Promise of Reason

The idea of founding the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was conceived at a time when self-oblivion had overtaken the society. The struggle for political independence occupied the minds of people; this was but natural. However, what was asked was the tactic assumption that the advent of freedom would automatically usher in a revival of genuine nationalist values which had perforce receded during foreign rule. Looking to the West as the pinnacle of civilization, irrationally perpetuating the Britishers’ self- serving theories of the ‘White Man’s burden’; that the Hindus were ‘a nation-in-the-making’, that the Hindus had achieved nothing of significance in the past, that Westernisation was the only hope for ‘the dying race’ that were the Hindus; unquestioning acceptance of myths floated by Westerners even in the name of history (e.g., that the Aryans came from outside), that life in Bharat was and had always been at a near-primitive state; – acceptance of such numerous myths had virtually become mandatory for anyone with the slightest pretensions to education or intellectuality. Read the rest of this entry »