Arise Bharat

There is one unique and good thing about X, formerly known as Twitter—to keep their viewers engaged, many politicians nowadays post about birthdays or death anniversaries of freedom fighters, other politicians of Saints, and literary figures. I recently found that September 27 is an establishment day of RSS, and that reminded me of one interesting anecdote from the life of Shri Madhavrao Golawalkar, fondly and more widely known as Guru ji Golwalkar.

Shri Anantaro Devkule and Shri Madhavrao Golwalkar together were swayamsevaks from a very young age. Apart from their devotion towards Sangh, they both were close friends due to their love of Hindustani classical music. Shri Anantaro took formal music education from a well-known teacher – Shri Mirashi buwa. And Anantrao used to play the harmonium very well. Madhavrao used to play the flute (‘bansuri’) beautifully. Madhavrao playing the flute like Lord Shri Krishna, whom he named after, is a beautiful coincidence. Whenever Anantrao and Madhavrao met in Nagpur, they used to have a ‘mehfil’ of music with Anantrao on harmonium and Madhavrao on flute. Their friendship grew on the winds of music. If Madhavrao is out of town and has yet to have the opportunity to get together with Anantrao, then he would write him letters in English about music and such topics.

As time passed, Madhavrao kept rising through the Sangh ranks, and slowly, Madhavrao became Guru Ji.

Meanwhile, Anantrao remained a Swayamsevak and a Sangh karyakarta.

One of Sangh’s winter camps was organized in Pune. Anantrao attended the camp as a karyakarta, and Guru Ji also participated in the same camp. One late night, after a long day, Anantrao came back to his room in the camp. He changed his clothes and was about to go to bed when someone knocked on the door. Anantrao opened the door and was pleasantly surprised that Guru Ji had come knocking!

Guru Ji said, “Let’s walk, Ananta; we have not met in a long time.”

It was a chilly night, and Guru Ji wore a long winter coat. The coat was for cold weather but was also his way of staying anonymous as much as possible. Both of them walked towards the boxing ring area of S.P College. A large well was there, and both sat on the corner of the well’s wall. It was almost midnight, and everything around had quieted down. Guru Ji then calmly took his flute out from his winter overcoat. Anantrao suddenly felt excited to see Guru Ji holding his flute. Guru ji was no longer Guru ji but now has become Madhavrao, a friend from old times.
“Madhav, the timing is right to play Raag Malkansa.”
Guru Ji started playing, and the atmosphere soon was filled with a beautiful rendition of Malkansa on flute. It was almost magical. Guru Ji played for almost 20 minutes. Guru Ji then stopped and asked Anantrao what he should play next.
Anantrao said, “We should get back to the camp. I am sure people are already looking for you. But can we close this beautiful mehfil after you play Bhairavi?”
Guru ji started playing Raag Bhairavi. He hit all the correct notes despite not having an ensemble of other instruments. But his Bhairavi felt nostalgic and sad in tone as if something was about to come to an end.
After completing the rendition of Bhariavi, Guru Ji put his flute back in the overcoat and said, “Let’s go back, Ananta.”

Both of them started to head back, but then suddenly, Guru Ji took his flute out and threw it in the well. Anantrao was taken back and shaken to see the unfolding. He was so confused that he could not say anything.

“The phase of life with flute is over, Ananta,” Guru Ji said.

Guru Ji has decided to let go of his most personal and cherished passion. He has decided to focus solely on the Sangha work for the rest of his life. Guru Ji’s life will now move forward on the tunes of Sangh’s bugle only.

Reference : Vyakti aani Prakriti : S.H.Deshpande.

Compiled by : Pradeep Raut.

Translated from Marathi to English by Chinmay Rahalkar.