upon include honesty, sense of helpfulness and fairness, justice, conviction, proper use of time, talent,
tolerance, and pride in one’s family, community, nation, and culture.
Reflection on the subhāşitas compiled here will help swayamsevaks answer other relevant
questions: Who am I? Or How do I fit in the Sangh parivar? But subhāşitas also warn us to not rely
solely on pronouncements made in the sacred texts to determine what one’s duties should be. Beliefs
that are not built on reason and rational thought harm the cause of dharma.
4
Here, their approach to
knowledge (vidya) differs from the current method of teaching which only informative (vŗtāttmaka).
Knowledge that subhāşitas impart, on the other hand, is formative (samskārātmaka).
The central focus of many subhāşitas is dharma which teaches us how to remain faithful to
righteousness (śīla) in the face of challenges posed by life's struggles and trials. They test our moral
being and render us a better human being in the process. Ease and idleness, however, will ruin even
those endowed with strongest natural talents and social advantages. Faith teaches us how to use the
difficulties of life creatively in order to regenerate moral fiber and resole and how to create
opportunities for winning success and developing good character.
To develop an acceptable character, swayamsevaks must develop acquaintance with a true
conception of the character revealed by many cultural heroes and deities in the composite tradition and
civilization of India. All character development starts here. Instead of a cold passionless Semitic ‘God’
watching unmoved the actions he has decreed since eternity, the ethical doctrine of karma teaches us to
overcome fate (daiva) by human initive (puruşārtha). Many subhāşitas refer to the role the teacher
(guru) who helps seekers by his/her benign influence. A true teacher yearns for their success in self-
realization and rejoices in teaching disciples a well-rounded character as (a) a cognitive process, (b)
ethical content, (c) way of thinking, (d) way of acting ( # 10,52,119,121,127,197,223,233,277 in this
compilation).
Disciplining the body
While he was touring Bengal one elderly physician of Kolkata said to Shri Guruji,”I agree with
the mission of Sangh; but how can such a lofty goal be achieved by physical drill and playing
kabaddi?” “Penicillin, the mighty and wonder drug in the armory of physicians is produced from
ordinary mold.” In the same way, Shri Guruji told him, “the Sangh produces high quality organizers
and skilled workers by using ordinary physical activities” (Samagra Guruji 9: 262). Dr Hedgewar, too,
had felt that Hindu youth was in greater need of discipline and organization that the average Muslim
youth. The Hindu youth was apt to be dowdy, and to regard his dowdiness as a superior value of
simplicity. For Dr Hedgewar, personal smartness and physical courage in which Hindu boys were sadly
deficient, must go hand in hand with intellectual culture and mental vigor that Bouddhika sessions
sought to provide.
This compilation, accordingly, includes subhāşitas that praise physical discipline and culture
(see # 96, 352). Swayamsevaks are invited to assemble on an open ground and engage in physical
activities. They should then reflect upon select subhāşitas and discuss their import that will lead and
contribute to collective development and welfare of individuals and society. Group activity performed
in this manner allows us to find ourself as one with others and share in one another’s pains and
pleasures. Regular attendance in the shakha inculcates among swayamsevaks precious samskāras
which wean them away from selfish thoutht patterns and reorient them as agents of creative and
positive action toward the collective welfare (Samagra Guruji 9: 13-14). Here, the notion of agency
begins from a premise that the way we think of, or imagine, ourselves and our place in the world to a
very important extent informs the way we act in it morally.
4
See Kullūka’s commentary on Manusmŗti 12: 113 Kevalam śāstramāśritya na kartavyo vinirņayah; yuktihīna vicāre tu
dharmahānih prajāyate