VICHAR MANTHAN LECTURES - A Program Sponsored by HSS-NY and CaribbeanHindu.Net
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Sacha Baba Gopal Swamiji on the Concept of Hindutva - Tej Rao
Shri Sadashiv Rao's Freedom: The Unfinished Story - Dr. Ramesh Gampat, Tej Rao
& Seorie Autar
Vichar Manthan Lecture No.
3
Sachcha Baba Gopal Swamiji on the Concept of Hindutva
Author: Tej Rao
Source: Caribbean New Yorker, Oct. 13, 2000
Once again, in its on-going drive to impart much needed information on the virtues of Hinduism and education on our glorious history and the revered Shastras, Vidya Bharati has reached out to the Hindu community in the form of lectures through a program called Vichar Mantan or Churning of Thoughts. The necessity for the creation of Hindu cultural awareness is at its highest now in this Western society where anti-Hindu forces tirelessly keep up their drive to vilify and demonize Hinduism for the purpose of conversions. Vidya Bharati has taken up the task of dispelling the myths and lies being peddled by these destructive elements. By taking up issues regarding Hinduism and through discussions published in the local newspapers this organization has made tremendous progress toward its goal.
On Friday September 22, guest speaker Sachcha Baba Gopal Swamiji of Bharat delivered the third lecture. Swamiji is Senior Vice President of Sant Sangh, Senior Member of Kendriya Marg Darshak Mandal and also of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). It was darshan indeed for all those fortunate to behold the presence of such a great enlightened Hindu soul in our midst. Swamiji’s chanting from the Bhagavat Gita and Ramayana literally transformed the ambience charging it with spirituality perceived long after the termination of his lecture. Swamiji was a member of the Indian delegation of over a hundred Sanyasis who attended the recently concluded World Millenium Peace Summit in New York City. He has taken advantage of this trip to visit mandirs and Hindu organizations around the New York City area, consolidating and strengthening the bonds in the Hindu community.
The topic this time was ‘The Concept of Hindutva’. Swami Gopalji started by stating that Hinduism has a long and ancient history. The Vedas are the oldest books in the world and were in fact created by the Lord Himself – it is shruti. Upon the subject of creation, Swamiji reiterated that the Lord Himself created the world, He looks after it. It is the Lord that inspires us to protect the environment and nature! He reminded us of the ancient wisdom of the East, particularly mathematics and astronomy, that has been abused by the West in its perpetual quest for material power. They criticized the Hindu concept of so many earths and moons- a fact they are now discovering by means of modern technology. He also pointed out that all the major advances in science and technology could not have been possible without mathematics, perhaps the greatest contribution from the East. "Hindus calculated thousands of years ago when an eclipse would arise," said Swamiji.
The law of Karma, said Swamiji, is what our life is based on. Why are some of us poor and some rich, why do some die young and some live to a ripe old age, why do some suffer and others enjoy life? If we are all God’s children and He is the all-merciful Father, then what is the meaning of all this if it’s not the law of Karma? Our experiences here are the result of past actions. But Swami Gopalji also made it clear that Karma offers us an opportunity to elevate ourselves by performing good actions for the welfare of the entire society. Swami said that the Law of Karma is not fatalism, but a beautiful mechanism in the Hindu tradition whereby Hindus can continuously elevate themselves to greater heights. "Until we look after our own Karma, no God will bless us," said Swamiji.
Hindus see divinity in every aspect of life: in all the elements of nature, in all living creatures and in all non-living things. Everyone is an embodiment of God, our mother and father are God and to them we first owe credit and should serve them as God for they have the power to bring God down to this land! Was not Lord Rama brought to this land by mortals like our mother and father? And did not mortals bring forth Mother Sita, and Lord Krishna and Radhaji, and countless avatars? "This is why Bharat is special, this America may be the land of gold, but it is not to my liking; no matter how much poverty stricken is my Bharat, that is where I want to be; even the Gods pray to be born in Bharat," said Swamiji.
God is right here within us according to Hinduism, He does not dwell in some remote place far above us where He can spy upon the evil doers and, come judgement day, condemn the poor souls to burn in the everlasting fire of hell. Our Shastras teach that through the process reincarnation every soul is given an opportunity, a second chance, or any number of chances to correct its mistakes and strive for perfection until the soul finally merges with the Supreme: this is the concept of Hindutva.
Swamiji reiterated the importance of Sangh work in creating a unified, strong and vibrant Hindu society, free of caste barriers, where every Hindu has freedom to choose whatever appeals to him/her, to be a purohit (Priest/Pandit), a soldier, or a scholar, without any fuss from anyone. This is the Hindu way! No Hindu is superior to any other Hindu and nobody is superior to a Hindu. This is the essence of Hindutva – Indian cultural pride. "Hindus are not common people; we are very uncommon because we are the sons and daughters of Rishis; even the Gods pray to be born in Bharat," said Sachcha Baba Swami Gopalji. Swamiji said that once we are engaged in work for the welfare of the society, we will attain purna janma (full life), which is the four purushartas (material and spiritual goals of life): dharma, artha, kama, moksha.
To quote from a well-known born Christian who converted to Hinduism, "Biblical traditions reflect a One God who is an authoritarian figure, having his chosen people, demanding allegiance, exhibiting jealousy, and lording over his creation like a king, if not a tyrant. While some may argue that this is a misinterpretation or a simplification of a deeper view, and it may be, it has been the dominant impulse behind missionary efforts all over the world. In the Christian view God has his heaven and hell to reward his followers and punish his enemies. Islam follows the same model. Such a God is looked upon with fear and trembling. His believers follow Him as a role model and easily become intolerant and authoritarian themselves, asserting dogma rather than seeking truth, trying to make everyone follow the dictates their imperious deity".
In the Hindu tradition you can be Narayana, you can be Rama, you can be Durga. Only in the Bharatiya tradition is this beautiful concept of Hindutva possible. Also, according to the Hindu tradition, Swamiji said that we are born with four debts, which must be fulfilled. These are debt to God, debt to the pitris, debt to the rishis, and debt to Bharat.
The erudite Swamiji stated that for each Hindu, there are three types of Shakti (power). These are: power of money (when personal needs are met, it should be used generously to help the society); power of intellect (it is misuse of intellect when it is used for selfish ends only; it must be used for others and for the benefit of the society); and power of muscle (nobody should be allowed to insult a Hindu). This is also the Hindutva concept – it will make us committed to serve people – to wash the tears from the eyes of the unfortunate.
At the end of the lecture, a number of questions were taken. Pandit Ramdular Singh, told Swamiji that some people may interpret Karma as static and pointing in the direction of fatalism. Swami replied that man is not bound as a carbon copy to past Karma; we are not slaves of Karma, but we can change Karma by doing good Hindu work and rise to the highest level of achievement. It is not fatalism!
The first Vichar Mantan was graced by Hindu scholar Pujya Swami Aksharanandaji of Guyana and the second by Professor Jagdish Vyasji, a retired political scientist from Bharat.
Vichar Manthan Lecture No. 7
Those who managed to attend, braving gusty winds and heavy downpours, were rewarded with a rare treat, or rather a sort of darshan. With a commanding voice adeptly nuanced for pitch and intonation, Sri Sadashivaraoji spoke with a fluency, grace, zest and magic that held his audience, sitting in Sukhasana posture (cross-legged) in a mandala (circle), frozen, mesmerized by the shakti of this Hindu Lion. The silence was profound: you could have heard the sound of a falling pin. His lecture was so rich, vast and wide-ranging that it is difficult to summarize. If we have misinterpreted or distorted aspects of what he said, it is because we are unable to offer a competent summary. We ask his apologies and your tolerance.
“I am extremely happy to be with you today. Good to be with so many brothers and sisters from the West Indies. Thank you all.” Thus did Sri Sadashivaraoji begin his memorable lecture. After a long pause, he explained: “The subject is a very complex one to be discussed in a short period of time. But I have lived through part of it.” Of course, Sri Sadashivaraoji was referring to the freedom struggle for India’s Independence and the partition of the Motherland.
“Every country [that is, civilization],” Sri Sadashivaraoji continued, “has evolved its own way of thinking and has its own approach to the cosmic arrangement. For various reasons, they evolved their own distinct way of thinking. For to live peacefully together, people had to struggle together; people had to share; people had to forget; people had to adjust the temperament of the individual to service of the collective. They had to shed their egos.” This movement from the individual to collective, to the universal implies sacrifice. “For the sake of family, one makes sacrifice; for the sake of a village, a family undertakes sacrifice; for the sake of a region/country, we all make sacrifice.” Yajno vai vishnuh – sacrifice is supreme. Life is thus about disposing of the individual ego and embracing the universal “ego.”
Why do we make sacrifice? For developing oneself; for the benefit of the one human family - Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam; for lokasamgraha – world-maintenance; to render transparent the idea of unity in diversity. We undertake sacrifice to realize the Atman; to unite with the Cosmic Self and to realize this Oneness, which pervades the entire Cosmos. Thinking and living in this particular way has a specific significance: it helps us to realize the real purpose of life. Indeed, for the sake of the realization of the atman, this cosmos came into being – it is here on Dharti Mata (Mother Earth) that man is given the opportunity to erase his karma so as to liberate his spirit. For the liberated soul, the cosmos is a manifestation of Brahman and the atman is an all-pervading Oneness. The cosmic vision of Oneness, expressing itself in diversity, is the supreme formula for everlasting peace; yajna, devoting one’s thoughts and actions as a sacrifice to the all-pervading Oneness, is the measure of man. “Everywhere I am,” Sri Sadashivaraoji summarized.
Civilizations have evolved two approaches to the cosmic question. First, there is the material approach – the “all-this-is-for-me” approach -, which drives man to exploit his fellow man, lesser creatures and nature with little thought of tomorrow. It is as if “this creation” is not going to exist beyond today. To think about tomorrow, our people evolved Dharma, which is the second approach. Dharma is a universal way of thinking; it is the force that holds the cosmic arrangement together. Why grab, why covet when you are not going to be here tomorrow, when you will have to leave all behind? Beyond living comfortably, why should you go on accumulating selfishly and impoverish your soul in the process? This is the beginning of the Hindu culture. This is the wisdom Bharat gave the world, which Swami Vivekananda took to the West.
Yet it should not be assumed, as is often the case, that India did not teach materialism. Materialism is necessary; it is present in adequate doze during the second stage of life. Indeed, one of the six systems of philosophy, that of Chaarvaaka or Lokaayata, is fully materialistic. However, materialism is not the sum total of human existence. Learnings that are not ultimate are avidya, materialistic in substance, including chemistry, astronomy, physics, biology, and economics. Knowledge that is ultimate (i.e., knowledge of Brahman), knowing which one knows realty, is vidya. The world cannot be peaceful without vidya.
To secure the peace and enrich society, life was arranged into four stages, known as chatur-ashrama. The first stage is that of brahmacharya-ashrama. This is the period when one is a student; one pursues academic, physical and spiritual life stuides. The second stage is that of family life or garhasthya-ashrama. Everyone has the urge to procreate, which is why creative desire has been referred to as Kameshwara/Kameshwari. The third stage, vanaprastha-ashrama, one leaves one’s home and gives oneself to society, fully and without reservation. The final stage is that of the sanyas-ashrama during which one renounces all attachments to worldly cravings and seek unity with the Cosmic Oneness as the final goal of life. This arrangement of life, evidently, was geared to “give peace to mankind. We seek peace, truth.”
This conception of life and its relation to the Cosmos explains a unique claim that only Bharat can make: hers is the only civilization that has not waged wars against other nations/civilizations. While there was peace, internal strife was also present but these adhered to certain pre-defined rules. For example, fighting would start as soon as Surya (sun) rose and would cease as soon as Surya disappeared beyond the horizon. Fighters from both sides would then visit each other’s camp: the enemy camp was not “foreign land” as warriors, putting aside their weapons, mingled freely. Importantly, too, while men would be killed in fighting, women and property would not be destroyed. Ritual and religious performances were allowed unimpeded during certain times. During the great Mahabharata war, for example, warriors offered pooja before Surya announced the dawning of a new day and greeted their opponents and obtain blessings from the elders before fighting began.
Unfortunately, India closed its doors to the world outside for which a grave price was paid: we were unable to deal with people who espoused values contrary to ours. Thus, when the Muslim invaders came, we were unprepared to deal with them. To illustrate, Sri Sadashivaraoji related a little incident. A small band of Muslims men – about 18 or 19 –, who were driven out of Delhi, headed for Calcutta. On the way there, they stopped to plunder the ancient university at Nalanda, famous for its Vedic teachings. The University housed 10,000 students, 1,000 teachers and three libraries, each stacked with 1lakh books. The Muslim invaders came riding on horses, brandishing swords and daggers. Obviously, they were ready for battle with the robed infidels. Instead of resisting, students and teachers began to chant mantras in their defense. Needless to say, the infidels were all massacred. But that was not all: the libraries and all their precious books were razed to the ground. “Now if each person at the University were to throw a little book into the face of the invaders, they would have been reduced to dust.” Yet, despite the plunder, destruction, massacre and conversion of people and Mandirs, Muslims could not conquer India and Hinduism. Both survived the onslaught of brute force.
The English, the next wave of foreign invaders, triumphed because they were smarter than Muslims. Surely 6 million English people could not defeat 33 million Indians (population shortly before the British began to rule India). Their strategy was not so much to unleash brute force on the natives as putting their European knowledge to work. The British studied the weakness of our people; deployed emerging Western science, measured, catalogued and analyzed everything they could see and touch. Next, they began to find work our people with the specific intention to win them over; then they began to interfere in Indian politics. Soon the British became the ruler of India: that was a black day in human history. Once in the “driving seat,” Bharat had to be conquered fully. For this the British employed two strategies: colonize the Indian mind and Christianize (read “civilize”) the Indian.
Macaulay was to play a significant role in this “soft” war. He declared, that if Britain were to introduce the education system he was proposing, Indians would forget their Dharma in less than 200 years. More importantly, they would begin to abuse themselves so that the English could rule India permanently. The medium would be the English Language, English education and debunking everything Indian. It is interesting how Macaulay arrived at these conclusions. Here’s the essence of his reasoning:
“I have no knowledge of either Sanscrit or Arabic. But I have done what I could to form a correct estimate of their value. I have read translations of the most celebrated Arabic and Sanscrit works. I have conversed both here and at home with men distinguished by their proficiency in the Eastern tongues. I am quite ready to take the Oriental learning at the valuation of the Orientalists themselves. I have never found one among them who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. The intrinsic superiority of the Western literature is, indeed, fully admitted by those members of the Committee who support the Oriental plan of education.
“It will hardly be disputed, I suppose, that the department of literature in which the Eastern writers stand highest is poetry. And I certainly never met with any Orientalist who ventured to maintain that the Arabic and Sanscrit poetry could be compared to that of the great European nations. But when we pass from works of imagination to works in which facts are recorded, and general principles investigated, the superiority of the Europeans becomes absolutely immeasurable. It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say, that all the historical information which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanscrit language is less valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgements used at preparatory schools in England.”
He continued: “In every branch of physical or moral philosophy, the relative position of the two nations is nearly the same. In one point I fully agree with the gentlemen to whose general views I am opposed. I feel with them, that it is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population” (emphasis added; Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Minute of 2 February 1835 on Indian Education," in Young, G. M. Macaulay, Prose and Poetry. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1957, pp-721-24, 729).
Even many gurus were influenced heavily by the British. For example, a high British official once asked the Guru of Mahatma Gandhi: suppose we were pack up and leave India, what would happen? The Guru responded: Before you reach Great Britain, we will send you lakhs of telegrams begging you to come back. We cannot rule ourselves; we fight each other. Yet there was a small group of people who realized that the British had no place in Bharat; they should be driven out.
According to Sri Sadashivaraoji, the first blow for India’s freedom was struck by no other than the venerable Swami Vivekananda in Chicago in 1893. By this time, the British were successful in demonizing India: all its sacred writings, literature, science, religion were of no value. Indians were heathens who needed to be civilized, if they were to be saved from themselves. That was the white man’s burden: to civilize the natives. Unlike “Hindooism,” the great religions, foremost Christianity, has one God, one Book, one Prophet. There were lakhs (1 lakh = 100,000) of gods in Hinduism, many books, many saints. That’s paganism.
Before we look at how Swami Vivekananda began Indian’s the freedom fight, we divert to tell a little story on paganism. Once a Christian Preacher asked Sri Sadashivaraoji: “Why do you Hindoos have so many gods?”
The response came with characteristics sharpness: “If I can have ten windows to let the air come from all sides of my house, why can’t I have more than one god? I want the air from all sides, just as I wish to see God from all sides. For God is everywhere. If your God is not competent to come from all sides, mine is. Aren’t all things the creation of God?”
“Yes,” the Preacher responded.
“So there is godliness in all things?” queried Shree Sadashivaraoji
“Of course,” the Christian man interjected.
“Everywhere God is. Once you know this, you can realize God. Prahalad realized God in a stone pillar. God is in you. God has to come to you; otherwise, He is not God,” Sri Sadashivaraoji explained. Prof. Radhakrishana, a past President of India, expressed this idea beautifully: “The ascent of man into Godhead is also the purpose of the descent of God into humanity.” Paramahansa Yogananda expressed a similar sentiment in his classic on spirituality: “The divine experience comes with a natural inevitability to the sincere devotee. His intense cravings begin to pull at God with an irresistible force. The Lord as the Cosmic Vision is drawn by that magnetic ardor into the seeker’s range of consciousness” (Autobiography of Yogi, p. 170). The British, Sri Sadashivaraoji said, wanted to kill this spirit.
“It is most unfortunate,” Sri Sadashivaraoji continued, “that you Christians cannot approach God directly. You need to approach him through the medium of a Prophet. Is God deaf? Is He dumb? He is neither. God is omnipresent. And the Hindu believes that one can realize God right here on Mother Earth.” Here’s another little story.
The Vedas, as your know, were not written by man; they were vibrated to great Rishis who realized God. They are timeless; without a beginning or ending. “Yo vedebhyh akhilam jagat nirmame” – God created the whole universe out of the knowledge if the Vedas. Therefore, Vedic knowledge exited before creation.
The Vedas contain all knowledge. It is the key to realizing God. No single man is capable of knowing the Vedas in their entirety. But Narada, who wanted to know the essence of the Vedas, approached a Rishi and asked: “Venerable, sir, what is the essence of the Vedas? Can I know the Vedas?”
Said the Rishi: “Do you see the huge mound of sand yonder?”
“Yes,” Narada ventured boldly. “What does that have to do with the Vedas?”
“Well, if you were to take as many births as there are grains of sand in that mound, you will still not know the Vedas,” counseled the Rishi. But there was a disguised challenge in this statement to Narada: God can be attained, realized, if you pursue Him long enough, birth after birth. God cannot resist his devotees. Indeed, in Bhagavan Krishna declared in the Bhagavad Gita that He is under the control of His devotees.
So back to Swami Vivekananda. After many trials and tribulations, Swamiji, who was then only 26 years old, managed to get a slot at the Chicago Conference of World Religions in 1893. All the audience knew about Hinduism was what they have been fed by non-Hindus. Late in the evening, after all the big wigs had spoken, it was Swamiji’s turn to address the bored, tired and sleepy audience.
With his impeccable accent (you need to listen to Swamiji’s lecture – it’s on tape) and clarity, Swamiji began: “Sisters and Brothers of America.” The words barely rolled off Swamiji’s tongue when he was interrupted by a thunderous applause that lasted for 2 minutes. “If fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of all religions; and I thank you in the name of the millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.”
Who is this robed man? People in the West have never been greeted thus. The august assembly was flabbergasted.
Swamiji continued: “I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn that I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings. ‘As the different streams, having their sources in the different places, all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which man take through different tendencies, various though they may appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.’”
On another day, Swamiji told the assembly: “If there is ever to be a universal religion, it must be one which will have no location in place or time; which will be infinite, like the God it will preach, and whose sun will shine upon the followers of Krishna and Christ, on saints and sinners alike; which will not be Brahministic or Buddhistic, Christian or Mohammedan, but the sum total of all these, and still have infinite space for development; which in its catholicity will find a place for every human being, from the lowest groveling savage not far removed from the brute to the highest man towering by the virtue of his heat and heart almost above humanity. It will be a religion which will have no place for persecution or intolerance in its polity, which will recognize divinity in every man and woman, and whose whole scope, whose whole force, will be centered in aiding humanity to realize its own true, divine nature.” This was the first time that the West was getting an authentic insight into Sanatana Dharma.
Bigotry, vanity and narrow-mindedness have indeed brought us much distress. “Let me tell you a little story,” Swamiji said. “Once there were two frogs. One was a well frog, who was born and lived in a small well all his life. He fed on the abundance of worms and became sleek and fat. The other was a sea frog, who, lived in the wide sea. Well, one day the sea frog went for a walk and fell into the well.”
“Where are you from?” the well frog queried.
“I am from the sea.”
“The sea! How big is that? Is it as big as my well?” The well frog stretched his legs and proudly leaped from one corner of the well to the other – again and again. “Is it as big as that?”
“What nonsense you speak, to compare the sea with your well!”
“But,” said the frog of the well, “nothing can be bigger than my well; there can be nothing bigger than this. This fellow is a liar. Throw him out!”
Therein lies the rub. With is limited mind, how could the well frog understand the vastness of the sea? Similarly, Swamiji said, the Hindu, the Christian, the Mohammedan all thank that their own little well is the whole world. “I have to thank you of America for the great attempt you are making to break down the barriers of this little world of ours …”
Thus began India’s freedom struggle: with the idea of universal brotherhood, not with bullets; with the struggle to extricate Sanatana Dharma (and therefoe India) from the distortion manufactured by the Europeans, British in particular.
The English, like the well-frog, could not comprehend the vastness of Hinduism, which is not limited to one Book, one Prophet, one manifestation of God. They believed that their little well was the entire world and all must embrace this little well. Like the well-frog, they have failed to realize that all streams, all rivulets, start from some remote mountain but end up in the mighty ocean and loose their individuality. Like streams and rivulets, all religions lead to the same God: Brahman. It is this that the British could not understand and wanted to destroy.
The British departed in 1947, but not without leaving their mark. First, our new leaders, including Nehru, declared that now we were going to become a nation, as if we were not a nation before; thus negating our entire history. And while the British left, British minds continued to rule India. Today, Lord Macaulay’s prediction is becoming a reality. Second, the British partitioned India before leaving: they found one country when they came, but made two out of it when they left. “A dream was broken with the partition; a great nation was broken into two,” he whispered, filled with emotions as his mind reached back in time and place. This was a terrible sin: the British has cut off the head of our mother (Bharat Mata). If the head is no longer there, how can the body survive? When the samkalpa (the faculty needed to make decisions) is removed, we become mere commodities.
Sri Sadashivaraoji ended his lecture by observing that he has seen it all and fought both the white British and the brown British who ruled after 1947. “I have been to jail in 1942, 1947, 1948 and again in 1977.” After a long pause that is more than necessary to catch one’s breadth, Sri Sadashivaraoji added with conviction: “India must become the homeland for all Hindus, regardless of where they live. India must become the inspiration to all Hindus in the world. I thank you.”
There was also a question-and answer session. Among other things, Sri Sadashivaraoji appealed to us to learn Sanskrit and to teach it to our children. Sanskrit is the language in which our Shastras are written. As is the tradition with out Vichar Mantan Lecture, we ended the session by chanting the Ekaatmata Mantra (Unity Mantra).
Authors’ note: Sri Bhandaru Sadashivaraoji hails from the State of Andhra Pradesh, Bharat. He was born into a Family of Freedom Fighters and was jailed in 1942 for participating in "Quit India Movement" against the British. He participated in "Rajakar Movement" against atrocities of Nizam Rulers in Hyderabad and was jailed three other times.
Sri Bhandaru Sadashivaraoji studied "Sanskrit Sahitya Bhushana" at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and was a Pracharak (full-time Hindu worker) in Andhra Pradesh from 1947 – 1960. He contributed greatly to the world of Hindu literature and wrote some 20 books, including "Jai Somnath," "Maharana Bappa," and "Shivaji." Other publications include life stories of "Guru ji" and "Doctor ji." In 1947, Sri Sadashivaraoji became Co-Editor for the Telugu Magazine, "Jagriti", and Editor for "Sadhana", a monthly magazine of Telugu Literature. He inaugurated a "Bharatiya Writer's Association" in 1956 and started "Bharatiya Vidya Kendra," which now runs 40 schools. He is also the founding member of the Saraswati Shishu Mandir schools which now totals 15,000 in Bharat.