replied Golwalkar. ‘Agnosticism will overtake them; it will not overtake Hinduism. Ours is not a religion in the dictionary sense of the word; it is a dharma, a way of life. Hinduism will take agnosticism in its stride.’
I had taken more than half an hour of Golwalkar’s time by now. But he showed no sign of impatience. When I asked for leave, he again grasped my hands to prevent me from touching his feet.
As has become abundantly clear in the past decades, the RSS is blatantly and fiercely anti-Muslim and anti-Christian. It junks Jesus just as it rejects roza. Golwalkar even raised an objection when Abdul Hamid and the Keelor brothers were honoured by the Indian government for their bravery during the Indo-Pak war—the gallant men were non-Hindus.
I remember being impressed with Guru Golwalkar in 1972 because he did not try to persuade me to agree with his point of view. Instead, he made me feel that he was open to persuasion. I even accepted his invitation to visit him in Nagpur and see things for myself. I had thought then that I could perhaps bring him around to making Hindu-Muslim unity the main aim of his RSS. I had been a simple-minded Sardar.
MAHATMA GANDHI
(1869–1948)
In the study in my cottage in Kasauli, I have two pictures of people I admire the most—one of them is Mahatma Gandhi. I admire Bapu Gandhi more than any other man. Of all the other prophets of the past we have no knowledge. Almost everything about them is myth or miracle. With Gandhi, we know—he walked among us not long ago and there are many people alive, like me, who have seen him. He was always in the public eye. He bared himself; no one was more honest.
I don’t accept his foibles. He took a vow of celibacy in his prime, but without consulting his wife, which I think was grossly unfair. He would sleep naked beside young girls to test his brahmacharya. He could be very odd. But his insistence on truth at all times made him a Mahatma. And the principle of ahimsa—not to hurt anyone. Ahimsa and honesty should be the basis of all religion, of every life.
I have been a regular drinker all my adult life. I celebrate sex and cannot say that I have never lied. I have not hurt anyone physically, but I think I have caused hurt with my words and actions. And sometimes there is no forgiveness in me. But I consider myself a Gandhian. Whenever I feel unsure of anything, I try to imagine what Gandhi would have done, and that is what I do.
If only Mahatma Gandhi were alive today, the whole situation of the country would have been different. I don’t believe the likes of Anna Hazare can do a thing about corruption in India—his fasting is to no avail. Only Mahatma Gandhi would have been able to arouse mass consciousness to halt the tide of corruption and chaos spreading around us today.
I became a Gandhi bhakta at a young age. I first saw Bapu when I was six or seven years old, when I was studying at Modern School. He had come on a visit. All of us children—there were very few students in the school in those days—sat on the ground in the front row. Bapu bent down and tugged my uniform playfully.
‘Beta, yeh kapda kahan ka hai?’ he asked. Where is this cloth from?
‘Vilayati,’ I said with pride. It was from abroad.
He told me gently, ‘Yeh apne desh ka hota toh acchha hota, nahin?’ It would have been good had this been from our country, wouldn’t it?
Soon after, I started wearing khadi. My mother used to spin khaddar, so it was easy. I continued wearing khaddar for many years. Before I went to London to attend university, I took some khaddar to our tailor because I had been told I would need a proper English suit. The tailor laughed and told my father, who asked me to stop being a khotta.
Mahatma Gandhi was only the one person who seemed to comprehend the very seriousness of the Partition and all that would follow. He did not take part in any of the independence celebrations. When anti-Pakistan feelings were at a fever pitch
I had taken more than half an hour of Golwalkar’s time by now. But he showed no sign of impatience. When I asked for leave, he again grasped my hands to prevent me from touching his feet.
As has become abundantly clear in the past decades, the RSS is blatantly and fiercely anti-Muslim and anti-Christian. It junks Jesus just as it rejects roza. Golwalkar even raised an objection when Abdul Hamid and the Keelor brothers were honoured by the Indian government for their bravery during the Indo-Pak war—the gallant men were non-Hindus.
I remember being impressed with Guru Golwalkar in 1972 because he did not try to persuade me to agree with his point of view. Instead, he made me feel that he was open to persuasion. I even accepted his invitation to visit him in Nagpur and see things for myself. I had thought then that I could perhaps bring him around to making Hindu-Muslim unity the main aim of his RSS. I had been a simple-minded Sardar.
MAHATMA GANDHI
(1869–1948)
In the study in my cottage in Kasauli, I have two pictures of people I admire the most—one of them is Mahatma Gandhi. I admire Bapu Gandhi more than any other man. Of all the other prophets of the past we have no knowledge. Almost everything about them is myth or miracle. With Gandhi, we know—he walked among us not long ago and there are many people alive, like me, who have seen him. He was always in the public eye. He bared himself; no one was more honest.
I don’t accept his foibles. He took a vow of celibacy in his prime, but without consulting his wife, which I think was grossly unfair. He would sleep naked beside young girls to test his brahmacharya. He could be very odd. But his insistence on truth at all times made him a Mahatma. And the principle of ahimsa—not to hurt anyone. Ahimsa and honesty should be the basis of all religion, of every life.
I have been a regular drinker all my adult life. I celebrate sex and cannot say that I have never lied. I have not hurt anyone physically, but I think I have caused hurt with my words and actions. And sometimes there is no forgiveness in me. But I consider myself a Gandhian. Whenever I feel unsure of anything, I try to imagine what Gandhi would have done, and that is what I do.
If only Mahatma Gandhi were alive today, the whole situation of the country would have been different. I don’t believe the likes of Anna Hazare can do a thing about corruption in India—his fasting is to no avail. Only Mahatma Gandhi would have been able to arouse mass consciousness to halt the tide of corruption and chaos spreading around us today.
I became a Gandhi bhakta at a young age. I first saw Bapu when I was six or seven years old, when I was studying at Modern School. He had come on a visit. All of us children—there were very few students in the school in those days—sat on the ground in the front row. Bapu bent down and tugged my uniform playfully.
‘Beta, yeh kapda kahan ka hai?’ he asked. Where is this cloth from?
‘Vilayati,’ I said with pride. It was from abroad.
He told me gently, ‘Yeh apne desh ka hota toh acchha hota, nahin?’ It would have been good had this been from our country, wouldn’t it?
Soon after, I started wearing khadi. My mother used to spin khaddar, so it was easy. I continued wearing khaddar for many years. Before I went to London to attend university, I took some khaddar to our tailor because I had been told I would need a proper English suit. The tailor laughed and told my father, who asked me to stop being a khotta.
Mahatma Gandhi was only the one person who seemed to comprehend the very seriousness of the Partition and all that would follow. He did not take part in any of the independence celebrations. When anti-Pakistan feelings were at a fever pitch
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