Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – RSS Demystified

As much as the title can mislead you, it is incredibly true to anyone who follows the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The organisation has so many clichés to its credit – you can actually get lost in its myriad, blasé descriptions. All these, by the way, are said of it only by others! So to see it as the mainstream media wants you to see or to understand it from the outside, only makes you draw fuzzy conclusions about it, and not give you its actual ingredients.

But again, after the innumerable tries of so many people to brand it into a single bloc – based on gender, ideas, culture, homogeneity, adherence to dogma etc., let’s try to find out – which organisation has no membership, no binding of any sort to stay in or out, to believe in its ideology or not, to work as part of it or not? In case you plan to work, doesn’t pay you in any way, rather asks you to contribute for all the social stuff it does, expects nothing in return, doesn’t care about its own image-positive or not, wants to achieve a singular goal – has been doing the same for the past 90 years and wants to quickly finish up its work successfully and end its existence! I bet there isn’t another place you will find such crazy ideas in a single plac

Yes, as crazy as it sounds, it is true of this worlds’ biggest voluntary non-governmental organisation. It lives, grows silently amongst us. The question that we don’t get to answer today is why is it so successful today?  Why does it attract so many people of all age groups, bind them together like family, and get them to dedicate a lot of their productive time for society? How does it do this? Why do the people do what they do? What do they expect out of it? Why feel happy and contented working in it? What satisfaction do they derive out of it? What is the motivation behind this? A lot of corporate environments today struggle to understand the nitty-gritty of what motivates employees? But with no corporate setup and of course no employer-employee relationship, what ensures it here?

Yet again, why has it been perceived to be so bad in the media, almost like forever! Or what needs to change in it to make it better?! Even after growing at more than 10% consistently, why does it still have a long way to reach the stage of success it cherishes so much? What makes it tough to understand? How is it still unknown to so many people? Or is it? What happens when everyone hears of it and understands? Why do a lot of people fear it? Or do they actually create that perception? Where does this perception lead to? Why is it called out Anti-Christian? Or branded Anti-Islam? How many who do this have actually experienced the Sangh? Does society really need this organisation? If not, what would have happened to the social fabric? Do children of this country need the values or “Samskars” it professes? Do the youth actually connect to its belief system? Why do so many youngsters have no idea about it? Is there a need for the right method of dissemination? Is something wrong with the marketing of the brand “RSS” or “Hindutva” or “Cultural Nationalism” or “Rashtreeyata”? Why hasn’t this branding been experimented with? But with what will the branding be – No one person to stake claim or become the face of it! No one person to have the final say! Nope, you are wrong if you thought PM Modi does! No one liner objective other than “Realisation of the Hindu Rashtra”! No crystal clear definitions of “Hindutva”! No books to refer to as core ideas of adherence! No one class of people as its adherents! No one set of regional, cultural, philosophical, moral, intellectual, spiritual, ideological beliefs!

Whoa! That is a lot of questions. We haven’t even touched the others. To clarify and write pages about the Sangh itself and its style of working plus its ideology to describe and answer all these questions and understand what it stands for is not this article’s intent. That in itself is so unnecessary when the mainstream media seems to be doing a great job (distorting the facts so well, eh?!)

But then, in spite of all these doubts, there is always a thread of Unity! You can feel it! Can you see it?! Only if you have felt it…The very idea of experiential learning, though comparatively new to business or academic implementations, is the very idea of the concept of “Anubhuti” – Experiencing the Unknown and through it, passing on to the next stage. It sometimes neither lends itself to words nor images, but traverses so well in the domain of “Anubhava” – following the bhaava – literally! As with any spiritual Sadhana, “Shravana” is followed by “Manana” and by “Nidhidhyaasana”.

We have heard enough about the organisation, its people, its values, beliefs, ideals, workings, service, discipline & transformations. Now it is time to reflect on these – not again by searching out the internet, TV, newspapers, or thinking that mere concern about society is activism (by sharing an article on Whatsapp/FB), but on a practical, personal journey of the “realisation” of truth.

The Sarsanghachalak, chief, of the RSS, a few years ago gave out an open invite to all members of society, to experience the Sangh.

That can possibly answer the question we started with. What do we need to do to get out of our homes, and practically do something to realise that contentment of serving-of only giving and wanting nothing? If there are people, en masse, who believe this is the right way to serve a country, then it doesn’t put us in harm’s way to take a peek, feel the waters and test its’ authenticity. If you don’t like it, let’s go our own ways in nation building, no ill-will.