There are two types of people in this world, those who come into a room and say “Well, here I am” and those who come in and say “Ah! There you are!”. Sri Guruji did not consider himself a separate entity, independently of the Sangh. His life was a yagna, an eternal, sacrifice at the sacred feet of the Jan (people), the manifestation of Janardhana (God). Sri Guruji’s most precious offering in this yagna was his own ego. For Sri Guruji innate humility was just as much the opposite of self-abasement as it was of self-exaltation. He wanted every Swayamsevak to give up the pursuit of individual salvation in favour of an endeavour for corporate self-realization of the Sangh.

 

While replying to a civic address at Madurai in December 1949, Sri Guruji aptly observed: ‘A post box receives letters, at times very important ones. But the box has no reason to be flattered by them. It is only an intermediary through which letters pass to proper persons in the proper places. The honours which you have bestowed on me I will pass on to those countless workers whom I am privileged to represent’. On another occasion, dismissing the idea that RSS would suffer incalculably in his absence, he stated with fervour and conviction: ‘No particular individual is indispensable. Men may come and men may go, but the society goes on for ever. With me or without me, the Sangh will continue to work and grow because of their inner necessity and intrinsic work’.