'Hindu spiritual community in South does much more than missionaries'

JAIPUR: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said social service by Hindi spiritual gurus in the southern states was several times more than that provided by missionaries, but added that this is not a matter of competition.

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of a three-day conclave of the Rashtriya Sewa Sangam organised by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh affiliate at Keshav Vidhyapeeth in Jamdoli near Jaipur.

Bhagwat said intellectuals in the country generally mention (Christian) missionaries when talking about service to society.

''Missionary organisations run various institutions, schools and hospitals all over the world — everyone knows this. But what is the Hindu seer community doing?” With this thought in mind, a Hindu service fair was held in Chennai, he said.

It was noticed there that the service done by the acharyas, munis and sanyasis in Kannada-speaking, Telugu-speaking, Malayalam-speaking and Tamil-speaking provinces “is many times more than the service done by the missionaries,” he said.

“But I am not talking about any competition – about more than them, less than them,” the RSS chief added quickly.

“This cannot be the measure of service. Service is service, service is not a matter of competition. Service is the natural expression of man's humanity,” he said.

Bhagwat said animals too are sensitive but it is a human quality to act on sensitivity, which is called compassion.

Emphasising on the need to eradicate backwardness from society, Bhagwat said everyone is equal.

''We all are part of the society; we all are the society together. If we are not united, we will be incomplete,'' he said.

He said there is a disparity in society, which is not needed.

“Unfortunately this situation has come. We do not want this situation, this disparity,” he said.

Citing the example of the human body, he said when there is a pain in the leg, all other parts start functioning together (as a support system) to focus on the pain. Similarly, service should be done in such a way that no section of society is left out.

He said service makes a healthy society, but before that, it makes an individual healthy.