Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Everyone living in India is a 'Hindu': RSS

At his first public appearance after taking over as the new SarSanghchalak, Mohan BhagwatJi Said:

Hindu is not the name of community. It is a way of life. Each one who resides in Bharat, the greater Bharat before partition is a Hindu and should be proud of his or her identity. We are Hindu by nature and culture.

Hindusthan was not limited to the geographical entity called India.It is variously described as being a Bharatiya, an Arya or a Hindu. But this idea is emancipatory — this talks about the welfare of all. Ingrained in our philosophy, this is also known as Hindutva.

In the last 60 years of our Independence, many of our problems have not been addressed. We have changed rulers, we have changed governments, but true change can be brought by people’s aspirations... when they aspire to be world leaders. No neta (leader), Niti (policy), Raj (rule)... Can be complete without respect for people's aspiration. The aspiration of people of this country, who are Hindus irrespective of the religion they belong ... Is the welfare of humanity.

Recalling that Kalam had unveiled an encyclopedia on Hinduism recently, he said that every pronouncement of the former president had three essential ingredients — the need to respect India’s might (“Shakti ki aradhna”); ancient culture; and the belief that Hinduism was an amalgam of every other religion. Bhagwat also referred to Kurien’s book I too had a dream.

The 40-minute speech, as per the Sangh tradition, steered clear of politics

A Truly inspiring speech. I am sure RSS will reach new heights under Mohanji's guidance

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The term Hindu was always a civilizational term - the way of life of the people of Hind. By making it a religion (as opposed to a way of life that includes many religions), things got confused.

The religions that Hindus follow are vedic, jaina, sikhi, bauddha, animist, and many others. Hindu is the name of the civilization all these share. That civilization has some core values which all these espouse, and those are called "Dharma".

Glad to see Mohanji bring some clarity on the matter.

Btw, I am a vedic Hindu. Just as Hindu (no more, no less) than a sikh Hindu, no more no less than a jaina Hindu. We are all Hindus.