*********************************************************************** Global Hindu Electronic Network (GHEN) Are you a subscriber of Hindu Digest? To subscribe to Hindu Digest send an e-mail to listserv@arizvm1.ccit.arizona.edu with the following contents subscribe hindu-d Full Name [Note: Full Name must be at least 2 words] *********************************************************************** Subject: RASHTRIYA SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH FULFILS THE MISSION OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA *********************************************************************** RASHTRIYA SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH FULFILS THE MISSION OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA BY K.SURYANARAYAN RAO [Surya Narayan Rao heads the Social Service Projects, run by Rastriya Swyamsevak S2ngh (RSS), a National volunteer organization in India since 1942. He was educated in Bangalore and passed B.Sc. (Hons) in Mathematics. from l_entral College in 1946. He is the organizing Secretary of the first RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad Conference in Karnataka. From 1984 to 1990, he was organizer of all four southern states of India.] Swami Vivekananda is an eternal fountain of inspiration. Millions of our countrymen past and present have been very powerfully influenced by his life and teachings. Mahatma Gandhi has said 'The love I had for my country became a thousandfold after having gone through the works of Vivekananda.' Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose says 'If Swamiji had been alive, I would have been at his feet....as long as I live I would be loyal and devoted to Ramakrishna and Vivekananda.' Gurudeva Tagore has exhorted " If you want to know India study Vivekananda." And Pandit Nehru remarks" Vivekananda is one of. the great founders of the national modern movement of India... Directly or indirectly he has powerfully influenced India. Swamiji declares " I am proud to call myself a Hindu. I am proud that I am a countryman of yours, you the descendants of the sages, of the glorious Rishis the world ever saw..The more I have studied the past, the more I have looked back, more and more this pride came to me and it has given me the strength and courage of conviction, raised me up from the dust of the Earth and set me working out that great plan laid out by those great ancestors of nurs. When a man has begun to be ashamed of his ancestors the end has come. Swamiji had a conviction that "It is specially for the preservation of the Hindu race and religion that Bhagawana Sri Ramakrishna, the embodiment of mercy, has incarnated himself . " He has said that the hidden fire of our national life is spirituality and renunciation. " National union in India must be a gathering of its scattered spiritual forces. A nation in India must be a union of those whose heart beats to the same spiritual tune." His life mission was to rejuvenate and reestablish this Hindu nation. "Our method simply consists in reasserting the national life., finding out the common base of Hinduism and awakening the National Consciousness." To make a great future of India the whole secret lies in organization, accumulation of power and coordination of wills. An organization that will teach Hindus mutual help and appreciation is absolutely necessary." He further stresses the saying that grass blades when woven into a rope can even restrain a mad elephant. Swami Vivekananda appealed to Hindus to unity and love one another irrespective of region, caste, language and other differences. Love opens the most inaccessible gates. Worship the God we see all around us including the poor and the miserable. Unless men's psyche changes society cannot be deeply and permanently changed. Fill the brain with great thoughts. He works the best who works without any motive for money, name or anything else.. No centralization is possible unless there is obedience to superiors. NQ great work can be done without this centralization of individual forces. Learn obedience first. He who knows how to obey knows how to command. He says that men are wanted. everything else will follow. Strong, vigorous, believing young men sincere to the backbone are needed. A hundred such men come together and the world becomes revolutionized. A hundred thousand men and women fired with the zeal of holiness, fortified with eternal faith in the Lord and nerved to lion's courage by their sympathy for the poor, the fallen and the down trodden will go over the length and breadth of the land preaching the gospel of salvation, the gospel of health, the gospel of social rising up, and the gospel of equality. What we want is strong men with muscles of steel and nerves of iron inside of which dwells a mind of the same material as that of which the thunderbolt is made. "You will understand Gita better with your biceps a little stronger". After repeating powerful ideas for rejuvenating the nation he has laid out a plan. "We must have a temple, a nonsectarian temple having only OM as our symbol. Those who do not believe in OM have no right to call themselves Hindus. Along with the temple there should be an institution to train teachers who must go around preaching religion. You may ask but where is the money? Money is not needed. Money is nothing. Where are the men? ' Swami Vivekananda had the confidence that any good idea thought sincerely with a good heart, sitting even in a mountain cave will burst forth through the mountain rocks and will work wonders one day. True to his faith all his ideas have been manifested in the form of a mighty organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar the founder of the R.S.S. was another dynamic personality born with this mission. He did not have the chance to come in contact with Swami Vivekananda yet we find that every idea of Vivekananda has been meticulously translated into action by Dr. Hedgewar. As he grew he felt that mere political independence will not be sufficient for the allround development of the country in its degenerated condition. Unless the "Man" is set right no institution can work on right lines. The entire Hindu society should be made nationally conscious with an intense devotion to the motherland. He conceived a simple plan, a wonderful idea that persons of different age groups will assemble at a particular place and time every day for one hour. The age old Bhagawa Dhaja, the common symbol of our spiritual and temporal leaders will be the center of devotion. All assembled will participate in physical, intellectual and moral programs inculcating discipline to the body, mind and the intellect. It is a well-known fact that Swayamsevaks trained in Shakhas are always in the forefront to serve the affected people during the natural calamities like floods, cyclones., famines, earthquakes as also during wars with China and Pakistan and the terrorist activities. Nearly 10,000 Service projects big and small are being run by the RSS men to emancipate the lower classes including the hill and forest dwelling tribes from their backwardness and suffering under various names like Seva Bharati, Vanavasi Kalyana Ashrama, Vishwa Hindu Parishad etc. A National Hindu orientation is given through organizations in various fields such as student, labor, agriculturist, political, economic and other social activities. Shri Guru Golwalker who succeeded Dr. Hedgewar guided the RSS organization for 33 years. Now Swaymsevaks have been making a mark as men of character, integrity, sincerity and efficiency. Some have even spread in different parts of the world to educate them about the great spiritual ideals of the Hindus; another ambition of Swami Vive!cananda. In one of his lectures he says "I am an lmaginative man and my ideal is the conquest of the whole world by the Hindu race. Rise up India, and conquer the world with your spirituality. Workers are needed to go abroad and help disseminate the great truths of the Vedanta, for conquest of the world with Hindu thought. The RSS has provided such heroic workers to carry out the mission of Swami Vivekananda not only inside Bharat but the world over. The RSS in its humble way has been striving hard to make the prophecy of Swamiji that "Thousands of Vivekanandas will be born" come true.