‘Rashtra’ stronger than ‘nation’: RSS
ET Bureau|
Updated: Sep 27, 2017, 12.26 AM IST
NEW DELHI: The Indian idea of ‘rashtra’ is more profound and inclusive than the European concept of ‘nation’, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh joint general secretary Krishna Gopal said on Monday.
“Bharatiya culture holds together the people in the country, despite differences in looks, languages and worshiping patterns,” Gopal said in Bengaluru, speaking on the occasion of BJP ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya’s 101st birth anniversary. “It is Bharatiya culture that makes us revere our Bharata Mata as goddess and worship her.”
On the other hand, the senior RSS leader said: “Western countries have taken race, language, geographical limits as basis of their nation, which has only led to conflicts.” “We in Bharat have had a more inclusive and wider basis, which is culture (sanskriti). It is this culture which holds together the people in Bharat... ”
The concept of rashtra was integral to how Indian culture taught Indians respect and love towards nature, Gopal said. “So seeing God in a being is not just confined to human beings but extends to all living and non-living beings present around us,” he said. He said that Indians have been taught by elders to see divinity in all beings and that aspect certainly stands out in the eyes of westerners, who look at Indians with awe, because it is a lot different from their culture.
“This is the very concept of Ekatma Manava Darshana (integral humanism) propounded by Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya,” Krishna Gopal said.
“Bharatiya culture holds together the people in the country, despite differences in looks, languages and worshiping patterns,” Gopal said in Bengaluru, speaking on the occasion of BJP ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya’s 101st birth anniversary. “It is Bharatiya culture that makes us revere our Bharata Mata as goddess and worship her.”
On the other hand, the senior RSS leader said: “Western countries have taken race, language, geographical limits as basis of their nation, which has only led to conflicts.” “We in Bharat have had a more inclusive and wider basis, which is culture (sanskriti). It is this culture which holds together the people in Bharat... ”
The concept of rashtra was integral to how Indian culture taught Indians respect and love towards nature, Gopal said. “So seeing God in a being is not just confined to human beings but extends to all living and non-living beings present around us,” he said. He said that Indians have been taught by elders to see divinity in all beings and that aspect certainly stands out in the eyes of westerners, who look at Indians with awe, because it is a lot different from their culture.
“This is the very concept of Ekatma Manava Darshana (integral humanism) propounded by Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya,” Krishna Gopal said.
