Social service in India precedes the arrival of missionaries: Bhagwat

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said social service has a long history in India, one that goes back much before the arrival of missionaries because service to people is part of Hindu dharma.

“We know that people came from far off to help us but we don’t know that long before them we were doing seva (social service) and will keep doing it because karuna or compassion is one of the four pillars of our dharma,” he said.

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Bhagwat was speaking at the inaugural session of the three-day Rashtriya Sewa Sangam event in Jaipur in which 5,000 volunteers from across the country will showcase social work undertaken by them.

Apart from Bhagwat, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosable, businessman philanthropist Ajay Piramal, chairman of the Piramal Group, industrialist Narsiram Kulariya, Hindu saints from different sects and BJP leaders attended the event.

Rashtriya Sewa Bharti is a not-for-profit organisation associated with the RSS, the ideological parent of the BJP. It works with 1200 NGOs and trusts across the country in the field of education, health, entrepreneurship and other social activities.

Bhagwat said people have to do service with the feeling that they are all a part of the society and there is no discrimination between castes, creeds and communities.

“We have to move towards that (ending discrimination). We will have to embrace this. We will have to move towards it today or tomorrow. We are trying that it happens today itself because that will create a healthy, integrated society,” he said.

Bhagwat said when we talk of seva or service , intellectuals in the country always point to missionaries.

“Everyone knows missionaries run schools, hospitals and various organisations around the world. But what are saints of the Hindu society doing?” he said.

To find out about that, Bhagwat said saints from four southern states Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were invited for a Hindu Service Seva Fair in Chennai. “There it came to light that the service provided through educational institutions run by various Hindu saints and organisations is far greater than the service provided by the missionaries,” he said.

He said RSS volunteers have been doing social work on a large scale throughout the country because it is needed in the current situation.

“Each of us has to feel that we are part of one society and when we are together, we are complete. When we do service with the feeling that I have to share what is given to me because we are all the same, then we will have social integration in the country.”

If one part of the society is ignored or weak or underdeveloped, how can we say it is healthy? If a part of the society is underdeveloped, it makes all others underdeveloped as well, he said.

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“If we want to make the country a vishwaguru, all its parts have to function optimally. For that we need to do social service. Service has to be done with the feeling that society is mine and I am a part of it,” he said.

Bhagwat added, “Our vow should be that I will not let any part of my society or my country be weak or underdeveloped.”

“We have to remove backwardness and think of everyone as equal and serve them and make them like us.”