RSS Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale, during his visit to the United States, engaged with think tanks, academia, and the Indian diaspora across Stanford, Washington, DC, and Chicago, presenting a civilisational perspective on Bharat, countering long-held misconceptions and emphasising Dharma, unity, and global responsibility. The Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of RSS, Sunil Ambekar Ji speaks to Organiser Weekly’s Editor, Prafulla Ketkar on Hosabale Ji’s historic visit. Excerpts:
Recently RSS Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale visited Europe and the United States. He participated in various conferences and events there, spoke about AI and human life, and also addressed the RSS centenary year at the Hudson Institute. What was the purpose of this visit and why is RSS reaching out globally?
RSS has entered its centenary year. RSS works at the grassroots level with common people, and its journey is closely linked with Bharat’s story, developmental journey, and social transformation over the last 100 years. We want to share this story with the world.
Secondly, there are solutions within our civilisational understanding for many modern-day challenges. For example, yoga is helping people even in developed nations. Similarly, our family awakening initiatives can help societies across the world.
Thirdly, there are many misunderstandings about Hindutva, RSS, and Bharat’s historical journey. Through direct people-to-people dialogue with important opinion makers and public figures, we can explain these aspects better. This particular visit focused on the UK, Europe, especially Germany, and the USA.
The interaction at Stanford was especially interesting, where Shri Dattatreya Hosabale spoke about the dharmic understanding of technology and AI. Is RSS also thinking seriously about technological developments and their impact on society?
For many years, there has been a misconception in the worlds of science and philosophy that spirituality and science are separate. But in Hindu philosophy, spirituality encompasses everything, and science is one way of understanding reality.
Science and spirituality are not opposites. They can go hand in hand. Science can help us understand spirituality, and spirituality can help us understand science. As Swami Vivekananda and others have said, the ultimate evolution of science connects with the knowledge traditions of Bharat. RSS is trying to explore these knowledge systems.
You were also part of the Europe visit. How was the response? How are people receiving Bharat’s and RSS’s point of view?
People are curious about Bharat and Hindutva. Some understand Bharat through yoga, some through the Kumbh, and others are interested in understanding how Bharat is emerging economically and in various sectors.