HVK Archives: A symbol of true Indian tradition
A symbol of true Indian tradition - The Observer
Posted By Krishnakant Udavant (krishnakant@vsnl.com)
February 2, 1999
Title: A symbol of true Indian tradition
Author:
Publication: The Observer
Date: February 2, 1999
A meeting was held to condole the death of Shri Ram Swarup at
Constitution Club, Delhi, on January 6, 1999.
Several prominent leaders paid tributes to this great son of
India. Paying his tributes to the departed soul home minister
Shri L K Advani underlined the many virtues of Shri Ram Swarup
and stated that the condolence meeting organised by his friends
and admirers has given an opportunity to the public in general
to know the outstanding contribution of this Illustrious son of
India who never hankered after recognition.
Prof Balraj Madhok, a veteran politician and former MP, also
paid glowing tributes to the indefatigable crusader against anti-
national elements and gave a touching account of his personal
interaction with Shri Ram Swarup.
Shri Ashok Singhal, working President of Vishwa Hindu Parishad,
said that when communism was at its zenith and an impression was
sought to be created that communism would soon dominate the
world, Shri Ram Swarup gave us a clarion call to fight back the
communist menace ideologically by exposing its pitfalls.
Similarly, when Hinduism was faced with a fresh challenge by the
Christian and Muslim fundamentalists, Shri Ram Swarup took up
the cudgels for the beleaguered ancient culture.
Shri Singhal supported the suggestion that a Hindu Vidya Kendra
should be established to carry on the work started by Shri Ram
Swarup.
Describing Shri Ram Swarup as a distinguished propounder of
renascent Hinduism Shri K S Sudarshan, Sahsarkaryavah of the
RSS, said that Shri Ram Swarup was like a rishi who undertakes
tapasya for the uplift of humanity without caring for mundane
glory and fame.
Ram Swarup used to explain his Ideas by giving simple
illustrations which helped the listener absorb his view. Any
differences of opinion used to be cleared by his well-documented
and logical argument.
Shri Swapan Dasgupta, Deputy Editor of India Today said that
unlike most modern thinkers politics was not the concern of Shri
Ram Swarup. He said that he belonged to the realm of ideas,
which could stand the test of time.
Describing Shri Ram Swarup as a perfect gentlemen, a non-
combative person, an erudite intellectual who was well versed in
the various schools of thought, whether it was Islam,
Christianity or communism Shri Dasgupta said that under no
circumstances was he obscurantist in his exposition. The only
way to honour the memory of Shri Ram Swarup, he said, was to
realise that whatever fight is to be carried out, whether at the
political level or through agitational means, it should be done
within the realm of Ideas.
Shri Rajiv Vohra of Gandhi Peace Foundation said that Shri Ram
Swarup can be compared even to Gandhiji. Like the Mahatma he
was not a politician but continued to work ceaselessly for the
uplift of Hinduism without craving for any kind of recognition.
Condolence message sent by Hindu Writers Forum was read out by
Shri Paliwal.
Ram Swarup was a noted writer in many fields. His books and
brouchers include Communism and Peasantry. Implications of
Collectivist Agriculture for Asian countries and Foundations of
Maoism and Buddhism vis-a-vis Hinduism.
His Gandhian and Communism stressed the need to raise the
struggle against communism from a military to a moral and
ideological level. His Gandhian Economics, small but seminal,
shows that the present industrial production system suffers from
a deep internal technological contradictions. N S Rajaram wrote
in The Pioneer. "Ram Swarup had foreseen the crises that
overcame both Communism and capitalist economies long before
they manifested themselves. The source of his thought was the
Hindu tradition - the Vedas and the. yogic insights.
"Though a profound student of the Vedas and yogic meditation, he
was anything but insular. In the true Vedic spirit of A No
Bhadre Krutave Yantu Viswatah (let felititous thoughts come to
us from every source) he studied all thought systems - from
Greek to Marxism... He was a man of the Vedic Renaissance in a
real sense, in the spirit of Maharishi Dayanand, Swami
Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo.
For those who had the good fortune of knowing Ram Swarup and his
work, he represented the fusion of the rational and the mystical
that is the source of both Vedic and the Pagan Greek thought.
"Like the Vedic sage Vishwamitra who prayed to God to inspire
his intellect, and the modern sage Albert Einstein who asserted
that mysticism was in the most profound sense the source of all
art and science, Ram Swarup sought to apply the wisdom of a more
spiritual age to the problems of the everyday world".
A J Philip recounted his estimation Shri Ram Swarup in The
Indian Express. "My acquaintance with Ram Swarup was brief and
telephonic. An occasional contributor to The Indian Express, he
rang me up a few days before Christmas to check whether an
article on Bhuddhism was welcome. In his quite, dignified
manner, he gave me the gist of the article...
"His anger came through as he ridiculed Prime Minister Vajpayee
for speaking about mafia rule in Bihar and India's nuclear
blast, instead of our Buddhist heritage. He even found fault
with the celebration that showcased the commemoration as a
tourist event, relegating the religious aspect to the
background. 'Perhaps, that is the price of pseudo-secularism',
he remarked...
"When his views were sought on the anti-Christian campaign in
Gujarat, he dismissed it as the acts of 'those who do not know
what they do'. He might have sounded Biblical but then he could
not be faulted, for he had a deep understanding of things
Biblical...
"He saw Bhuddhism and Hinduism as complementary to each other.
Nothing strange as it conforms to the Hindu tradition of
incorporation whereby Lord Buddha becomes an avtar and Christ
and Mohammed join the ranks of the pantheon of gods.
Comparative religion would have been richer had he lived longer
and completed his work on Bhuddhism. In his death, Hindutva has
lost one of its foremost spokespersons".
G C Asnani wrote: "I came in touch with Sri Ram Swarupji after I
went in appeal in the Supreme Court of India against a
respectable Hindu organisation which claimed that Swami
Vivekananda had given up Hindu religion and had started a new
religion basically different from Hindu religion. Around that
time, I found that Sri Ram Swarupji had been perhaps the first
to publicly challenge the above-mentioned stand taken by that
Hindu organisation.
"In course of time, our communications and meetings grew. I
found that the soft-spoken Sri Ram Swarupji had hard, rock-like,
firm arguments on issues which affected human race in general
and Hindu society in particular. His stand and feelings were
based not on Tom, Dick or Harry's popular misleading
pronouncements but on deep understanding of different ideologies
moving around under the sacred name of Religion. He knew the
basic principles of those ideologies and also their history too
well to be fooled by high-sounding glorious Idioms".
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