular contact with economically deprived sections of society in slums and address their basic needs. The Sewa Department was formed in 1991. Today, through numerous service organisations, swayamsevaks run 167,113 service projects in education, healthcare, social security and economic self-reliance.

Swayamsevaks do this because their philosophical foundation rests on Hindutva — not a “religion” but a spiritual, integral and holistic view of life. It is on this basis of aatmiyata, a felt sense of belonging, that they serve without expecting anything in return. Some compare this with missionary “service”, but missionary service is often undertaken for the sake of conversion; where conversion was not a realistic prospect, no service was offered.

In Ukhrul, near the Myanmar border in Manipur, the entire population had become Christian and there was no adequate arrangement for education. When the RSS pracharak Shankar (Bhaiyaji) Kane went there in 1971, he began taking children to Maharashtra to study. Sending a child so far with a stranger was not easy for parents, so Bhaiyaji left behind in Ukhrul a 12-year-old boy who had travelled with him, as a token of trust. Every child who came to study was Christian, and Bhaiyaji made no attempt to convert them. Once educated, they returned, earned well and, inspired by him, founded a school in Ukhrul — named Ojha Shankar Vidyalaya, “Ojha” being the local term of respect for an elder.

Before the word Sewa came into use in this sense, all such acts in Bharat were understood as belonging to Dharma. Here, Dharma does not mean religion; what English calls “religion” is closer to Upasana, or worship. Rooted in spirituality, Dharma holds the entire creation to be interconnected — which is why Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam has been part of Bharatiya life since ancient times. When the sense of “I” diminishes, the circle of “we” widens, and from that felt belonging arises the impulse to do something for others. To give back to society out of that belonging is true Dharma.

Sister Nivedita observed that a society in which people do not keep the fruits of their labour entirely to themselves, but give back, grows rich through this accumulated social capital. Every act that enriches, preserves and strengthens this social capital is Dharma. Bharatiya thought gives equal weight to material prosperity (abhyudaya) and liberation (nihshreyas): “Yato'bhyudaya Nihshreyasa Siddhih Sa Dharmah”. Abundance in production, equity in distribution and restraint in consumption are its guiding principles.

Bharat has followed this tradition for centuries. A resting place for pilgrims is a Dharmashala; a Dharmadaya dispensary treats all without distinction. Building roads, planting shade trees, digging wells and step-wells and building ghats at places of pilgrimage were all regarded as acts of Dharma.

During the Second World War, around 1,000 Polish women and children fleeing invasion aboard a ship were refused asylum by country after country — even in British-ruled Mumbai, though they were Christian. The Maharaja of Nawanagar (Jamnagar), Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji, had them brought by sea to Jamnagar, housed them at Balachadi and even brought seven cooks from Goa so they could keep their own diet. To keep the British from interfering, he signed adoption papers for them all: “You are my sons and my daughters; stay here as long as you wish.” They stayed nearly nine years, and a square in Warsaw is now named the “Good Maharaja Square”.

On the night of 12 November 1996, a Saudi and a Kazakh airliner collided over Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, killing up to 351 people, almost all Muslims and some Christians. Within moments, district Sanghchalak Jitram ji, swayamsevaks and doctors from Dr Hedgewar Hospital reached the site, worked through the night by petromax lamps and generators, and moved the bodies to the hospital at Bhiwani. Where no family could be traced, the victims were buried according to their own faiths, with the help of local religious leaders. Three days later, Jitram ji was honoured at a thanksgiving gathering in the Dadri mosque. Newspapers carried the headline: “Khaki Shorts and Saffron Scarf Honoured in the Mosque.”

We may sum it up thus: the Sangh's endeavour is that the individual should become Dharmapravan (inclined towards Dharma) and society Dharmadhishthit (founded on Dharma), rather than “Dharma-Nirapeksha” in the sense of being indifferent to it. That is what it means, in the Sangh's understanding, for the Rashtra to become Hindu. When it comes to service, Bharat's tradition has always been to perform it as Dharma — what Swami Vivekananda called serving Jeeva in the spirit of Shiva: to serve man is to worship God.

Shri Vishwa Niketan: 

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“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” 

the world is one family