RSS chief rues waning interest in Vedas

He was addressing a gathering of Ganesh devotees after inaugurating the Vedapadam Shree Siddhivinayak temple, established by the Vedacharya Ghaisas Guruji Pathshala at the Vedbhavan complex near Chandani chowk, off Paud Road here this morning.

He said that it was sad that the Indians, under western influence, were neglecting the Vedic knowledge when the foreign Universities, including the Cambridge University, had opened special classes to study Vedas.

“In 1947-48 there were around 10,000 people in India who could recite Vedic shlokas from memory. When a survey was undertaken last year, it was found that the number had gone down to 1,000 and a majority of them were from the older generation,” he said.

“Also, merely reciting Vedic shlokas without knowing their meaning is useless. This most ancient treasure box of knowledge will remain locked forever if young students do not come forward to join the Vedic schools,” he said.

The Sarasanghachalak felt that there was urgent need to establish new Vedic schools and encourage bright students to join them. “People should support these Vedapathshalas and the students through generous donations,” he said.

On the occasion, Rajendrasinhji felicitated Jagdish Bhange, son of late P D Bhange, the chief architect of the temple. For the scores of devotes gathered at the Vedbhavan complex the information that the chief architect of the impressive shrine had passed away scarcely a couple of months before his dream structure was thrown open to public was indeed saddening.

“He should have lived to see his dream come true,” Shrikant Bhange, the elder son said, recalling how his father was thoroughly engrossed in preparing the drawings of the temple.

The RSS chief also felicitated Mukundrao Chitale who had constructed the temple on a no-profit-no-loss basis. He lauded the chief trustee of the Pathshala Ved Murti Moreshwar Ghaisas for continuing the tradition of propagating Vedic knowledge by conducting regular classes. Former MP Anna Joshi, senior Journalist Dr Shripad Wagh and educationist Dr Shirish Chindhade were present at the function.