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manifest when Dr. Hedgewar asked him to look after the Sangh,
and after he heard these words, he invested the remaining years
of his life, from 1940 to 1973, to realize the goal of expanding
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh like a banyan tree, on all
sides, for which he toured the whole of India, worked with the
sole goal of its expansion.

Unceasing Sangh Work
Guruji’s heart was inclined towards spirituality. We can just

imagine how a spiritual person must have embraced the Sangh
life. Why at all did he devote all his life to the service of the
Bhagwa Dhwaj, the saffron flag? He has spoken a little in this
regard. The Param Pujya Guruji had a long conversation with
the late G.T. Madakhelkar Bhau Saheb, the ex-editor of Tarun
Bharat. Doctor Saheb was present there too. After the discussion
on the book was over, Bhau Saheb asked Guruji, with his
permission, a personal question. This question and its response
are mentioned in an article titled ‘Trikoni Sangam’ (Triangular
Confluence), published in the Tarun Bharat on 16 June, 1973,
after the death of Guruji. He writes in this article: “I asked Guruji:
‘I have heard that you abandoned the Sangh work midway and
went to the Ramakrishna Mission in Bengal, and were initiated
into the path by the pupil-brother of Swami Vivekananda. How
did you then abandon the Ramakrishna Mission and come back
to the Sangh? Don’t you think that the role of the Mission is
quite distinct from that of the Sangh?’ Listening to my question,
Guruji was shocked; he thought over it for a while with half-
open eyes, as if he had traversed to some fanciful world, and
then he started to speak softly.

“He said: ‘You have asked a much unexpected question,
but Doctor Saheb would be a more appropriate person to decide
whether there is distinction in the work of the Sangh from that
of the Mission. I have always been inclined towards spirituality
as well as the work of national unity. I could carry out this work
more effectively in the Sangh. I have felt it during my stints in
Benaras, Nagpur and Calcutta. Therefore, I have devoted myself
body and soul to the Sangh work. It appears to me that