S Gurumurthy
A series of
thought provoking and profound articles titled Sri Guruji: A Drishta authored
by Sri S Gurumurthy begins in Organiser from this week. The author had
originally written on this subject as a long introduction to a book titled
Reminiscences of Sri Guruji by Sri K Suryanarayana Rao, a veteran RSS worker,
who has intense experience of and with Sri Guruji. The introduction of the
author to the book on Guruji is being rewritten and serialised by the author
specially for Organiser.
In
his articles, the author studies, investigates, analyses and the far-reaching
thoughts and expositions of MS Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghachalak of
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on the philosophical and ideological
foundations of Hindu Nation and the unified but diversified cultural ethos of
the Hindu society. The author explains how Golwalkar's thoughts and
expositions, heavily questioned and harshly criticised in his lifetime, have
been validated and vindicated long after he had given expression to them.
Madhav Sadhashiv Golwalkar, affectionately called by his students in Benaras
Hindu University as “Guruji' – which name later stuck to him for life – laid
the ideological foundations of the RSS and, by silent and sustained work, built
it into a mighty socio-cultural, national movement under his leadership
spanning over three decades.
He
led the organisation through the pre and post Partition days, the most
turbulent time in the recent history of India and also of the RSS. Post
Partition, the most popular and powerful leadership of post Independent India,
that had inherited the entire goodwill of the freedom movement, used that power
and influence and banned the RSS on false and malicious charges that were later
established to be fake and attempted to wipe it out. But the attempt failed and
the RSS emerged out of the ordeal without blemish and became more and more
powerful to finally emerge as the most powerful organisation in the country.
How Guruji led the RSS at that critical time is a profound lesson and
unprecedented example of outstanding leadership in crisis. And how the
swayamsevaks, inspired and led by him, faced the onslaught of the
pre-constitutional Indian government, that had no constitutional injunctions
against use of state power, is story of high risk, sacrifices and courage for
the RSS itself and the organisations inspired by it to study, imbibe and
emulate in future. Guruji established the basic truth that, when everything
goes against, an organisation sails through the crisis aided only by unwavering
conviction in its foundational thoughts.
In
the upcoming series, the author brilliantly and with illustrations, explains
how, like all saints and seers spoke ahead of time, Guruji also looked beyond
his times and at the future of India and the world, while placing his profound
thoughts before their times had arrived. In his mission to keep the profound
thoughts and the mission based on them alive through the complex and turbulent
times, Sri Guruji repeatedly transcended the compulsions, the complexities and
the arresting influences of the context in which he lived. The author explains
how Guruji voluntarily, and even gladly, risked being misunderstood and faced
unpopularity repeatedly tell the unpleasant truth contrary to the main and but
superficial discourse of the day, to keep alive the foundational truths about
this ancient nation deep in the inner consciousness of the people of the
country.
The
author draws a parallel between the dissent of Guruji to the main discourse of
his times and the dissenting views against the majority judgement in judicial
cases. Comparing Guruji's dissent to the ruling ideas of his times to dissent
by a judge in judicial proceedings differing from the majority judgement, the
author says like the dissent by a judge in a judicial case is regarded as an
appeal by the dissenting judge to the future conscience of the judiciary, the
dissenting expressions of Guruji was an appeal to the future conscience of the
people of India. The author quotes judicial authority that describes the
philosophy of dissenting judgements thus: “A dissent … is an appeal to the
brooding spirit of the law, to the intelligence of a future day, when a later
decision may possibly correct the error into which the dissenting judge
believes the court to have been betrayed.” The author says that it was in this
spirit that Guruji, while keeping alive the fundamentals of this ancient nation
in his times and through his thoughts and expositions, was making an appeal to
the future conscience of the people and the leadership of India in various
walks of life.
Who is a Hindu?
Both
Indian and Western commentators tend to use such terms as “militant Hinduism”,
“Hindu fundamentalism”, “religious revivalism”, or “reactionary Hinduism” to
describe the ideology of the (RSS) movement, although these terms may seem
inappropriate category for the study of Hindu religious phenomena. Hinduism is
without foundation texts, defined dogmas, and institutional structures that are
characteristic of most varieties of fundamentalism in other belief systems.
This point of view finds frequent expression in modern Indian thinking, with
emphasis on Hindu view of life as grounded in a spiritual experience that is
essentially rational and humanistic.”
Resembles
the speeches delivered decades ago by Guruji Golwalkar among his followers?
Yes, it is Golwalkar's thoughts. But not his words. Now go further.
"No
precise meaning can be ascribed to the terms 'Hindu', 'Hindutva' and ‘Hinduism’
and no meaning in the abstract can confine it to the narrow limits of religion
alone, excluding the content of Indian culture and heritage";
"Ordinarily, Hindutva is understood as a way of life or a state of mind
and is not to be equated with or understood as religious Hinduism.”
Rings
like Guruji’s words uttered somewhere some half a century ago? Yes, it is his
views. But not his words.
Neither
of the two quotes are in Guruji's words. But both carry Guruji's thoughts.
These views were expressed long after—actually three decades—after Guruji
passed and several decades before that Guruji had expressed these very
thoughts.
Fundamentalism Project in US agrees with Guruji
decades later
The
first quote, which contains Guruji's thoughts but not in his words, is that
what the editors of the five volume Fundamentalism Project of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences involving international group of scholars had
approvingly allowed. It is an extract from the essay “The functioning of the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh: To Define the Hindu Nation” by Ainslee T Embree.
Embree’s essay is contained (at pages 618-619) in the book titled Accounting
for Fundamentalisms: Dynamic Character of the Movements, p.617-52, Volume 4
Fundamentalism Project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Chicago
University Press ISBN: 0-226-50885-4). This book is the fourth of the mammoth
five-volume research work on the emerging phenomenon of religious
fundamentalism produced by the authors of the Fundamentalism Project in 1995,
more than two decades after Guruji had passed away. The author has
independently evaluated the ideological premises of the RSS – read Guruji's
thoughts – and accepted his thoughts almost in the very words Guruji had
uttered them.
When
the Fundamentalism Project says that “to use such terms as “militant Hinduism”,
“Hindu fundamentalism”, “religious revivalism”, or “reactionary Hinduism” to
describe the ideology of the (RSS) movement, although these terms may seem
inappropriate category for the study of Hindu religious phenomena” it is only
repeating what Guruji had said decades earlier. Guruji had also pointed out the
difference between rejuvenated Hinduism and reactionary Hinduism and explained
how rejuvenation of Hinduism is wrongly labelled as “revivalism” and “reactionary”.
Guruji had been consistently and with mathematical precision, articulating the
difference between “positive” Hinduism and “negative” or “reactionary
Hinduism”. By taking the most sensitive issue of cow slaughter as an example
Guruji says that while reinstating faith among Hindus in cow protection is
positive Hinduism, the views of those Hindus who had opposed cow slaughter not
because of love of cow, but because Muslims kill them constituted “reactionary”
and “negative” Hinduism (Bunch of Thoughts (p. 70) Book comprising the speeches
of Guruji given over decades compiled in 1960 and printed and published as the
first edition 1966: publishers: Jagarana Prakashana; Kempegowda Nagar;
Bengaluru-560019). More on the Fundamentalism Project and how their view agrees
and approves of Guruji's thoughts in the later parts of the series.
source: organiser.org
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