Page 49 - JyotipunjEng

59

the time of morning. Guruji was seeking information from the
officials. The Param Pujya Guruji asked an official, “How many
Swayamsevaks are there in your town?” The number that the
official said was the number of Swayamsevaks who were in his
daily contact. At this, Guruji said, “Your Shakha is quite old,
the number of Swayamsevaks should be larger there. Why is it
so?” The official intimated that a large number of officials had
quit the Shakha. Guruji further enquired, “How long has this
phenomenon of quitting the Shakha been taking place?” And
then he said in earnestness: “The Sangh work revolves around
linking and uniting people of the society, and not leaving them
alone.”

Awareness of Working
How curious, how aware the Swayamsevaks are to their

work! The personalities of the Swayamsevaks have been
moulded through effort of continuous awareness. There is an
incident that occurred in the year 1957. Due to the imposition
of government ban, the Shakha could not be held in the open in
Satara district; therefore, to hold the Gurudakshina programme,
a Swayamsevak held the Satyanarayan Dev Katha in his house,
in which all new and old Swayamsevaks were invited. The priest
too had been intimated that the money collected in the ceremony
would be deposited in the Gurudakshina fund of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh. The priest accepted the condition willingly
and did not take his own Dakshina, rather he too paid it. This
was how the Swayamsevaks used to collect Gurudakshina.

A few days after the programme was held, Guruji visited
the town. He was also told how Gurudakshina was collected.
In the meeting, Guruji said: “The money that the Swayamsevaks
presented before the flag after paying their obeisance to it could
only belong to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The money
that the Swayamsevaks offered in the worship rightly belongs
to the priest; therefore, that money should be delivered to him
on an urgent basis, and confirm the action taken to me.” He did
not accept anything that deviated from the Sangh’s traditions.
He made untiring efforts to awaken the spirit of being a