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Babubhai belonged to a very ordinary Prajapati family of
Mehsana in north Gujarat. He was deprived of the fatherly love
in his infancy. All his family members were engaged in the
traditional earthen work. As he came into the touch with the
Sangh, his outlook changed towards the family life. Babubhai
was energetic by nature. It was his nature to do anything with
total attention. His education could not be hindered due to the
family’s financial condition and social environment, mainly
because of his resolve. He completed his education in
engineering even in those times. Doing the Sangh work
regularly, he became an engineer. He was the first from his
community to proceed abroad for further study. He went to
America due to his excellent educational qualification. He
obtained the M.S. degree from the Illinois University.

Another rumour that is spread about the Sangh is that only
those people can join it who possess ordinary educational
qualification, while the truth is far from it. You will find an
example in Babubhai himself. He went to America about fifty
years ago to obtain a degree, which is a matter of pride not only
for the Indians but the Americans too. In America, everybody
asked him just one thing, “In your absence, does your wife stay
with your parents?” Babubhai explained to them, “In India,
marriage is not coming together of two individuals; rather it is
the social binding between two families, that joins them. The
wife adopts not the husband alone, but the entire family.”

In 1950-55, he was enrolled for getting higher education in
America and had all the chances to lead a fine, prosperous life
in America with a golden future; yet he preferred national
interest to his private interest. Instead of absorbing himself in
the glorious life of America, he decided to return to India in
order to use knowledge and experience for the sake of the
country; and bade farewell to America for all times to come,
and thus settled in the lap of India.

A particular characteristic of the Sangh culture is that it
adopts the whole society as one’s own family. An instance that
occurred in the life of Babubhai in America manifests this. While
he was a student at Illinois University in America, he became a