KendraUnfolds

This hallowed Rock may be regarded as having the same
significance in the life of Swami Vivekananda as the Bodhi tree
at Gaya has in Gautam Buddha’s life. Because, it was here that
Swami Vivekananda in his deep meditation discovered the great
ancient gospel “SERVE MAN SERVE GOD” which formed the
central theme of his teachings.

The motivation behind mobilizing the whole country in
bringing into being this magnificent Rock Memorial at a huge cost
of Rs. One crore and thirtyfive lakhs was to focus the attention of
the people on the aforesaid divine message that Swamiji received
on this Rock. As expected, about four to five thousand people
daily visit this Memorial which, along with the other activities
that have been set in motion here to propagate that message, do
produce the desired results.

It is to give practical shape to that robust message of selfless
service that, immediately after the construction of the mid-sea
Rock Memorial, the man-making and nation-building Service
activities have been started with their headquarters located on the
shore opposite. The entire area which houses this headquarters
is now well-known as Vivekanandapuram campus.

1. Our Organisation engaged itself first in training a cadre
of selfless life-workers. The enclosed folder gives detailed
information about the minimum qualifications of the aspirant
life-workers and other relevant matters pertaining to the building
of this significant cadre. We enroll and train dedicated workers,
both men and women, pledged to life-long service, with the
understanding that they will be taken care of in all respects for
all their life. However, the total period of training is of four years,
after which the aspirants qualify themselves for being accepted
as ‘JEEVAN VRATIS’ and are free to take to married life if they
so decide. It is worthwhile to mention that, so far, we have been
able to deploy about seventyfive life-workers in the field.

2. Though our life-workers are to be deployed all over the
country, we are, presently, concentrating our service activities
mainly in the North Eastern regions i.e. Arunachal Pradesh,

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Meghalaya, Nagaland, Assam, Manipur and Sikkim, and also in
Andaman & Nicobar etc. As a result, within a short period of
six-seven years of our career, we have set up seven residential
schools, with health centres attached to some of them, in the
tribal areas of Arunachal Pradesh. Another six schools are to be
added to the existing seven schools soon, two of which are to
be for tribal girls, to be managed exclusively by our lady life-
workers.

3. Similarly to increase the flow of dedicated and trained
social workers, efforts are afoot to set up, initially, four regional
training centers at convenient sites near Bombay, Ajmer, Tinsukia
(ASSAM) and Anantnag (Kashmir). These training centers are
expected to start functioning in the near future. Twelve such
training centers are planned to be set up all over the country in
the fullness of time.

4. We have also adequate facilities at Kanyakumari for
imparting Yoga training, both theory and practice. We hold
21-day training classes thrice in a year, one of them being held
exclusively for ladies, which is conducted solely by our trained
lady-workers.

5. We also organize short term spiritual retreats, both for
men and women, at suitable intervals. We also run periodical
personality development camps, separately for school and
college going boys and girls.

6. We run a Library and a Reading Room at Kanyakumari for
the benefit of trainees and visitors.

7. We run a Balwadi, specially for the benefit of the poor
fishermen community at Kanyakumari. We also run a free
dispensary for their benefit.

8. We provide facilities for Training in Tailoring to the needy
local women, so that they may be equipped for self-employment.

9. We propose to set up soon a research center to promote the
cause of traditional Yoga, as expounded by the sage Patanjali and
others of the traditional school.

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10. We propose to start an All India Corresponsdence course
for the study and spread of Sanskrit. As an initial step, we held
a Sanskrit Shibir for seven days, recently. About 30 lovers of
Sanskrit participated in that get-together. Sanskrit was the
only medium for all the programmes of the Shibir, formal and
informal.

We are fully confident that you will like to know more about
our movement. I, therefore, fervently request you to visit our
place at your earliest convenience. On my part, when I come to
Delhi next, I shall extend my journey to Modinagar to call on you
and to apprise you of our work in person. I am expected to visit
the capital in April.

I am enclosing for your further information a copy of our
Memorandum of Association as also of the printed audited
report of the organisation for the year 1978. I am also enclosing a
copy of the latest issue of Vivekananda Kendra Samachar, a six-
monthly Bulletin, published for supplying information to our
well-wishers.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

Encl: as above.

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EKNATHJI

The Man With Capital ‘M’
[Biographical sketch]

‘Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life, think of it, dream
of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part
of your body be full of that idea and just leave every other
idea alone. This is the way to success and this is the way great
spiritual giants are produced”. That was how a spiritual giant
like Mananeeya Eknathji was produced. The unique genius of
this master-organiser lay not merely in erecting the Memorial
on the Rock but in conceiving and organizing a functional,
humanitarian mission to serve God in man. He intended this to
serve as a nucleus for the regeneration of India, to perform the
man-making task so dear to Swami Vivekananda.

“It is only another Vivekananda who can understand what this
Vivekananda has done”, said Swamiji and he must have been
satisfied after seeing Eknathji’s work. The whole life of Eknathji
is an illustration of the old adage: “He that loseth life shall find
it”.

Bom on 19th November 1914 at Timtala in the Amaravati
district of Maharashtra, he was the eighth child of his father,
Sri Ramakrishna Ranade and mother Smt.Ramabai. Towards
the end of 1921 his father being very sick, shifted along with
his family to Nagpur to stay with his eldest son. But the health
deteriorated and he passed away in May 1923. In 1926, Nath had
once come to his sister’s house as she was also at Nagpur. When
Eknathji, popularly known as Nath in his childhood was about
6 years old, he came to Nagpur to stay with his eldest brother
who was married and had settled there. It was in those days that

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Eknathji was introduced to Rash,triya Swayam Sevak Sangh. Shri
Anna Sohoni, Eknathji’s brother-in-law was a close associate of
Dr.K.B.Hedgewar, the founder of RSS. Since then, he went to the
Shakha regularly. He was in that famous ‘Kusti Pathak’ in the
RSS on which Doctorji showered more affection and care.

In the RSS, the immense physical strength and mental energies
of Eknathji were channelised towards patriotism. The burning
patriotism in his heart even led him to do some experiments
in bomb making along with some other Swayamsevaks. When
Doctorji came to know about it, he stopped these experiments,
explaining to them the need for a more organized and fearless
path in which all people could join for national reconstruction
and not only for political freedom. He had decided to work for
the national regeneration, through RSS, but Doctorji wanted him
to complete his graduation before dedicating his life. Therefore
Eknathji decided to take philosophy for his graduation after his
matriculation examination in 1932. But his elder brother advised
him to take engineering and even brought the books to show
his resolve. There was a tug-of-war between the two brothers.
Eknathji did not even touch the engineering books and his brother
refused to admit him in Arts College. The college sessions had
already started, but Eknathji was very firm and even went on
hunger strike.

At last his sister-in-law had to intervene and convince his brother
to send him to Hislop College, Nagpur, to study Philosophy. It
was a period in Eknathji’s life, which proved his abilities and
capacity. He always proved himself to be the best among his
group, as his leadership qualities emerged. His strength, physical
mental, intellectual and spiritual proved his heroic nature. He
was destined to be a great man with capital M.

Bible classes were compulsory in Hislop College, it being a

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Christian Missionary College. Prof. Phillips, a convert, taught
the Bible. Though it was a Bible class, more times was devoted
for criticising Hinduism. Eknathji realized that, for the next
four or five years he would have to listen to this derogation. He
thought of answering back these allegations. That led him to the
Gita Rahasya of Lokamanya Tilak. When Gita Rahasya made
references to Upanishads, he took to the study of Upanishads
and that led him to Vivekananda’s literature. Every word of
Swami Vivekananda inspired him. He found an answer not only
for the Christian missionaries but also for his life, as later in one
of his letters he wrote (16-5-72), ‘The main theme of my life is to
take the message of Sanatana Dharma to every home and pave
the way for launching, in a big way, the man-making programme
preached and envisaged by great seers like Swami Vivekananda’.
Gradually the Bible class turned out to be Eknathji’s class. His
convincing arguments and presentation of the subject were
praised by one and all, including Prof. Philips himself. And yet,
through the Principal it was suggested that he might be allowed
to be absent from the Bible class and he could be marked present.
But Eknathji politely declined the idea, saying that he wanted
to understand the Bible and that was why he was clearing his
doubts by raising questions and by quoting the Gita in the class.
He continued to attend the class in the same active way till he
passed his B.A.(Hons).

During his college days, Eknathji’s family underwent many
difficulties like his mother’s death in 1933, separation of his
two elder brothers and financial strains, as his eldest brother’s
business failed. He therefore could not pay his fees at the college
in time. The Principal, Macfaden who resented the nationalist
student, warned him that he would not be allowed to sit for the
examination unless he paid the fees. Though he could not pay
the fees earlier, as the examinations neared, with the help of his

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friends, he could at last remit the fees. In spite of that, his name
was found on the notice board in the list of candidates who were
debarred from writing the examination for various reasons. The
reason attributed for the deletion of his name was that he had not
completed the minimum period of attendance required, because
according to the college rules, a student was marked absent if the
fees were not paid.

The Principal, who disliked Eknathji because of his intense
love for his country and culture, had gone on leave to England.
Therefore, his deputy, Prof. Gardner, had taken over as acting
Principal, Eknathji went straight to him and told that the reason
given for his detention was wrong, as he was regular in his
attendance. When Prof. Gardner quoted the rule, Eknathji told
him: “So, you are punishing me for my poverty”. His statement
touched the acting Principal and he told Eknathji that he would
be allowed to write the examination if he could prove his
attendance. Eknathji first approached Prof. Philips who taught
the Bible, for the certificate of attendance. Prof. Philips had to
certify that he was present in all the Bible classes. Then Eknathji
approached other Heads of the Departments who after seeing
the certificate of Prof. Philips, all gave their letters certifying his
regular attendance.

Prof. Gardner was so impressed that he not only allowed him
to write the examination but also sanctioned a scholarship to
Eknathji, the first Hindu student to get it. He further advised
Eknathji to take B.A. (Hons) which was equal to M.A., instead of
B.A. Eknathji would have completed his M.A. in 1937, but as his
interest in the RSS activities took more of his time, he had to take
the help of one Prof. Moses who also admired Eknathji, to allow
him on health reason, to write the examination in 1938.

After his examination he went to Jabalpur as Prachar Pramukh

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of Maha Koshal Prant, (i.e., part of Madhya Pradesh). According
to the provisions of a certain Goonda Act of that time, the
Government could arrest Eknathji as he was neither a student
nor could he show himself as engaged in any profession. He
therefore, enrolled himself as a student of Law College and
leisurely passed LL.B in first class in 1945.'

In 1946, he became the Prachar Pramukh of Mahakoshal and
Madhya Bharat. Eknathji was very systematic in his work and a
strict disciplinarian. He would do perfectly any organizational
work undertaken by him and expected the same perfection from
all. Within two months, he could give speeches in literary Hindi.
He used to insist on others that they should also use chaste Hindi
When a colleague questioned him why, he said: “The sublime
thoughts should be expressed in a befitting language if you want
those thoughts to touch the hearts of the people.”

He could sing songs, could play perfectly well any instrument in
the Sangha band, and his physique and physical strength were
legendary; while playing Kabaddi, he could easily drag six or
seven players along with him. His Boudhik (speech) also used
to be thought provoking. Once at Akola in the second year OTC,
Guruji Golwalkar was so impressed with his speech that he told
the Swayamsevaks, “Even if you forget my speech, it does not
matter, but remember what Eknathji tells”.

Even insignificant activities like drying of clothes or keeping
the things properly or his handwriting always reflected his
perfection. He expected the same level of perfection from all and
when that was not done, he used to get angry. Workers used to
be scared of his temper and yet they were very free to express
their thoughts to him. as he was always open to new ideas,
and problem from new angles. He was a thinker and hence no
thought of any person was a taboo to him.

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In 1948, when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, the RSS
was banned and all its leaders and many of the workers were
arrested. Eknathji went underground and organized the work so
well that he was called as underground Sarsanghachalak in those
days. Eknathj i met many leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
and Mouli Chandra Sharma, regarding the lifting of the ban on
RSS. He used to be so forthright in putting his views to Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel that once even GD.Birla, who was present in
meeting became pensive. But that was his way. He would spare
any efforts to put it in right words and persuasive tone and
would not compromise on principles. He would always tell the
truth frankly and so great was his commitment to his ideals that
his opponents would be impressed and become his friends. Till
that time, there was no written constitution of RSS. To convince
the Government that it was purely a cultural organization, and
not a militant or communal organization a constitution in black
and white was essential Eknathji was the main architect of the
constitution of RSS. Eknathji had done all the groundwork for
lifting the ban but he was himself arrested just one month before
the ban was lifted.

In 1950, he became the Prachar Pramukh of Poorvanchal
comprising the Eastern and North-Eastern states, Bengal and
Orissa. Here he learnt fluent Bengali. Thousands of refugees
were pouring in Calcutta following the tragic partition. Eknathji
organized the “Vastuhara Sahayata Samiti”, for the rehabilitation
of refugees. It was a very hard task. Hundreds of Samitis for
relief supported by the Government collapsed within a month
and only the Samiti organized by Eknathji worked continuously
for many years for the betterment of the refugees.

He also worked as Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh (all India
Organising Secretary) from 1953 to 1956. He worked in the

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capacity of general Secretary of RSS from 1956 to 1962 and as
Akhila Bharatiya Baudhik Pramukh from 1962 to 1963. Eknathji
systematised the work of RSS during his General Secretaryship.
He thought, planned and worked for making the RSS more broad-
based for reaching the villages. He had great reverence for Shri
Guruji and had more leaning towards the spiritual and cultural
aspect of Guruji and his inheritance from the Ramakrishna Order.

The truth of the essential divinity of man as proclaimed by
Swami Vivekananda captured his heart. He felt no nation can
be built by ignoring half its population, i.e., women. Women are
also equally capable of contributing to nation-building but they
are not provided such platform. He felt that such work was the
need of the hour. He had the opportunity to meet almost all the
great leaders and thinkers of that time in our country. He had
very good rapport with almost all of them. He saw all of them
had the same goal in their hearts, i.e., the well being of all men
and national reconstruction. Yet they failed to understand each
other as the languages in which they described their goals were
different. The difference in expression was due to the banners
under which they worked. He felt the need of such work which
should steer clear of politics, and at the same time steer clear of all
groups in the spiritual and social realms under different banners
and which should be a meeting place for all spiritual, cultural
and nationalist forces in the country. The whole emphasis in
that work should be on the innate power and goodness, i.e., the
potential divinity of both men and women.

All these thoughts were crystallized further when he did the
exhaustive and intensive reading of the Complete Works of
Swamiji to compile a centenary volume. He virtually locked
himself up with the Complete Works of Swamiji. The dream
of Swami Vivekananda that, “A hundred thousand men and

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women fired with the zeal of holiness, fortified with eternal faith
in the Lord and nerved to lion’s courage with their sympathy for
the poor, and the fallen and the downtrodden will go over the
length and breadth of the land preaching the gospel of help, the
gospel of social raising-up, the gospel of equality”, caught hold
of Eknathji. The 10,000 copies of “Rousing Call to Hindu Nation”
compiled by Eknathji were sold within two months as Eknathji
had succeeded in compiling in a very effective way the inspiring
message of Swamiji. Its second edition too was sold out in no
time; it was also translated in almost all the Indian Languages.

The year 1963, the birth centenary year of Swami Vivekananda,
was celebrated all over India in various ways. In his Parivrajaka
days Swami Vivekananda had come to Kanyakumari and he
meditated for three days and nights on the rock in the mid-sea
where Devi Parvati had done penance in the good olden days
to attain hand of Shiva. It was here that the mission of his life
dawned on him. That is why this Rock has great significance
in the life of Swamiji. To commemorate this great event, the
Committee at Kanyakumari thought that it should erect a statue
of Swamiji on the rock. But then, a great tussle ensued. A section
of the local fishermen, in order to stall the work, started claiming
that the Rock was known as “St. Xavier’s Rock” as in the past the
saint had visited the Rock. So they wanted to build a Church or at
least erect a Cross there. The situation began to become serious.
The local Committee felt helpless and to make the Committee
strong it became a State-level one and then All-India committee.
Yet the problem worsened as Government also closed its doors.

The Committee members approached Shri Guruji to assign this
work to Eknathji as this task needed only a person of Eknathji’s
acumen. When Guruji enquired from Eknathji about his
willingness, to undertake the work, Eknathji who was already

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filled with Swamiji’s spirit conveyed his thoughts that he
believed in the existence and efficacy of a memorial in stone only
if it was reflected in the thoughts and deeds of the people. The
real lasting memorial should be built in the hearts of the people.
That would be possible only when a fitting living memorial was
also propagated. He enquired whether he would be permitted
to do that too. Shri Guruji who knew the train of thoughts of
Eknathji as well as his capacity agreed to relieve him from the
work of RSS.

He became the Organising Secretary of Swami Vivekananda
Centenary Committee and the Vivekananda Rock Memorial
Committee in August 1963. Some of his well-wishers warned him
that this memorial would not come up even in his lifetime and
Government would never give permission for the memorial on
the Rock. But Eknathji was such a visionary who could translate
the vision into reality by clear thinking, perfect planning,
inspiring efforts and hard work. He not only envisaged the grand
memorial but also the unique service organization after that.

He was a person who took calculated risks. The word fear was not
in his dictionary. Even when he was a young boy, he had jumped
from the first floor of his house to save a child from an onrushing
horse. Though there was a warrant for his arrest, still he dared
to meet the Chief of Intelligence Bureau, Shri Mullick to brief
him about the ill-treatment given to the RSS workers in jail and
requested him to stop that. That was his way. He would always
tackle the problems at their roots. Now also he found that the
key figures in opposing the memorial were Shri Bhaktavatsalam,
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and Shri Humayun Kabir, Union
Minister for Cultural Affairs. He repeatedly met them and after
the meetings, used to send them the text of their talks correct to
each letter / verbatim. He saw to it that at last Shri Humayun Kabir

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issued a statement saying that he was not against the building
of the Memorial. He knew that Shri Bhaktavatsalam would be
prevailed upon with Prime Minister Pandit Nehru’s agreement
and that was ultimately possible with the help of the Parliament
So, he met all the Members of the Parliament and collected the
signatures of 323 Members of the Parliament of all parties on
two copies of an appeal for according sanction for the Memorial.
When he handed over one copy to Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, he
was struck with surprise at the capacity of Eknathji that he was
reported to have said: “If I can get only two Eknathji, I will change
the fate of the Congress”. Shri Bhaktavatsalam finally had to bow
to the wishes of the Parliament - i.e., the people themselves! The
issue of Vivekananda Rock Memorial had all the potentialities of
becoming a political and communal one, but it goes to the credit
of Eknathji that he handled it so well that instead of becoming
a point of conflict, it became the meeting point of all the groups
whether spiritual or secular — as envisaged by Eknathji.

Initially the budget for the Memorial was Rs.30,000/-. But
Eknathji wanted a grand and unique Memorial, which would
reflect the aspirations of the whole of India. Thus the budget end
up to Rs.60 lakhs and finally ended with Rs.135 lakhs.

The way the money was raised proved again that the Memorial
was a national monument. Out of 135 lakhs, Rs.85 lakhs were
collected from the public by way of donations of Re.l/-, Rs.2/- ,
and Rs.5/-. Each State Government donated a sum of Rs.l lakh for
the Memorial.

All the political big shots, spiritual giants and social leaders
visited the Memorial during the inauguration period. Thus he
proved his organizing capacity in building this Memorial in a
record time of 6 years and also vindicated his conviction that if
appealed properly all persons irrespective of their caste, colour

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and creed, would respond positively for a higher purpose. This
conviction of Eknathji always enabled him to motivate the people
towards higher causes.

Yet, he never claimed any credit for the Memorial. When
Dr.S.B.Varnekar added his name in the preamble to the Sanskrit
drama “Vivekananda Vijayam” paid compliments to him for
erecting such grand Memorial he wrote to him on 28-7-71:

“As you are aware, it is the VRMC (Vivekananda Rock Memorial
Committee) that has put up the VRM at Kanyakumari. To pick
up one individual member and credit him with the work of the
Whole Committee is neither right nor fair. You are therefore
requested to make a suitable alteration in the said portion which
in its present form sounds to me quite improper and in bad taste”.

Really his self-effacement was so complete that when he
passed away in 1982, his photograph was not available even
for condolence meetings either at Kanyakumari or at all places
where he had worked.

The revolutionary and the visionary in him were revealed
in his conceiving of Vivekananda Kendra. Right from 1964
onwards he alluded to his unique service mission in his letters.
In a letter written to Shri GD.Birla in Hindi on 5.4.65, he wrote:
“Because of the work of Vivekananda Rock Memorial 1 got an
opportunity to move in and around Kanyakumari and study the
life of uneducated, innocent fishermen and other communities
from close quarters. Since long though many of them have
become Christians even then the Hindu thought and behaviour
is prominently present in them. The work of bringing all those
communities back to the larger Hindu fold is not as difficult as
it appears to be. Even after such long time all of them have not
disassociated from Hindu society. To me most of them appear
to be oriented to Hindu societies. The need is for planned and

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organized efforts of those few dedicated workers who have an
inborn natural concern and feeling of oneness for the neglected
poor people”.

“The Memorial of Swami Vivekananda is only a forerunner of
that grand plan. If my intuition did not show that clear direction
for future line of action, I would not have taken any interest in
this spiritless work of laying stone upon stone”.

“It is only this vision of that sacred mission hidden in the womb
of the future that has inspired and spurred me to undertake this
work of the Memorial”.

According to him, the Vivekananda Kendra inaugurated on
7th January 1972 was not to remain merely an institution or an
organization thus adding to the already existing organization.
He conceived Vivekananda Kendra as a thought movement
which will take the thoughts of Swami Vivekananda that “they
alone live who live for others; the rest are more dead than alive”,
to every person. The Kendra does not insist that everyone should
work under its banner. A person can work under any banner.
Only he should worship God in man, service to man should
become his spiritual Sadhana. He wanted the religious fervour
in the country to be converted into national reconstruction.

To take this thought to the nooks and corners, a cadre is to be
created. Thus Vivekananda Kendra is a cadre-based organization
where both men and women can work. Thus he realized his
dream Providing opportunities for women also. Not only that,
when many warned him how difficult a task he was undertaking,
he said: “I am aware of the difficult experiment of putting men
and women together. But somebody has to do it. It was also the
dream of Swami Vivekananda. I cannot think of an All India
organisation with “man-making and nation-building as its twin
ideals and neglecting nearly half of its population, the women.

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A time will come and the women will show that they are equally
needed in this task of national regeneration”. He was well known
for his short temper in RSS. But with this concern that young
lady life-workers leaving home and coming to the Kendra needs
more of a mother’s care, he even controlled his temper so much
so that he was more like a mother to the lady life-workers than a
father or guide.

Though he named the second phase “Vivekananda Kendra”,
he was very careful in seeing that the workers of Vivekananda
Kendra did not become Vivekanandites. He was against
deifying great persons and then giving up the responsibility of
moulding our lives like them. Even when he was seven years
old after seeing an exhibition held during the All India Congress
Committee meeting at Nagpur in 1921, he had argued with his
mother how they could show Lok Manya Tilak’s model with
four hands, even though he had done great work, as he was just
like us. His mother could not convince him properly. He said
that “Swamiji is inspiring to us not because he was divine and
he descended upon earth but because he was an ordinary being
like us, who suffered, who doubted but then by dint of his Tapas
rose to the divine heights. It is very much true that each soul is
potentially divine. We get the confidence to attain that divinity
when we come across such personalities”. Swami Vivekananda
also said he is an atheist who does not believe in himself. It is
self-confidence that we should infuse in everyone. The inactivity
in the country, in spite of religiosity, if it is to be removed then
this particular teaching must be adhered to.

This is why he did not recommended puja of Swami Vivekananda
but as per his teachings enshrined the all-encompassing “OM”
worship. He wanted the Kendra to become the meeting point of
all spiritual, patriotic and social forces in the country. It was for

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this reason that he preferred to have Vivekananda Kendra as an
independent organisation though he had very cordial relations
with RSS as well as the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, the
mother organisations of the Kendra.

His evolutionary idea was also revealed when he called
Vivekananda Kendra as a lay order. Within this short span of
eight years, the Kendra started two monthlies, a quarterly and
two half-yearly magazines. Centers were opened in many States,
seven schools in Arunachal Pradesh. But it was hardly eight
years when this unique experiment of Vivekananda Kendra was
in a very fluid stage that he had cerebral hemorrhage on 2nd April
1980 because of his overstrain. Unless the stipulated work was
over, he would not sleep but would get up as usual early in the
morning.

The Doctors had hardly any hope of his recovery but here again
his tremendous will-power worked a miracle. He recovered
within a year. In the beginning, he had completely lost his
memory. It was pathetically touching to see how a man could
be one with his mission. The first thing that he ever remembered
was the lines of the Kendra prayer. When photographs were
shown to him to recognize his own, he picked up the photo of
the standing picture of Swami Vivekananda saying, “This is my
photo”. One is reminded of Saint Jnaneshwar’s Abhanga where
he says, “When I looked into the mirror I could not see me but
only you. Because Krishna has made me so (mad after him)”.
Eknathji who had tried so hard to have that inspiring posture of
swamiji on the Memorial, really it seemed, had forgotten himself.

Slowly his memory too came back, only it was not that remarkable
memory which he had before, but a normal forgetful one like
ours. In 1963 when he had first attended the meeting of him
local workers at Kanyakumari, all members were introduced

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to him. After the meeting he could tell back all the 70 to 80
unfamiliar South Indian names. He could remember each and
every word and the sequence of discussions he used to have with
the dignitaries. He would recognize any person even after a gap
of 30 years. That same Eknathji who had till now seemed to be
a superman looked quite ordinary like us when he, too forgot
names while talking with others.

Now he felt that the time was slipping out. He wanted to do so
my things in due course but now he had to spell them out then
if they appeared premature or out of place. It was this urgency
which led him to establish the Vivekananda Kendra International
in 1981, though he knew quite well that at present the work was
more needed in India than abroad. But he knew that the message
of Swami Vivekananda of the divinity of man has to be taken
out beyond the frontiers of the country also, then some of his
well wishers doubted about the work to be carried on further
when the Kendra was still in its infant stage, said: “There are
hundreds of Eknaths working for the cause der the guidance of
real Eknath, i.e., Swami Vivekananda. Whether I will be there or
not, the work has to progress”.

In the year 1982, he went round the country in spite of medical
advice that he should not exert himself. He tried to meet the
maximum number of people he could. Earlier he had two heart
attacks. It was on 22nd August 1982 -Ganesh Chathurthi Day-
when he was at the Madras office after his all India tour on
his way back to Kanyakumari that a heart attack removed him
physically from the Kendra. Long back when he was traveling by
plane, some defect had developed in the plane. His co-travellers
became panicky and at that time he told them “Don’t worry. As
I have yet to do a lot of work, I cannot die and hence nothing
can happen to the plane”. Such tremendous faith he had in his

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mission of life. Perhaps this time he knew that he had laid the
outline of the work, it was for others to work out the details, and
he yielded calmly to Death.

As rightly said by a High Court Judge, “He was a great Karmayogi
of the type Srimad Bhagwad Geeta contemplated and Swamiji
preached. In a nutshell, Shri Ranade was a link between Swami
Vivekananda and the present people of India. We can feel as
having Shri Eknathji Ranade as our ideal, as a man, as a worker,
as a leader and as a great patriot”.

Really he was ideal as a man, as he lived a life with a purpose.
He was an ideal worker as by dint of hard work he excelled in
physical strength, mental, emotional, and intellectual faculties
and in the spiritual realm and devoted that excellence towards
the cause he had undertaken. He was ideal as a leader because
though he was all-pervasive in his activities, yet complete self-
effacement was his main virtue. Though he never compromised
his ideals yet he still had such intimate relations and genuine
concern for workers that everyone felt that he was more close to
Eknathji than others. There was humility in his claiming victory
and equanimity in accepting defeat. He was ideal as a patriot;
his nationalism meant cherishing age-old values of India to
rejuvenate India. It was his firm faith that India has to rejuvenate
herself, to fulfil her mission of spiritualising the world.

The day when Vivekananda Kendra takes these two thoughts -

‘Each soul is potentially divine’, and They alone live who live
for others; the rest are more dead than alive’, to each person
under the Sun, then we can say that the dream which Swami
Vivekananda had and which Eknathji translated into reality has
been fulfilled.

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ABOUT VIVEKANANDA KENDRA

Swami Vivekananda, with intense love in his heart for the motherland
undertook wanderings all over India. He came to Kanyakumari and sat
on 25th, 26th and 27th December 1892 on the mid-sea rock meditating
on India’s past, present and future.

It was on this Rock that he discovered the mission for glorious India
and later shook the world by India’s spirituality. On this sanctified place
Mananeeya Sri Eknathji Ranade, with the participation of millions of
people of India constructed the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, which
symbolizes the glorious mission of India as seen by Swami Vivekanan-
da in his meditation. Millions of people visit this monument at Kanya-
kumari and the three permanent Exhibitions - “Arise Awake”, “The
Wandering Monk” and “Gangotri” based on the Life and Message of
Swami Vivekananda and Mananeeya Sri Eknathji get inspired to work
for the nation.

Along with this Memorial, Sri Eknathji Ranade was founded Vivekanan-
da Kendra a “spiritually oriented service mission” to translate Swami
Vivekananda’s vision of glorious India into action. Vivekananda Ken-
dra calls upon those youth to be the life-workers and dedicate their life
in the service of the nation.

For actualizing this vision, the Kendra has over 813 activity centres
spread over 24 states of India to work for all sections of the society to
rebuild the nation. To achieve this, Life-workers and the local work-
ers of the Kendra, carry out various service activities through Yoga,
Organizing Youth and Women, Rural Development, Education, Devel-
opment of Natural Resources, and Publications based on the life and
message of Swami Vivekananda. The Kendra urges all to join in this
task of national regeneration.

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