RSS Sarsanghachalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat speaking after laying the foundation stone for Vidarbha prant office of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, on Friday. Other dignitaries on the dais look on.

 

 

 

“Selfish interests and the desire for dominance were the root cause of conflicts in the world,” Sarsanghachalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Dr Mohan Bhagwat said on Friday, asserting that lasting peace can only be achieved through unity, discipline and adherence to dharma. Addressing a gathering in Nagpur, Bhagwat said that for 2,000 years the world has experimented with various ideas to resolve conflicts with little success. Religious intolerance, forced conversions and ideas of superiority and inferiority still exist, he pointed out.

 

The RSS chief was speaking at the gathering after laying the foundation stone for the Vidarbha prant office of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Nagpur. Sant Trilokdarshan Das Maharaj - Sachidananda Nanakdham, Ghaziabad; Jitendranath Maharaj - Devnath Math, Anjangaon Surji; Milind Parande - VHP’s National General Secretary; Anantakumar Bansal - Entrepreneur; Rajesh Gupta - Managing Director Lloyds Metals Group; Devesh Pendharkar - Director Vicco Vajradanti and others also were present on the dais. Dr Bhagwat said that India’s ancient wisdom teaches that “all are connected and one”, and called for a shift from conflict to harmony and cooperation. He further noted that even modern science is gradually moving towards this understanding. The RSS chief noted that selfish interests and the desire for dominance were the root cause of conflicts in the world, and added, lasting peace can only be achieved through unity, discipline and adherence to dharma.

 

Dr Bhagwat also said, dharma cannot remain confined to scriptures, but must be reflected in one’s conduct. Discipline and adherence to moral values require sustained practice and often involve personal hardship, he said. While India believes in humanity, others believe in the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest, he said, reiterating that the world needs harmony, not conflict. Amid the ongoing conflicts, voices emerging from across the world have said that only India can end the wars because it is in the country’s nature, Bhagwat said. Dr Bhagwat said that it is India’s responsibility to restore balance in the stumbling world by giving it the foundation of dharma. “People of India follow the law of humanity, but the rest of the world follows the law of the jungle. It is our job to restore balance in the stumbling world by giving it the foundation of dharma,” he said.