Talk on Unity in Diversity of Kiwi Bharatiya Communities
Venkat Raman
Auckland, February 29, 2024
The importance of the Indian community, its growing partnership in national and international development and its unique characteristic of unity in diversity will be the topic of an address by a learned member of the Diaspora.
Saumitra Gokhale, Global Coordinator for the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, an organisation dedicated to promoting Hindu values for the welfare of all of humanity, will speak on ‘Anekatta Mein Ekataa’ or ‘Unity in Diversity of Kiwi Bharatiya Communities’ on Saturday, March 2, 2024 at 10 am the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir, located at 21 Barrhead Place, Avondale, Auckland.
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The public meeting is open to all but guests should note that the car park facility could be limited within the Complex but off-street parking may be available.
The visit of Mr Gokhale to New Zealand marks an important phase in the history of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, which has been working for the welfare of the communities for the past 28 years, without seeking publicity.
The Sangh has seven chapters in New Zealand including Auckland, Hamilton, Napier, Hastings, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch. In Auckland, it operates four branches, one each in Pakuranga (Sardar Patel Shakha), Lynfield (Vivekananda Shakha), Kelston (Azad Shakha) and Glenfield (Saraswati) Shakha.
About Saumitra Gokhale
Born and raised in Pune, Maharashtra, Saumitra Gokhale graduated in Engineering (BE) in that City and earned a Master of Science (MS Mechanical) postgraduate degree from a Canadian University. He decided to dedicate his life to social service and joined as a full-time worker (‘Pracharak’) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Singh, the largest Hindu organisation in the world, based in India.
Four years later, in 1999, he joined the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh as a Pracharak to promote its activities in the United States of America, Canada and the Caribbean.
Based in the US, he also participates in the activities of the Hindu University of America, a Florida institution that imparts knowledge to enable people to lead value-based lives; and the International Centre for Cultural Studies, which is dedicated to research on ancient and native traditions of the world.
Mr Gokhale is a Member of the Advisory Board of Sewa International, a Hindu-faith-based humanitarian not-for-profit organisation and the International Center for Cultural Studies, which facilitates the revitalisation of diverse ancient traditions and cultures of the world.
About Rashtra Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
The Rashtra Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was established in 1925 as a ‘Movement for Reconstruction of Bharat,’ regarded as a unique phenomenon in the history of the country in the 20th century. The organisation is dedicated to the protection and promotion of the Hindu Faith, Hindu Culture and Hindu Values in India and abroad.
RSS Founder, the late Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar described the Hindu Culture as ‘the life-breath of Hindustan.’
“It is therefore clear that if Hindustan is to be protected, we should first nourish the Hindu culture. If the Hindu culture perishes in Hindustan itself, and if the Hindu society ceases to exist, it will hardly be appropriate to refer to the mere geographical entity that remains as Hindustan. Mere geographical lumps do not make a nation. The entire society should be in such a vigilant and organised condition that no one would dare to cast an evil eye on any of our points of honour,” he said as a part of the Vision and Mission of the Organisation.
He said that strength comes only through organisation.
“It is therefore the duty of every Hindu to do his best to consolidate the Hindu society. The Sangh is just carrying out this supreme task. The present fate of the country cannot be changed unless hundreds of thousands of young men dedicate their entire lifetime to that cause. To mould the minds of our youth towards that end is the supreme aim of the Sangh,” Dr Hedgewar said.
Increasing influence worldwide
The RSS website says that the birth and unceasing growth of the Organisation is ‘a unique phenomenon in the history of Bharat.’
“The Sangh’s sphere of influence has been spreading far and wide, not only inside Bharat but also abroad, like the radiance of a many-splendoured diamond. Sangh-inspired institutions and movements today form a strong presence in social, cultural, educational, labour, developmental, political and other fields of nationalist endeavour. Sangh-initiated movements, be they social, reformist or anti-secessionist, evoke ready response and approbation from the common multitudes as well as from vast numbers of the elite of different shades. It has increasingly been recognised that the Sangh is not a mere reaction to one or another social or political aberration but represents a corpus of thought and action firmly rooted in genuine nationalism and the age-old tradition of this country (Bharat),” the website says.
No other Movement or institution has attracted such vast numbers of adherents, several thousands of them making social work their life’s mission, whose character and integrity are not doubted even by their most virulent critics, it says.
“As a movement for national reconstruction, totally nurtured by the people, the Sangh has no parallel in Bharat or elsewhere. Its growth as a movement for the assertion of Bharat’s national identity acquires added significance when we remember that the birth of the Sangh was preceded by mental, cultural and economic onslaught by alien rulers for long decades,” the website says.
The following observation, made on March 13, 2015 has a strong validity today as India emerges as a major political and economic power in the world.
“There could be only one explanation for the continuing march of the Sangh from strength to strength: The emotive response of the millions to the vision of Bharat’s national glory, based on the noblest values constituting the cultural and spiritual legacy of the land and collectively called ‘Dharma,’ comprising faith in the oneness of the human race, the underlying unity of all religious traditions, the basic divinity of the human being, complementarity and inter-relatedness of all forms of creation both animate and inanimate, and the primacy of spiritual experience.”
