Diversity decorates our unity: RSS chief

New York, Aug 30 (IANS) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat has said religious diversity must be accepted, respected and protected, describing it as a visible expression of the fundamental unity of humanity.

Addressing religious leaders at the “One World, One Humanity” programme in New York, Bhagwat said faiths may follow different practices but humanity remained one.

“I am working in a society which traditionally says that religions might be different but humanity is one,” he added.

Bhagwat said there was one ultimate truth, although people understood and described it differently because human perceptions were limited.

“That truth is one truth but it is described in many ways according to the describer,” he added.

He used the ability of different living beings to perceive colours as an example of how experiences could vary without necessarily being untrue.

Human beings may see the same world differently, he said, but they remain part of a shared reality.

“We are experiencing the same thing. That is the basis of humanity,” Bhagwat said.

He added that religions were now largely identified by their rituals.

“Such disciplines were necessary for people following a particular spiritual path, but they should not become ends in themselves.”

“What for religion is there? It is leading us to truth,” the RSS Chief said.

Bhagwat compared religious practices to a finger pointing towards a light.

“A person who continued looking only at the finger, rather than following its direction, would fail to see the light,” he said.

“So seeking the ultimate truth, divinity, which we call by different names, science nowadays calls it consciousness, we have to have to tread the path of truth,” the RSS Chief added.

The RSS chief said religious paths could be straight or winding, long or short, and carefully constructed or difficult to navigate.

Their differences reflected variations in human perception, he added.

“Paths are bound to be there and they are bound to be many because there is a difference between our perception,” the RSS Chief said.

Bhagwat added that Hindu tradition had long held that water falling at different places eventually reached the ocean.

“In the same way, different spiritual paths moved towards a common destination.”

“There are many paths,” he said.

“Oh God, you are the goal. How like the water falling from heaven on the earth always leads to ocean.”

Bhagwat said India had historically provided shelter to communities that could not find safety elsewhere.

“Traditionally, Bharat has been giving shelter to everybody,” he added.

“So those who could not find a safe place in the world, they came to Bharat, they found their place.”

He said the RSS considered it its responsibility to take the message of unity amid diversity around the world.

“Diversity is a decoration for our innate unity,” Bhagwat said.

“It has to be accepted. It has to be respected. It has to be protected.”

“As I protect my own specific nature, I have to protect others also,” he added.

“Because diversity is the rule of nature. Unity is the truth behind it.”

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was founded by K.B. Hedgewar in Nagpur in 1925 and marked its centenary in 2025. It describes itself as a cultural and volunteer organisation working to organise and strengthen Hindu society.

Mohan Bhagwat, a Veterinary Sciences graduate, became the RSS Sarsanghchalak (Chief) in 2009. He is the sixth person to hold the organisation’s highest position.

–IANS

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