The history of the growth and the beneficial effects of the work of the Sangh over the past four decades has amply borne out the practicability of the vision of its great founder. The technique that he evolved has proved its merit to the hilt. It is now established and accepted even by those who do not belong to the Sangh that this is a technique, which succeeds.

 

 

Once a big Army officer met me in Punjab. He Asked me, "What is the special training that is given in the Sangh?" I said, "Only playing and singing." He replied, "How can it be? There must be something more than that. Because, personally I know of instances in Punjab during those terrible days of Partition where the Sangh Swayamsevaks excelled even our trained military men in heroism and sacrifice. I also know that many of them have laid down their lives cheerfully while protecting our people. So I would like to know the special training which could make them such heroes." I explained to him the simple programme of our Shakha and said, "Kabaddi sums up our whole training." Hearing my reply he stared at me with an unbelieving look.

That is the potency of the sacred dust of our Sanghasthan where the children of our great motherland come and play together, sing and pray together for the glory of their divine mother, Bharat Mata. It is the same spirit as the one that made the Duke of Wellington utter that famous sentence - "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playground of Eton and Harrow."

 

 

Several have been the occasions when the spirit of discipline and dedication of the Swayamsevaks was put on trial and the man-moulding process of the Shakha tested. And after every such ordeal the mettle of the Swayamsevaks has shone all the more bright. In 1948, when Government had clamped a ban on the Sangh ignoring all canons of justice, the Sangh was forced to launch a countrywide movement in vindication of justice and fairplay in national life. In spite of the all-out measures of the Government to suppress the movement, its singular success proved the matchless potency of the technique of the Sangh in moulding men fired with a spirit of unbounded sacrifice, heroism and discipline in the national cause.

The other techniques that we see all around us today, no doubt, make a loud noise. But what exactly will there be inside is a point in question. A drum doubtless makes a big noise, but it is all hollow inside! The loud trumpeting and beating of drums by others will not therefore affect the workers of the Sangh in the least. They are aware that Sangh has a method that has proved its efficacy on all scores in realising the dream of a resurgent and reorganised national life.

 

 

There is the instance of a great personality - great but not famous. As we know, not all great men are famous and not all famous men are great! Once an European gentleman said to him, "What a queer type of dress you Hindus wear! You wear dhoti; and when you have to fight, you will get entangled in it and fall." That great man sharply replied, "Who told you that we are always on the look-out for a fight? We are cultured human beings. We think of the peace of the world. Om shantih, shantih, shantih - that is our motto. We behave and dress accordingly. You have no peace of mind and are always with daggers drawn at each other. And so you dress as though you are on a battlefield all the time. We are fearless, peaceful and therefore dress ourselves accordingly. Only when we are challenged, we put on the warrior dress". What a fitting answer it was!

Similarly is our method eminently suited for the particular goal that we have chosen. Often, the simple rugged appearance of our daily Shakha baffles the keenest of intellects and makes them doubt whether it can take us to such a sublime goal. Suppose a gardener wants to grow mango fruits. Does he place the seed in a pot of honey scented with perfume in order that it may give rise to more delicious fruits? Will he not, on the other hand, plant it in the soil mixed with manure? It is a matter of experience that in the process of imparting samskars of strength a rugged exterior is a 'must'.

 

 

Looking at the external form of our daily programmes in the Shakha there is a misconception, especially among our elderly generation, that all this daily routine of playing, physical exercises, singing, prayer, etc., are meant for the boys and youths and that the role of elders is only of sympathisers, blessing and supporting the youngsters. That would be totally missing the spirit of our organisation. When we say, this is a work of reorganising society, it implies the present society. And by 'present society' we mean those who are the elders - the grihasthas - in society. Nobody will say that children are the present society. Suppose some naked kids are playing by the roadside in a town. Will anybody who sees them say that the people in that town go about naked always playing on the roadside? Children are after all the generation of tomorrow. So, the responsibility of organising our society lies squarely on the shoulders of the present generation, i.e., the elders. As such, it is they who have to take the lead in actively working for this great mission of national reorganisation.

When this viewpoint is put forth, usually two reasons are advanced by the elders to plead their inability. Firstly, insufficiency of the time at their disposal. But is it not a fact that it is the busy man with capacity for work who can find time to take up extra activity in the public field also? He alone is capable of adjusting his other works and keeping apart some time for it once he feels it his essential duty. It is only an idle man who says that he finds no time. Though this appears a bit paradoxical, nevertheless this is the truth.

Secondly, there is a feeling that being respectable elders, it would not be befitting them to move about and take part in physical programmes with half-pants on just like boys. They feel it below their dignity. But is it a right attitude? If it is a fact that we do possess prestige in society, does it reside in our inherent worth or in the external dress? If we imagine that it is due to our outer dress, then its entire credit must go to a tailor or a washerman! On the other hand, if we have no real worth or prestige at all, then the outer get-up can help very little to make up that inner deficiency!

There is a very important viewpoint which we should bear in mind in this regard. It is said in the Bhagavad Gita ¬-

 

यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठः तत्तदेवेतरो जनः ।

 

(As the great ones behave, so do the rest of the people.) When the elders with real worth and prestige in society take to a particular mode of behaviour to suit a noble ideal, the same will become popular and respectable in the eyes of others also. In fact, by that, they will be only adding to their prestige. For instance, when Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Malaviyaji had gone to England to participate in the R.T.C., they were dressed in our own swadeshi style. Their prestige did not suffer on that account. On the other hand people's respect for them increased.

A special responsibility has developed today upon the present elderly generation to protect the young budding generation from the current atmosphere breeding with poisonous germs of dissension and dissipation, so that it may flower into a noble and virile manhood capable of making our nation rise to its heights of greatness and glory. For that purposes they have to set an example in their daily life by becoming the living instruments of the mission of national reorganisation that the Sangh has been successfully pursuing all these years.

 

 

Once Sister Nivedita, the chosen disciple of Swami Vivekananda, said, "If only Hindus collectively pray daily for ten minutes in the morning and in the evening, they will become an invincible society." The daily Shakha of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh augurs the realisation of the passionate dream of that dedicated soul.

May we all rise in response to the supreme call of action, in the form of Shakha - of steady, silent, perseverant and day-to-day rebuilding of a unified country-wide brotherhood, disciplined and dedicated at the feet of our sacred nation.