Bhaiya Joshi speaks in SJM Nagpur program

Our work is to spread the influence of Bharatiya though—Bhaiyaji Joshi

Source: Organiser - Weekly Date: 12/10/2011 11:42:27 PM
Our work is to spread the influence of Bharatiya though
—Bhaiyaji Joshi
From Virag Pachpore in Nagpur
"The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) should accept the challenge of spreading the influence of Bharatiya thought to enrich the life on this earth by successfully confronting the dangers and threats of consumerism, pollution and wanton degradation of resources”, said Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi, Sarkaryavah of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur.
He was addressing a gathering of intellectuals, industrialists, chartered accountants and others at a function organised by Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) at Moropant Pingle Auditorium in Reshimbagh on December 3. Principal Yoganand Kale and Prof Ajay Patki of SJM shared the dais on the occasion while Shri Ashutosh Pathak compeered the proceedings.
In his hour-long educative speech Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi touched upon various aspects of the present economic order and the threats arising out of it to human and natural resources in various parts of the world. He insisted that the answer to all these threats and challenges, posed by the economic order driven mainly by the greed of powerful nations and the multi-national companies (MNCs), can be found in the Bharatiya thought and thinking on human life. What is most needed is to reproduce that thought commensurate with the modern terminology and environment. He wanted the SJM to accept this challenge and devote itself to create families who could be described as ‘living examples’ of the Bharatiya thought.
The RSS Sarkaryavah said that this Bharatiya thought was universal, fundamental and eternal thinking of the learned people who gave priority to preserving the life and resources available all through the ages. Had this thought been translated into our life many a problems confronting the human society today would have been solved easily, he added.
The modern economic thought was centered around the human being. But that thought was incomplete in the sense that it only considered human being in parts and not as a whole. Creating maximum resources and gadgets to provide maximum pleasure to man was the core issue of these developmental models. The barometer of happiness existed on maximum usage of resources available for the individual and therefore more stress was laid on achieving physical progress, material wealth and consumer goods. This has been the thinking of rich, capitalist countries like the USA. Today the rich are getting prestigious place in the society without going into the details of their source of richness. This is the dangerous trend, he added.
With this capitalist tendency handful of people started controlling the economic affairs of the world. Organisations like WHO decide what kind of medicines the less developed countries would require. The policies of the WHO are in turn decided by the MNCs in pharmaceutical production field. “So, practically speaking, the MNCs in pharma sector decide the health policy of the world which is fundamentally wrong. In doing so their ulterior motive is to gain control over the resources of the world. Bharat has rich treasure of natural resources including ample sunlight, wind and water energy and the MNCs are more interested in gaining control over them,” he clarified.
The other trend in economic sector is to have total control of the state machinery, the resources and facilities which is the communist thinking. Both the capitalist and communist thinking of human welfare and happiness are imperfect and incomplete as they consider the human being as bundle of desires and the aim of life is to generate as many resources as possible to satisfy these desires. The entire system is tuned to follow this principle and the education system was so created to fulfill these objectives. But both the systems have ignored the basic thought about the human being, he remarked.
Shri Bhaiyaji further said that the Bharatiya thinking did not accept the human being as a mere bundle of endless desires. The Bharatiya thinkers understood that the human being has a mind and satisfaction of mind cannot be obtained merely by material wealth. Beyond the mind there is intellect and beyond that there is the soul which also needs to be satisfied to a certain level. The real satisfaction was in giving something for the society. Therefore, in Bharatiya society those people commanded respect and honour above the ruling class who gave something to the society. The name of Bhama Shah is associated with Maharana Pratap because he sacrificed his riches for the cause of the society.
Profit and loss determine the policy of production in the West while public requirement decided the same in Bharatiya thinking, he said but lamented at the tendency of adopting the Western policy in Bharat. The craze for cash crops has not only dominated this profit and loss policy but caused degeneration of our land resources.
Hitting hard at the tendency of acquiring control over the resources, knowledge and information by way of patents the RSS leader said that this was the demonic mentality and at best could be described as perversion set in human thought and thinking. “There is no thought for the posterity. All thinking is centered round the present. This is a dangerous thought,” he explained.
“The natural resources are the gift of the Creator and we are its trustees. We should take from them whatever is required to fulfill our needs,” he said adding that even Mahatma Gandhi had said that Nature has enough to satisfy man’s needs but not enough to fulfill his greed. We believed that the entire universe is supported by the one spiritual power and our lifestyle was designed in tune to this basic thought. The concept of giving back to the society was part of this lifestyle developed by our forefathers. But the influence of rituals in the later years corrupted this lifestyle today.
Referring to two words ‘Kamdhenu’ and ‘Kalpataru’, Shri Bhaiyaji said these two words were coined by the Bharatiya society to express its gratitude towards the entire animal and plant kingdom, which helped the human being in leading a sustainable life. Our thinkers associated everything with dharma. Had we followed this we would not have faced the problems of pollution today.The Bharatiya thinkers strived to establish a lifestyle commensurate with the relationship of the resources and human beings, which even today could lead the humanity through this present crisis. What is required is to create an economic order which would safeguard the interests of the society and universe.
The challenge to create a worldwide influence of our time tested lifestyle should be accepted by organisations like Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. We were always open to new thoughts but lack the strength to stand with unshakable will and unassailable edifice of spiritual strength. As Swami Vivekananda had said we need to work to establish this universal, fundamental thought which would ensure welfare of the entire human race and resources. This was what Swamiji described as Vedantic Imperialism. But there is a need to translate this eternal thought into modern parlance to make the present generation aware about the same.