Golwalkar: the brain of RSS
By Kashif Hoda
The Milli Gazette Online
26 February 2006
http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2006/20060226_Golwalkar_RSS.htm
RSS is planning to celebrate birth centenary of the second RSS chief Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar. While K. B. Hedgewar is responsible for setting up RSS and the initial leadership, it was the genius of Golwalkar that firmly established RSS in the Indian political scene. It was he who developed most of the strategies that are still in use by RSS. He gave RSS the vision that still inspires its cadre.
Therefore to understand RSS it is important to understand Golwalkar and his teachings. Golwalkar was born in 1906 near Nagpur. He entered Banaras Hindu University in 1906, got his B.Sc. degree in 1926, M.Sc. in Zoology in 1928. He joined BHU as a teacher and worked there till 1933. Golwalkar was very apolitical in his student life; the only political activity before he joined RSS in 1931 was to meet Hedgewar in 1929. Exactly what led him to get involved in politics to such a degree in a short span of two years, to resign from his job and move to Nagpur, is a mystery.
Hedgewar worked on his new disciple to train him for a future leadership role. Meanwhile, Golwalkar got himself enrolled into Nagpur University to study law, getting his LLB degree in 1935. Probably the militaristic routine of RSS was unable to satisfy the intellectual and spiritual need of Golwalkar, in 1937 we find him leaving RSS to move to Bengal and become a disciple of Swami Akhandana at Sargachi. Just a few months later, Swami dies, and a confused Golwalkar goes back to Hedgewar. He remained attached to his Swami’s mission all his life though, he never cut his hair and beard as instructed by the Swami.
Golwalkar accompanied Hedgewar in all his trips to set up shakhas in different places. Golwalkar was trained and his personality built up so that he could become an acceptable leader. In 1938 A book comes out “We or Our Nationhood Defined.” It was supposed to be written by Golwalkar, and was a clear attempt to raise his profile. Later Golwalkar himself admitted that it was an abridged translation of another book in Marathi.
During Hedgewar’s final days, when he was too sick to travel, it was Golwalkar who took care of business associated with RSS, and took complete charge of the organization. Therefore, it is not surprising that in 1940, bypassing some senior leaders who were with RSS since the beginning, Golwalkar was made head of RSS.
Golwalkar is the longest serving chief of RSS and also may be the most successful in terms of increasing membership and establishing shakhas. Hedgewar left RSS with about 50 shakhas and 100,000 members and when Golwalkar died he had expanded its reach to 10,000 shakhas and membership running above a million.
RSS under Hedgewar was resigned to its status of a junior member of the Hindu Right, playing second fiddle to Hindu Mahasabha. Mahasabha leaders didn’t treat them as much more than a youth organizer with no mass movement or vision for the future. In fact, V. D. Savarkar commented that “the epitaph for the RSS volunteer will be that he was born, he joined the RSS and he died without accomplishing anything.”
Hedgewar developed his organization as a street-fighting machine; cadres were well trained to fight the “enemy” and enhance passions by the disinformation campaign. RSS continues to be a master of the rumor industry, but inspite of their emphasis on physical training, there is little evidence that RSS members get involved in actual physical fights. Lower caste communities are utilized to do the dirty work of rioting once they have been initiated. The credit for this transformation goes to Hedgewar.
Soon after taking over RSS, Hedgewar tried to make it a separate identity from Hindu Mahsabha. The RSS as a result became more anti-Socialist than Mahasabha, while maintaining its anti-Muslim stance. This expanded its social base to include all the people who lose from any radical social change. That increased its membership as well as giving it financial security. While most of India was revolting in a peaceful way against the British occupation, RSS chose a non-confrontational approach. For them being patriotic had nothing to do with being anti-British.
In his book “Bunch of Thoughts,” Golwalkar writes that “the theories of territorial nationalism and of common danger, which formed the basis for our concept of nation, had deprived us of the positive and inspiring content of our real Hindu Nationhood and made many of the ‘freedom movements’ virtually anti-British movements. Anti-Britishism was equated with patriotism and nationalism. This reactionary view has had disastrous effects upon the entire course of the freedom movement, its leaders and the common people.” It is really ironic that this is the same organization that now treats Subhash Chandra Bose as a patriot who was clearly anti-British in his approach and did not mind taking the assistance of Germany and Japan to fight the common enemy.
RSS these days have turned anti-Christian but they were never anti-British, in fact RSS tried to channelize the nation’s anti-British feelings into anti-Muslim sentiments. The youthful energy of the members was kept busy by occasional clashes with the Muslims. The British Government must have been happy that scores of youth were kept out of the freedom movement.
It is possible that RSS was hand-in-glove with the British Government in their plan to keep their cadre outside the freedom movement. We find that RSS accepted all the restrictions placed on it by the government of the time. The khaki shirt was replaced by the white shirt because it was similar to the military uniform; canvas shoes replaced leather boots and the belt was dropped altogether. RSS preferred Anti-Muslim sentiments in place of Anti-British.
While the Indian leadership was in prison because of the quit Indian Movement, RSS laid the foundation stone of Hedgewar Bhawan in 1945. It was completed in less than a year’s time. Its compound is big enough to hold an assembly of 9000 RSS men. This lavish construction comes on the heel of the Bengal famine, for which RSS, a voluntary organization, was not involved in helping the people. In fact RSS did nothing to stop the partition of ‘Akhand Bharat’, which puts them in the same group with the Muslim League, as the group who favored the two-nation theory.
It is difficult to imagine what was going through the mind of Golwalkar at that tumultuous time in Indian history; it must have taken a lot of effort not to be active. Nathuram Godse, who used to accompany Hedgewar in his travels, killed Mahatma Gandhi. The ban on RSS was a difficult time on its organizational history, it exposed the weakness of the Organization, and all this time the emphasis was on physical exercise and creating an army of clones. RSS found little support in its effort to revoke the ban. It was able to gather only nine lakh signatures to petition the government.
Failing in its effort to launch a movement against the ban, Golwalkar started to use lobbying to get the ban removed. After coming out of the ban, RSS started infiltrating different sectors by launching their own organizations (eg. student organizations, trade unions, and farmers unions). About 50 front-organizations were created to cover different sectors of the society. Clashes with China in 1957-59 gave RSS a platform to come out of hibernation. RSS started many campaigns against cow-slaughter, the Urdu language, and formation of the Malappuram District in Kerala etc.
Jawaharlal Nehru was very much against lifting the ban against RSS, but towards the end of his career, Nehru initiated the process of making peace with RSS. Lads of Golwalkar were invited to join Republic day parade in 1963. That was the first and the last time that they were part of the Republic day parade, but it was a nice propaganda tool for RSS.
The atmosphere of the 1965 war with Pakistan was fertile for RSS growth. On the eve of the 1967 election, RSS mobilized the various Hindu organizations to stage a massive anti-cow-slaughter demonstration outside Parliament in November 1966. This movement coupled with Congress’ inaction lead to a major defeat for the Congress and many RSS men became ministers in many of the north-Indian states. This brought another chapter for RSS, which enabled them to use state machinery to promote the cause of RSS.
But apparently they grew too fast and were unable to cope with their success. Indira Gandhi’s shrewdness and defeat of the Pakistani army in Bangladesh made RSS ineffective. RSS works better under the environment of fear. The strong leadership style of Indira Gandhi confused RSS strategists, and thus the death of Golwalkar in July 1973 left behind a demoralized organization. In spite of this his legacy lives on, directions and strategies that he gave to this organisation are still followed by RSS.
In brief, this was the public life of the second RSS chief Golwalkar. The evil design planted by him continues to give fruit. In this centenary year there will be many articles praising Golwalkar, and as is the style of RSS, they will be re-writing history to show us how great a leader he was. To understand Golwalkar, we have to cut the hype and simply have to read his words as follows:
On caste system:
“There is nothing to prove that it (the caste system) ever hindered our social developments. Actually caste system has helped to preserve the unity of our society.” (Bunch of Thoughts p.108)
“The history proves that Mohammadan could win over North West and north east areas easily where Budhism had shattered the pattern of caste system. Gandhar which is Kandhar now, was converted to Islam completely. But contrary to this, Hindu religion was strong in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh despite Muslim rule because caste system was strictly followed there. (Bunch of Thoughts]
On Nationhood:
“When we say, “This is the Hindu nation”, there are some who immediately come up with the question, “What about the Muslims and Christians dwelling in this land? Are they also not born and bred here? How could they become aliens just because they have changed their faith? But the crucial point is whether they remember that they are the children of this soil? …. No. Together with the change in their faith, gone are the spirit of love and devotion for the nation.” (Bunch of Thoughts)
Solution to the Minority ‘problem’:
“The foreign races in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment – not even citizen’s rights. There is, at least, should be, no other course for them to adopt. We are an old nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do deal, with the foreign races, who have chosen to live in our country. (We or Our Nationhood Defined)
“German race-pride has now become the topic of the day. To keep up with the purity of the race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic races- the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for Races and Cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for use in Hindusthan to learn and profit by” (We or Our Nationhood Defined)
The author is also the editor of website www.indianmuslims.info
RSS/Gowalkar are to India what Nazis/Hitler were to Germany… RSS will lead to India’s destruction period.
As regards Indian Muslims… they have to take to “Modern Education” en-masse. There has to be a cultural reniassance within the community. Nobody (even the RSS) can do anything if the Muslim Community decides for unity / synergy /education /and REFORM. A new set of ideas must replace the old ones.. They should maintain their religious symbols and values… but… at the same time… GO EN-MASSE for Modern Education. Without Education, they are just a number… and Gujarat 2002 has shown… has shown… the ground reality. I neednt say a word more. Its time to halt and ponder for the Indian Muslims.. They are being taken for a ride… because 90% of the community is illiterate… or poorely-literate. There is no quick fix. Education is key to empowerment. GO for education en-masse… and you will see.. that the Indian muslim would be different.. in a span of 25-30 years… That much of time is needed to change the ground reality… but RSS is intelligent enough.. not to allow the Muslims the LUXURY of time.. Hence riots / hatred injected on a daily basis.. to keep Muslims on their heels… Unstable.. worried.. depressed… cuz once the muslim mind is calm.. it would put its energies into positive channels.. EDUCATION… EDUCATION.. and EDUCATION .. thats the Mantra for Indian Muslims… Jai Hind.
CANCEL THE HAJ SUBSIDY effective IMMEDIATELY.
Instead., Muslim (18-20% of the pop) must be given 9-10% reservations in education (professional)., Jobs (central / state + armed forces + police + intelligence agencies)., Loans (banks/co-operatives)., and distribution of land (pattas) etc. In other words., share the spoils 9-10%. Muslims are 20% of India’s population… atleast give them HALF their rights.. For 18-20% population i ask for 9-10% Reservations. What is wrong with that ? Merit will be compromised… they say…
Is Reservation for SCs and STs.. not a PRICE the Indian Govt. is paying to keep the SCs and STs into the fold of Hinduism… Is this not the naked truth. Abolish the reservations for SCs and STs.. and within 1 year see.. what religion they adopt !!
RSS says “Muslims are PAMPERED”. Woaw… Sachar Committee Report is a fine evidence that documents the super-rich condition of the PAMPERED muslims.
What is RSS/BJP vision for Muslims : Look at the way they treat Muslims in Gujarat. That is “Real Secularism” … right Mister Advani…
I repeat again.. Abolish Haj Subsidy.. No Iftar Party.. No Mushaira.. these cosmetic gestures do more harm than good. They cover / push the real issues under the carpet. Abolish superficialism.. get down to basics.. and provide some real / solid support to Indian Muslims.
Jai Hind
Indira Gandhi (and Sanjay) were the finest followers of Guru Gowalkar. This i say.. after reading 500 books on the subject.. from different perspectives. Mrs. Gandhi caused untold damage to Indian fabric. She damaged the institutions built by Nehru. Ever since., India has not been the same again. To remain in power, she destroyed Pandit Nehru’s ideological eddifice.
In every comment everbody is talking about gujarat roits. Those roits were only the reactions agaisnt the godhra kand. Is there anybody has guts to talk about the kashmiri pandits who are forcefully kicked away from their hosuses or killed by the muslim militants. Why every roit is related to muslims or happens in muslim majourity areas?
Let me take the issue head on. Gujarat Pogrom 2002… v/s. Kashmiri Pundit Exodus.
1) No Kashmiris were burnt alive. The exodus was planned and executed by RSS / Jagmohan was the Governor then / under the watchful eye of the state machinery. Kashmir was quite hot then, so they wanted to pull the hindus out. Same 1947 fear psychosis. Muslims never burnt human beings in their 1400 year history… ever… ! Read standard books… not the hate-rags printed by RSS.
2) As regards RSS, it is a lie-machine… a hate-machine… It is Immortal Goebels. The machinery that RSS has created is to ensure that hatred flows perpetually and on a daily basis.
Muslims have neglected social sciences / world history / POLITICAL SCIENCE – that is the reason their responses are so innocent and naive. They must take to social sciences. Humanities are at the heart of education. Societal vision is something totally different. Human anthropoloby / sociology / political science / literature /History / languages… these are NOT waste.. They are at the heart of the matter.
Muslims must re-search on RSS… to understand their mindsets.. .their working patterns.. the lie-factory they are running since 1928…. and how to counter them. This is an intellectual challenge. God has given talent to Muslims. Why don’t they pose an intellectual challenge to RSS (of course, soft power i.e. intellectual power must be supported by hard power… “Shakti” which Gowalkar aspired and obtained… Muslims must simultaneously aspire and obtain That “Shakti” too !). These are macro issues. Education is a priority. Attached to it is “economics”. Unemployment. Quality of human life. Political empowerment..Indian Muslims have become football. They are scattered – economically poor – avenues for jobs / business almost closed… somehow they are surviving… some have gone abroad (middle east) to eke a living… there is a sense of false prosperity.. some gold.. a house.. marriages… but they have NOT built any INSTITUTIONS. Go to any IIT… and see how muslims are there ? (both faculty + student). In Chennai, out of 400 faculty.. not one is muslim… not one student either.. Now.. the logic of merit will come in.. my point is.. there are reservations (affirmative actions) for SC/ST/BC etc… The moment a SC converts to Islam… the reservation is withdrawn. In other words, reservations are a BRIBE to keep SC/ST/BC within the fold of hinduism.
Everybody knows the problems of Indian Muslims.. so why should i write more. I have written enough. I think… their middle classes must sit together.. and develop synergy.. and go for institution building.. brick-by-brick. If they keep on leaving (brain-drain)., it is pushing muslims to a level where they are the PRESENT-DAY SHUDRAS. That is what the ultimate desire of RSS is.. To break the will.. subjugate Muslims.. and make them the present-day SHUDRAS.
How Indian Muslims face that RSS vision.. calls for a moment of introspection.
Muslims are basicaly a naive sociological group (all over the world). They need to take to knowledge . They must prefer to deal with muslims (when they sell / rent, their properties). I am against ghetto-isation.. i like a diverse neighbourhood… but… hatred breeds hatred. If someone does not like us., we cant force ourselves on them. Right at this moment, the hindu mindset is polluted. “We dont need your votes” worldview has captured their imagination.
There are 2 things. One is to walk away from the political drama (which is hard.. cannot leave the field open for RSS)… and take to social work.. or societal work (grass roots initiatives). The other is to bring about qualititative change in the community thru education – political awareness !
In this endeavour., Luckily youngsters are coming forward… this must grow. No Mullah will criticize when a kid excels in Math / PHysics ! It is time to call the bluff off. Mullahs are no more an issue… Muslims must develop synergy.. go for education.. and political awareness. They usually do not take to political empowerment. THey must study world history and political science.
Indian Muslims(students) must take to political science. That area (humanities) is hugely neglected. hence the poverty of ideas.
Das,
Your observations are brilliant. What you are saying is very true – the Ummah needs to unite and be proactive to move towards progress.
They have to be assertive, positive and confident. As for the mullahs let them only conduct prayer services till they prove themselves to be confident to run the affairs of the Ummah.
If you talking that no kashmiris burnt alive, it is a debatable issue but what about the trains which had came to India during the partition. Does anybody need to say anything on that? Can any muslim country accept any hindu or other releigon president or PM? No. But the hindu majourity country India has accepted muslim president twice. Our national indian crictet had muslim captain. The three superstars of the bollywood are muslims and are respectfully accepted by Hindus. Can muslims accept any non muslim cm in J&K. the muslims are talkin these days that they will join hands with pakistan. They are burning the national flag of India. Has any muslim abjectd on this? Just look into yourself then put any gingure on RSS because the RSS is a nation loving organisation and they do not need any certificate from any muslim who is “qualified”.
Before I share my thoughts about Golwalkar, I would like to make a very salient point about Hinduism in general. This comment applies to all the major sects that make up Hinduism.
For the Hindus, the lord is not separate from his creation. That means the various laws that operate in this universe are not controlled by God, they are God himself.
This is the fundamental difference between Hinduism and the Abrahamic religions.
The Hindu does not talk of ‘one God’ but talks of the ‘only God’.
The five elements, the rivers, the plants, the animals all are manifestations of the God. (God himself).
God is everything and anything. He is all that is. There is no devil in Hinduism. So there is no ‘other’. There is no concept of good (God and faithful) and evil (Devil and faithlessness).
No judgment day and no everlasting hell. There is only dharma and adharma (right or wrong actions).
The concept of “only God” is deeply embedded in the Hindu psyche. So, he has no necessity to change (save) anybody. He can accept you as you are.
This does not mean that the way Hinduism has been practiced over the years has no problems.
The social ills of India are a direct result of the way Hinduism has been practiced over the years.
(Unfortunately made worse by the British).But I digress.
The vision of ‘only God’ and the resultant attitude makes Hinduism a non-aggressive religion.
It shows in the culture of this land. The country’s mountains, rivers, land are all sacred to the Hindu. All of them are various manifestations of the lord.
Golwalkar felt that this unique culture of the Hindus was under threat. Because the aggressive religions not only convert people but also wipe away the existing culture. This is bound to happen as the tenets of Islam and Christianity are fundamentally opposed to Hinduism.
Look at South America…the indigenous cultures of the mayas, aztecs and the incas have been completely destroyed by an aggressive Abrahamic religion.
Golwalkar was also disturbed by the absence of a ‘Hindu’ identity among Hindus.
Hinduism is not an organized, congregational religion. There is no single voice guiding people from a pulpit. Golwalkar thought that RSS should fill that void. His idea was that Hinduism should borrow the congregational spirit of Islam and Christianity and thereby make it stronger. Make Hindus resistant to conversion.
I respect Golwalkar for his intense desire to instill pride in every Hindu about his dharma.
But I don’t subscribe to his (or the Sangh parivar’s) ideology …because it goes against the very grain of Hinduism when he talks of dealing with “them and “others”.
I cherish my freedom as a Hindu and don’t want to be told what to love and what to hate. And, I believe that any form of right – wing organization will become Nazi like sooner or later.
Finally I believe that I serve Hindu dharma best by being good Hindu. If by seeing my values…my son develops respect and pride for the dharma that he was born into,
I will consider myself to be a good Hindu. By this alone has this great religion survived through the ages and I think Hinduism does not need RSS for its survival.
So the answer I believe does not lie with Golwalkar and the sangh parivar but in the right form of secularism. A Secular state, where all faiths are respected and protected, including Hinduism.
Maybe the definition of “ummah” needs to be updated to include all human beings, instead of a demarcation between Muslims (“us”) and non-Muslims (“them”), and religion become a personal and private matter.
The talk about RSS but what about this tableeghi jammat and all the ’000 of madrassas that preach anti -hindu, anti-India ….You cant even compare RSS with this…Its just that your mind is so political that you see ur own shadow in RSS.
I think Das is veering away from the core issue. My shirt is brighter than yours is a non-sense. Neither Hindus nor Muslims can claim to be angels when it comes to violence. Entire history is witness.
Nation loving organization, my foot. What kind of ideology drives people to become worse than animals and burn an orphanage, whatever be the differences with the people running it? There were 20 little children in an orphanage in Orissa, which was burnt today and the children barely managed to escape. A nun was burnt alive in this incident. If this does not outrage you and turn you against the ideology that drives such actions, nothing possibly can. And I don’t believe you can justifiably call yourself human.
Kaveri,
I agree with your view. I dislike being preached that my heritage is somehow inferior. I did not choose my religion (just as most people) and hence it seems like it is an attack on my very identity. I see an aggressive streak in Abrahamic religions, an “us” vs. “them” mentality which is completely at odds with the Hinduism that I saw practiced at home. And that bothered me. However, that is precisely what I dislike about the Sangh parivar’s ideology – these organizations are trying to erase the Hinduism I have known and convert it into a clone of the Abrahamic cultures. Not taking the best from these religions, but taking their worst aspects. And not getting rid of Hinduism’s worst aspects, but getting rid of some of its best aspects.
@Kaveri:
A very partial understanding of Hinduism, I must say.
What you say as essence of Hinduism is actually the essence of a subset of Hinduism viz. Advaita Vedanta as taught by Shankaracharya. Vishishtadvaita school of Sri Ramanujacharya and Dvaita school of Sri Madhwacharya differ very much from this position.
“For the Hindus, the lord is not separate from his creation. That means the various laws that operate in this universe are not controlled by God, they are God himself.”
Ask any dvaitin if he believes in this. Madhwacharya’s philosophy starts with five fold differences. The very first difference is that God is different from the universe and the laws created by Him.
“This is the fundamental difference between Hinduism and the Abrahamic religions.”
Spend some time in Udupi and you will realize that this difference is figment of your imagination.
Neither Udupi mutt nor Jeeyer mutt accept this “fundamental” difference. This difference is “fundamental” only in Shankar mutts.
“The Hindu does not talk of ‘one God’ but talks of the ‘only God’.”
Not true. Advaitins talk of only God. Vishishtadvaitins talk of creation as body of God and Dvaitins talk of creation as quite distinct from God.
Please spend some time at http://www.ramanuja.org and http://www.dvaita.org to learn that one God, many God and only God – all three versions are Hindu.
“God is everything and anything. He is all that is.”
Again, it is your personal idea of what Hinduism is. A little literacy about Hinduism will cure you of such blinkers. You can find volumes on vishistadvaita and dvaita sites that God is NOT all that is.
“There is no devil in Hinduism. So there is no ‘other’. There is no concept of good (God and faithful) and evil (Devil and faithlessness).
No judgment day and no everlasting hell.”
It only shows your utter ignorance about Hinduism. FYI, concept of devil, concept of good/evil and concept of everlasting hell – all thre of them are part of Dvaita Vedanta.
Please read any undergraduate text of Indian Philosophy to educate yourself about Hinduism.
The only true and highest form of religion or spirutuality is to be one with the universe….by being one we will drop our ego and man made barriers…only love will remain and at this peak and oneness only can a person say he is religious…everything else is simply political
Indeed, there was a point of time when mankind was but one Ummah. The Quran refers to this too. However, as religions and sects kept coming up, this kept splitting up.
Human temperament differs from person to person. Therefore, there are many who wish to identify themselves as part of a religious community, while there are those who would like it to be a personal and private matter.
The crux of the matter is that at the human level, we all need to be good to one another irrespective of caste, color and creed.
As God says in the Quran, “Unto me is your return, and I will tell you the truth of what you did”
Abhilash,
That is the beauty of Hinduism. Kaveri is correct and so are those that follow Madhvacharya’s form of Dvaitism. The essence of Hinduism, at least as I see it, is that good deeds lead to better outcomes, and bad deeds lead to worse outcomes. The follower is free to follow any path. All paths, as long as the heart is pure, lead to God. This is not some new philosophy but has been a part of Hinduism since time immemorial. It does not mean that there aren’t differences of opinion, some of them pretty strong ones, or that it has not led to even occasional conflicts. But these are human failures. The very essence of Hinduism has remained pretty much unchanged through time and across different schools of philosophy.
I agree with Girish on his comments about VHP RSS etc. I was shocked to hear that these VHP people burnt an orphanage and a nun was burnt alive. If this is the kind of Hinduism that they want to preach, then they should have no place in India. These RSS / VHP people have taken upon them to be contractors of Hinduism, which I do not like. I want Hinduism the way it is appreciated, free-flowing with multitude of faiths, beliefs and would not like it to become a regimented religion, with one organisation dictating what should be the value system / faith of a Hindu. The way the VHP / Bajrang Dal behave, I think these organisations are just fit to be a terrorist organisation. The only difference is that they are overground and not underground. If the RSS / VHP / Shiv Sena is so patriotic, let them get out of their dens and go to Kashmir valley and sit on a dharna / bear the bullets to save India. Why don’t they go there and do a real “Rashtra Seva” instead of vandalising and hounding others in places where they are secure?
Achal,
The aim of each one of us is to be one with the Universe. However, religion is not an ALTERNATIVE to this, it is the WAY to achieve this.
It may not be possible for people to attain enlightenment just through contemplation.
What is important is that religion should not become a platform to divide people.