'Diversity is natural, unity is truth': RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at New York event

Calling diversity the “decoration” of an underlying oneness, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has said humanity’s challenge is not to erase differences but to recognise the unity that binds people, societies and nature.

Addressing the Universal Oneness Celebration at Madison Square Garden in New York, Bhagwat said “unity in diversity” was intrinsic to Bharat’s civilisational ethos and argued that the country’s mission was to share this idea with the world.

“When we say America, one word is often discussed frequently—pluralism. And when we say Bharat, another phrase is discussed—unity in diversity,” he said, drawing applause from the audience.

“Diversity has to be celebrated, has to be respected, has to be accepted and at the same time we must keep in mind this feeling of oneness,” he added.

Bhagwat said nations were more than geographical entities and, citing Swami Vivekananda, said every nation had a message, a mission and a destiny to fulfil. Bharat’s destiny, he maintained, was to help the world realise the principle of unity despite diversity.

He sought to explain this unity through the shared human capacity for empathy. People may differ in their languages, religions, nationalities and ways of living, he said, but a person would find it difficult to eat peacefully in front of someone who was genuinely hungry.

“The feeling is there because we are human beings,” Bhagwat said, arguing that human beings had been given not only the ability to think but also the sensitivity to distinguish right from wrong.

The RSS chief said this capacity placed a responsibility on humans to use their intelligence in the right direction. Material pursuits alone, he said, could not provide lasting satisfaction.

Bhagwat said “dharma” should not be understood merely as religion or a form of worship. Dharma, he said, was the principle that sustains the universe and balances competing aspects of life.

“It is the balance which sustains everything at once, simultaneously, and everyone can progress,” he said, arguing that the progress of individuals, society and the environment had to go together.

He also emphasised the need to balance development with environmental preservation, saying the answer could not lie either in destroying nature in the name of development or in halting development altogether.

“Our ancestors have given this way through their own sacrifice,” he said, stressing the need for human beings to act with a sense of responsibility towards the wider world.

Turning to the Indian diaspora, Bhagwat said those living in the US and other countries should remain loyal to their “karmabhoomi”—the land where they live and work—while carrying with them the values imparted by their “janmabhoomi”, or birthplace.

“We live in America, we earn in America, so we are American and we should behave true to America,” he said, drawing applause.

At the same time, he said the Indian diaspora had a responsibility to live by the values it had inherited from Bharat, particularly the principle of oneness.

“Bharat expects you to live as Bharat has given you the idea of life,” he said.

Bhagwat also invoked the idea of service and sacrifice, saying people should not ask what their country or society had done for them, but consider what they could contribute in return.

“How much we earn is not important. How much we distribute is important,” he said.

He linked this principle to the traditional Indian concept of the four purusharthas—dharma, artha, kama and moksha—arguing that material success and personal wellbeing were not rejected but had to be pursued within a larger framework of responsibility.

Human beings, he said, owed much of what they possessed to others—from parents and farmers to workers and the wider society—and therefore had a duty to give back.

His central message, Bhagwat said, was that human life was neither purposeless nor meaningless. Its purpose was to realise the unity within oneself and recognise the same principle in others, while working for the welfare of the world.

The celebration in New York, he said, was therefore not merely an occasion to speak about oneness, but an opportunity to remember the responsibility that comes with recognising it.