‘Come Together, Think Collectively And Achieve Valiantly’: RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat At The World Hindu Congress

Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat called on the Hindu community to come together and work together as a society keeping differences aside reports Firstpost.

Addressing a 2,500 strong audience, Bhagwat, said Hindu society must not sit back smugly.

Hindus have no aspiration of dominance, collaboration and oneness are the greatest virtues that the Hindu society should imbibe for progress, said Mohan Bhagawat while speaking at the second World Hindu Congress (WHC) which coincides with 125 anniversary of Swami Vivekananda speech in 1893 at the parliament of the world religions in Chicago.

“If a lion is alone, wild dogs can invade and destroy the lion. We must not forget that. We want to make the world better. We have no aspiration of dominance. Our influence is not a result of conquest or colonisation,” Bhagwat said.

Bhagawat quoted Mahabharata to explain the importance of principled proximity from leadership, obedience, dissent and patience for progress and the importance of getting in line when there is a consensus.

“Our values are Universal“ he added elaborating on ‘Hindu Values’. Hindu Society is home to numerous meritorious people and said they must all work together.

"Idealism?" What's wrong with that, Bhagwat took a jibe at critics and chose to use synonyms to push back against the notion that the RSS is "anti-modern".

"Only our opponents know about this. Many of our own people don't know about it". He was talking about the World Hindu Congress(WHC). Why are we suffering for a thousand years? We had everything, and we knew everything. We forgot to practise what we knew. We also forgot to work together,” said Bhagwat.

“One of the key values to bring the whole world into a team is to have a controlled ego and learn to accept the consensus. For example, Lord Krishna and Yudhishtra never contradicted each other," said the RSS chief.

Throughout his talk, he stressed on the Hindu principle of sumantrite suvikrante which translates to "think collectively, achieve valiantly".

“We are both ancient and postmodern. What humanity will need 20 years from now, we are thinking today, we all have to come together. People today are in dire need of our wisdom," he said.

He further added that, "comparing Hindu society's status quo with a precise moment in the Mahabharata when the Pandavas in exile suddenly found their fortunes turning around. "That is the moment when luck starts performing pradakshinas (circles/ circling) around you".

Other speakers at the event included Illinois Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti, chairperson of WHC's organising committee SP Kothari, vice president of Suriname Ashwin Adhin, and vice-chair of the WHC Raju Reddy.