Note: This essay is the first part in the series of articles based on Guruji's Bunch of Thoughts

The following essay is based on Guruji’s talks on the importance of nationalism and how the various theories born in the west to root out nationalism have failed on all counts. Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar fondly called Guruji was the second Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS). Citing the example of  Russia and how the Communist ideology failed to motivate the Russian people, Guruji exhorts how the Hindus, who were the first thought givers to the world, have successfully taught the world about the values of humanity and love for the motherland as an important aspect of the Hindu way of life. The speech concludes with how the RSS has taken upon itself as its mission to organize the Hindu society which is divided at present and make it into a leading force for the greater good of the world.

The mission of the RSS is based on a philosophy of national culture and envisages the whole of the nation. The outlook it offers has room for all minorities on condition of their whole-hearted submission to the supreme value of the nation in their lives. The nation is the vehicle of universal truths and is not an entity above them. This is no chauvinist nationalism of the kind associated with Mussolini and Hitler in the recent West.  

Many people feel that the very concept of country, nation, etc., has become outdated and that the spirit of world unity alone should inspire all our activities. This leads to our next question, as how far the task of reorganizing the national life of Hindus taken up by the RSS is in conformity with the spirit of world unity and human good?

Long time back, long before the so-called modern age had set in, the seers and savants of this land had delved deep into this vital question. Our constant prayer all through the ages has been:

सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः (Let everyone be happy, let everyone be free from all ills.)

While the present-day West has not been able to go beyond the motto of ‘the greatest good of the greatest number’, we have never tolerated the idea of a single human being – why, of even a single living organism being miserable. ‘Total good of all beings’ has always been our glorious ideal.

The Two Sides 

We are faced with the hard reality of the all-round discord and disruption ravaging human society. Today, humanity is divided and subdivided into so many small exclusive groups called nations or states, each one of them devoted to its own narrow self-interests. And it is a matter of common experience that whenever there are groups inspired only by self-interests, there is bound to be mutual conflict. Many modern-day thinkers have concluded that the sentiment of nationalism which nourishes exclusive self-interests is the major obstacle in the way of world unity and human welfare. The Communist ideology which claims internationalism as its sheet-anchor often talks about this strain.

Soviet Russia which sought to discard nationalism in a bid to take international communism soon learnt by experience that destruction of this sentiment deprives the people of the incentive for dedicated effort. Soon, the enthusiasm of the people began to wane, their incentive for work began to die. And again, during the Second World War, when Hitler’s tanks relentlessly advanced forward on the Russian soil, the slogan of ‘internationalism’ and ‘Communism’ failed to enthuse the Russian people.

It is evident, therefore, that it is devotion to one’s motherland, society and tradition experienced under the concept of nation that inspires the spirit of real service and sacrifice in the individual.

The Abortive Experiments

We can thus conclude that nationalism cannot and should not be destroyed. Then the problem boils down to one of achieving a synthesis of national aspirations and world welfare. Synthesis of various kinds have been, in fact, attempted from time to time in the past. The world is overcast with the dark clouds of a third world war which may, at any time, mean the sudden and total end of the present civilization itself. In short, nationalism cannot be destroyed; all attempts to harmonize the national ambitions so far have utterly failed; and the world is on the brink of a nuclear holocaust. Then which is the path for salvation for humanity?

The Inner Bond of Humanity

However, we Hindus have a solution to offer. But our solution is not based on materialism. Materialism has no answer to the very salient and fundamental question: “Why at all should people aspire for world unity and human welfare?”. From the materialist point of view we are all gross entities, each separate and exclusive in itself, who can have no bonds of mutual affinity or affection.

Our ancient Hindu philosophers, therefore had turned their gaze to a plane higher than materialism. They delved deep into the mysteries of the human soul, well beyond the reach of material science, and discovered the Ultimate Reality which pervades all creation, the one great common principle present in all beings, whatever the name we may give it – Soul, God, Truth, Reality or Nothingness.

The Right Way

How will that One Common Substratum manifest itself in the complicated human society? Here again, our philosophers have unmistakably pointed out the path of real human happiness. Just as an individual, a nation – an aggregate of individuals – too has an individuality of its own.

For, it is a matter of common experience that it is only by developing one’s unique characteristic that man rises to his full stature and enjoys bliss and happiness. Aspiring for the harmony among the various characteristics has been our special contribution to the world thought. Thus, in short, we stand for a harmonious synthesis among nations and not their obliteration. The World State of our concept will, therefore, evolve out of a federation of autonomous and self-contained nations under a common centre linking them all.

It is clear, therefore, that the mission of reorganizing the Hindu people along the lines of their unique national genius which the Sangh has taken up is not only a great process of true national regeneration of Bharat but it is an inevitable precondition to realize the dream of world unity and human welfare.  History has recorded that it is in this land that, right from the hoary times, generation after generation of thinkers and philosophers, seers and sages rose to unravel the mysteries of human nature, dived deep into the world of spirit and discovered and perfected the science of realization of that Great Unifying Principle. The penance, sacrifice and experience of hundreds of centuries of this land served as an inexhaustible fountainhead of knowledge to assuage the spiritual thirst of the world.

However, today, such a glorious heritage is being condemned and brushed aside by its own children. It has become a fashion these days to deride our ancient ideals, traditions and talk of recasting our society in the mould of other modern ‘isms’. Disorganized and diffident, our society has become an easy prey to all predatory forces prowling around under the garb of various ‘isms’ and religions. How can a society given to self-derision, weakened by all-round disruption and dissipation, kicked and humiliated at every point by any and every bully in the world, teach the world. How can one, devoid of the urge or capacity to ennoble one’s own life, show the path of greatness to others?

The RSS has resolved to fulfil this age-old national mission by forging, as the first step, the present-day scattered elements of the Hindu society into an organized and an invincible force both on the plane of the spirit and on the plane of material life. Verily this is the one real practical world mission – if ever there was one.

...to be continued

Image Credits: Ennapadam Panchajanya