As part of his efforts towards instilling the values of patriotism, team spirit and a service orientation among the employees Dr SS.Badrinath had organized for the visit and guest lecture of a towering leader whose movement had these as its core values, the man was Shri Mohan Madhukar Bhagwat, Sarsanghachalak (Supreme Chief), Rashtrya Swayamsevak Sangh. The proceedings at the packed to capacity Sri VD Swami Auditorium on the 21st of August 2013 started aptly with a patriotic song rendered in Rag Desh considered an intensely patriotic Raga by Dr.Vandana. Thanking the guest speaker for his presense and extending him a warm welcome on behalf of Sankara Nethralaya, Chairman Emeritus Dr SS.Badrinath remarked in jest that it was perhaps the nature of the rather basic questions posed by him to Shri Bhagwat almost 4 years ago that prompted him to make a visit to Sankara Nethralaya and put things in the right perspective. He recalled with gratitude the association of leading lights of the RSS movement like Shri Kasinathan, Shri H.V Seshadri and Shri Sudharshan with the Sankara Nethralaya and their contribution to its growth, highlighting that it was Shri Shivaramji Joglekar a committed member of the RSS who played a critical role in educating the people of the region on the need for eye donation and created awareness on the same and how the seed sowed by him went on to mature as the CU Shah Eye Bank.
Delivering the guest lecture Shri.Mohan Bhagwat observed that his visit and interaction with the members of Sankara Nethralaya was a part of his larger initiative of travelling and meeting the people of Bharath. Members of the Sankara Nethralaya family were highly impressed to note that the Chief of one of the most well knit, organized and disciplined movements was underlining that the need of the hour was ‘Sajjan Shakthi’ or the need to inform, educate and communicate which would translate into better communication and networking among leaders who were doing good work in their own areas, the very same qualities that their Chairman Emeritus had been strongly advocating and emphasizing as the mantra for the institution’s growth and success in his recent meetings and interactions.
Touching upon a variety of topics from women empowerment, total prohibition and answering questions from the audience Shri Mohan Bhagwat underlined the basic point that the word ‘Hindu’ stood for Universal thought and an inclusive culture which embraced and respected many differing views and it was not really a religion as it was commonly understood. Recalling Swami Vivekananda’s clarion call for the coming together of the Science of the West and Indian Spiritualism as the need of the hour the leader appealed that it was the right time for Bharath to stand up and show the way to the world going through turbulent and confused times. He observed that the role of the RSS was not to impose any particular ideology or faith on its cadre but to create bold and just men and women of upright moral values and high caliber who would in turn take the right and well informed decisions and lead their teams in the right way in whichever office or role they occupied. The spirited speech came to an end with his positive note that the number of nationalists far outnumbered the extremists and hence we should face and overcome the threat of terrorism boldly.