NEW DELHI: RSS chief Dr Mohan Bhagwat, who arrived in Canada on Monday as part of his three-nation global outreach, said Indians travelling abroad had never sought to convert local populations but instead shared India’s ancient traditions of the Vedas, Yoga and Ayurveda.
Addressing more than 2,000 delegates from 175 host organisations at ‘Hindu Vishwa Bandhu: Embrace the World in Friendship’ in Toronto, Bhagwat said India’s outlook was rooted in the belief that humanity is fundamentally united despite differences in physical appearance, complexion and other external characteristics. “The entire earth is one family and, in essence, we are all one,” he said, adding that those who are open-minded and knowledgeable embrace Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.
Bhagwat said serving others was a fundamental duty and said, “One may call Bharat a superpower, but it was not one. It served the world and, by its own character, became Vishwaguru, not Mahashakti.”
He said the ancestors of Indians who travelled across the world neither sought to conquer other peoples nor engaged in organised conversion. Instead, they shared India’s knowledge, philosophy and traditions. “Our ancestors moved from Mexico to Siberia.
They moved also and crossed Himalayas on foot, went to Southeast Asia through small boats but they conquered no country. They gave knowledge, astronomy, Ayurveda, imparted civilisational values,” he said.
Bhagwat highlighted Bharat’s tradition of helping others without discrimination, saying Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis had found peaceful refuge in the country without fear of persecution.
‘Create what world needs’
Calling upon Hindus to share what the world needs without coercion, he said, “We have to create what the world needs, and then give it. But how do we give? We don’t force. Our ancestors went abroad to every country. They never forced anything. We are the leaders who lead from within and lead by example.”