| To
build a new edifice with fresh materials is comparatively easier
than to repair an old, neglected palace, ruined by time and
disuse. The mother of all religions, Hinduism, has a very firm
foundation and a strong edifice, built with an extreme sense
of beauty with many artistically built-in surprises. But for
more than 1,500 years it has been neglected, abused, and misused,
so that in spite of its heavily built charms and artistic proportions,
today it stands as an ugly dilapidated Temple of Truth. To repair
and rebuild the fallen columns is the work that is now facing
the Hindu community.
In
this ugly edifice, living together packed in its limited living
space, the occupants feel no more any pride in their sacred
home, nor do they feel any comfort and satisfaction to be
under its leaking roofs. It is commodious enough to house
all spiritually minded religious people in the whole world
when once it is fully repaired and rebuilt. This should demand
the cooperation and the involvement of every Hindu family.
Can we inspire the necessary heroism in the hearts of all
and the necessary muscle in the Hindu body politic? No doubt,
we cannot. But all that we need now is only small groups of
inspired Hindu youth working in every district of the country,
with vigor and determination, demonstrating to all onlookers
the great vision of a united, awakened, Hindu community, determined
to discover a total Hindu renaissance.
The
tradition of the world is that people come together in a spirit
of cooperation only in the political and economic fields,
but never in the fields of social revival, nurtured by a purely
selfless sense of reverence to the past. If we can thus bring
about such pockets of inspired activities, the millions of
Hindus in India will draw a new inspiration and start their
own seva independently, in their own individual environments.
Will
the Hindu youth come forward to suffer and strive for rebuilding
their own community, and therefore their own nation?
Just
because you have accepted me as your President, you cannot
sit back and hope that this sick, old man will accomplish
any spectacular magic. Every community will have to lift itself
by itself. The necessary inspiration is to bloom forth in
the heart of each sincere worker. They must draw their inspiration
from their clear understanding of the goal towards which they
are all putting forth their efforts.
This
we must achieve! We can achieve it! No doubt, we will achieve!
With
Prem and Om,
Thy
Own Self
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