Extracts of Speech
Extracts of Speech given by Dr Mehta Vasishtha Dev Mohan
at Second World Hindu Conference at Prayag
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Hinduism
“Hinduism is an extremely individualistic religion. It gives each of its members freedom, not only to have his own mode of worship & also have his own favorable form of God ie isht devata. Hindus can choose one out of a pantheon of myriads of Gods and if none of existing . pantheons satisfy him, then Hinduism give a freedom of free will to individuals to invent their own God. Numerous books even conflicting opinions and theories are recognized as scriptures’. One may accept one or all of them as revealed & sacrosanct or can even reject all of them and compose one of his own and go ahead. No wonder, therefore that the hindu society has remained divided into myriads of panths & sects & many at loggerheads with each other. Every now & then we hear of the rise of new guru, who claims his prophet hood. & attracts followers and offers them his own composition as scriptures.
Such a fragmented society can not successfully resist the onslaughts of alien religions, particularly those highly organized on military principles around the personality of one prophet and one scripture. This is the reason that Hindu society has been giving ground to Islam & Christianity ever since the last two set foot in this country. As late as 1000 AD, entire region comprising Afghanistan, Baluchistan, & Central Asian republics of Soviet union, Tajikistan, Magnolia etc were hindu states with cent percent hindu population. Over the last few centuries, Christianity & Islam had been taking full advantage of this confused state of Hinduism. With the acquisition of unlimited financial resources, they are making full use of modern weapons of religious aggressions. Erosion of Hindu values & way of life has led to success of these faiths and this fact must alarm our religious thinkers. At long last they have bestirred them selves into action & pooled their efforts to organize the scattered limbs of Hindu Society, into one organization namely Vishwa Hindu Parishad.”
The thinkers included
Late Dr K M Munshi
Late Guru Golwalkar
Sant Tukada Jee
Master Tara Singh
Late Bhai Haniuman Prasad Poddar of Gita Press
Sir C P Ramaswamy
Jain Muni Sushil Kumar
HE Dalai Lama
Shri SS Apte
Swami Satya Miteranand Giri
Maha Rana Bhagwat Singh of Mewar Ex President VHP
Shri M P Degwekar Ex General Secretary VHP
&
Shankaracharyas of all Peethas namely Dwarka Shringeri, Kamakati, Jyotish & Goverdan
VHP Trust include several eminent members from various fields like Judges, Vice chancellors of universities . During last few decades of its existence VHP has broadened its base considerably & has 3000 branches world wide. The VHP organized its first world meet from 22 Jan to 25 Jan1966, on the confluence of the three sacred rivers Ganga Yamuna & saraswati, at Prayag. 2500 delegates from all parts of the world assembled on this occasion.
The second world conference of VHP was organized on 25 jan 1979 again at Prayag. Several lakh hindus gathered. The conference was inaugurated by Shri Dayanand Vasant Rai the then Minister for Industry & Trade & Dr Karan Singh.
During this conference, a number of resolutions were passed & it was decided that Research work in Sanskrit language shall be utilized to decide the future course of VHP in national & international affairs.
Now time has come, when we have to draw the border line of Hindu India along the river Ravi. The constantly receding spectrum of hindu effulgence & the incorrigibly fragmented state of society, has disturbed the thinking minds of our society. Ramanand, Guru Nanak Dev, Tulasi, Samarth ram dass, Dayanand & numerous other saints have in their own way tried to remedy the situation. But their eyes their movements took the direction of quagmire from which the founders wanted to lead out. The followers of these movements have now established them selves into yet other new Sects, making this already confused situation worse confounded.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad was founded on the sacred Janmashtami day of the year 1964 AD. The founders included religious leaders of major hindu sects.
A vast city of tents was erected on 125 Acres of a piece of land during the conference. It was named as Ved Vyas Mohan Nagar and was subdivided into 23 nagars, each nagar was named after some famous hindu saints. The ninth nagar was allotted to the delegates from Punjab, Himachal, Jammu & Kashmir and was named as Guru Nanak Dev Nagar.
A total of 50000 delegtates representing every district & Tehsils of India, besides a large no of delegates from different parts of World were present. In addition to these delegates, close to one lakh common people also participated the conference. The credit of managing the affairs go to the Catering Committee that it did not break or bend under the excess pressure. The catering, the Sanitation, the medical staff the security organization & the Water Supply staff took additional burden in their stride.In fact no guest could discover that these services were working under such a heavy strain. The workers of VHP deserved praise for discipiline and devotion to duty.
This conference was inaugurated by HE the Dalai Lama. The Maha Rana of Mewar presided over the conference as Chief Guest. Various Shankaracharyas from different peeths shared their views on hindu philosophy. The speeches made by several philosophers & saints touching social & religious problems, confronting hindu society, were impressive & awakening. In the evening delegates from from foreign lands gave programmes about the roots of hindu culture.
The most important achievement of the conference was the unanimous passage of a number of resolutions on various problems being confronted by hindu society in India & Abroad.
The most important resolution in which Dr M V Mohan expressed his interest was the “Control & Management of Hindu temples & other religious properties”
Alok Mohan
www.mqc.co.in
