New Delhi: Articulating Bharat’s global role, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said Bharat’s “destiny” is to make the world realise that unity and diversity can coexist, while emphasising that Bharatiyas have to spread this message not by preaching but by practice. For Bharat, both unity and diversity are in its DNA, he added.
The sarsanghchalak made these remarks while addressing the “Universal Oneness Celebration” at Madison Square Garden in New York on 29 August, organised by the American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue (AHEAD Forum).
Delivering the keynote address, Bhagwat said: “When we say America, the United States of America, one word is often discussed frequently, pluralism. And when we say Bharat, another word, another phrase, is discussed, unity in diversity. For Bharat, this unity and this diversity, both are in its DNA. Nations are not merely geographical entities. In the design of this universe, nations have to carry out a duty.”
Highlighting India’s vision of the world, Bhagwat said every nation has a destiny to fulfil.
“What is the destiny given to Bharat? Bharat is there to realise, and from time to time make the world realise this unity in diversity. We are one, and due to diversity, that oneness is decorated. So, diversity has to be celebrated, has to be respected, has to be accepted,” he said.
Addressing more than 6,000 persons from 39 US states and 850 cities, besides 29 countries who participated in the event organised at Madison Square Garden, Bhagwat said nations were not made by just geographical boundaries but had a “duty” to perform.
Invoking Swami Vivekananda, he said every nation has a message to deliver, a mission to fulfil and a destiny to reach.
He also stressed that the Bharatiya diaspora in America has a duty to their karmabhoomi and must fulfill that duty. “We are in America. We live in America. We earn in America. So, we are American. And we should behave true to America. The diaspora, the Bharatiya diaspora, they have a duty to their karmabhoomi. They must fulfill that. They should be loyal to their karmabhoomi,” Bhagwat said.
The RSS chief further said that as Bharat is ‘their janmabhoomi,’ if they have an urge to do something they can do that after fulfilling their duty to their karmabhoomi. “It is not prohibited. But it is not obligatory. Your janmabhoomi expects you to live the values it has imparted on you,” he added.
The RSS chief also contrasted two approaches and tendencies to living: “one tendency is live and let live” and “live, and let only those live who obey us.”
“Those who say that ‘if you obey us, we will protect you’; protection is raksha in Sanskrit, in Hindi. So, those who protect only those who obey are ‘rakshasas’. And those who say no matter if you obey or not, you hear me or not, what is your opinion, what you think about me, or how much useful you are to me—these are very minor things. The major thing is that we are all human beings. We have to sustain the world, and so we have to live with fraternity, he is ‘deva’,” added Bhagwat.
While emphasising a sense of belonging, Bhagwat said: “In spite of different bodies and everything being different, there is something within that is the same. We belong to each other.”
The RSS chief also stressed that thinking human beings who know right and wrong have the responsibility for sustaining the entire world.
“If you think in the right way, you can go closer to God. If you think in the wrong way, you can go closer to the animal kingdom. So, the direction is important. A person who shapes his life according to the right direction becomes a responsible citizen of the Kingdom of God. There is one speciality that makes human beings different from animals: thinking. If human beings think rightly, they can sustain the whole world,” Bhagwat said.
Human beings, he said, are responsible for the world because they have the understanding of right and wrong. “Therefore, human beings can realise unity in spite of diversity. In spite of different bodies and everything being different, there’s something within that is the same. We belong to each other,” he added.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: ‘Any Hindu who sees no place for Muslims in Bharat is not a Hindu’—Bhagwat at US event