Dharma and rashtra inseparable; India’s knowledge tradition can guide world: Bhagwat

Mumbai, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said dharma and rashtra are inseparable in India and asserted that the country's vast knowledge tradition has a role to play in addressing the challenges confronting the world.

Addressing the 14th conference of the All India Vihar Seva group, a Jain youth service organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief said the world was grappling with contradictions between development and environmental protection, individual freedom and family life, and religious faith and conflict.

Bhagwat also said the conflicts and dilemmas in the world could not be resolved by choosing one side at the cost of another.

"As development increases, the environment gets damaged. And where the environment has to be protected, development cannot take place. As individual freedom increases, families are breaking apart. There is a breakdown in society," he said.

Bhagwat said India had a historical tradition of sharing its knowledge without conquering other countries or converting people. "The world knows that the path will come from India," he said.

He said India possessed a vast knowledge tradition comprising the Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita, Jain Agamas, Tripitaka, Guru Granth Sahib and the teachings of saints.

"Our country has a very great treasure of knowledge, which the world needs today," he said.

According to Bhagwat, preserving the lives and traditions of those who carry this knowledge was not merely a religious responsibility but a service to humanity.

He said the Indian concept of the rashtra could not be separated from dharma.

"Our rashtra and dharma are not separate. The purpose of the nation is dharma, and dharma helps sustain the nation. The two are interdependent. If one exists, the other also exists; if one does not exist, the other also does not," Bhagwat said here.

If the nation becomes weak, dharma comes under threat, he said.

"If the practice of dharma becomes weak, then both have to be carried forward properly together. That becomes our responsibility," Bhagwat said.

He said the Indian approach was not limited to the welfare of a particular section.

"Our ancestors thought about the welfare of the entire world. We say 'may everyone be happy'. We do not believe that some should prosper and some should not. There is no such double standard here," Bhagwat said.

He said the idea of "maximum good of maximum people" was insufficient if some people continued to suffer.

"Even if the maximum number of people are happy, if the minimum number of people are suffering, that suffering destroys the happiness of everyone," he said.

Bhagwat said the world was facing conflicts and dilemmas that could not be resolved by choosing one side at the cost of another.

"If the group has to be kept together, it appears that individual freedom has to be suppressed," he said, referring to the tension between individual liberty and collective life.

"If religious faith is increased, we do not know how much faith increases, but fanaticism certainly increases. And this leads to conflicts among people," he said.

For nearly 3,000 years, India had shown a path of happiness and peace "without conquering any country, without converting anyone and without attacking anyone", he said.

"Therefore, they have expectations from us," he said, adding that there was extraordinary power of complete devotion.

"Due to the power of surrender, one can experience divinity. Surrender means giving everything. The world will say that nothing remains with you. But those who surrender know that once surrender is complete, everything comes to you," Bhagwat said, adding that one can come closer to the Almighty through the strength of devotion.

"If surrender is for a grand and divine goal, for a beautiful task, for a pure cause, it makes a person's life like heaven," he said.

Bhagwat said those working to preserve the Jain spiritual tradition were engaged in a task that had significance beyond their own community. "You are not protecting just one life. You are protecting the safe future of the entire human race," he said.

He said the knowledge preserved through the lives of saints and spiritual practitioners would have to be received from them and passed on to the world.

Bhagwat asked members of the Jain community to maintain contact with local RSS workers wherever they travelled so that volunteers could assist them with arrangements. He said RSS volunteers serve the country without seeking anything in return.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.