லேக்கனாமிர்தம் 6
Ekanathji , As I saw Him
ஸ்ரீ
ஏகநாத் ரானடே கன்யாகுமரி கடல் நடுவே விவேகானந்தர் பாறை நினைவுச் சின்னம் நிர்மாணிப்பதில் முக்கிய பங்கு
வகித்தவர். விவேகானந்த கேந்திரம் நிறுவியவர். பெங்களூரு விவேகானந்த கேந்திரத்தின் ‘விவேக சிஞ்சனா’ இரு மாத –
இரு மொழி இதழில் அவர் பற்றி நான் எழுதி வெளியான கட்டுரை.
Chennai
is a major publication centre for Vivekananda Kendra. VIVEKANANDA KENDRA
PATRIKA, the thematic half yearly English magazine and YUVA BHARATI, the
monthly English magazine are brought out from the Thiruvallikeni office of the
Kendra since 1972. As a cub journalist, I assisted the VKP editorial team of
1978 - 80 in a humble way in bringing out three consecutive issues with themes
‘The Indian Renaissance’, ‘Poverty’ and ‘Christianity’. That period provided me
with several opportunities to interact briefly with Ekanthji Ranade, the Editor.
**
On one occasion, when Ekanathji was present at our editorial staff meet, the
discussion focussed on how to present ideas diligently rather than dinning them
into the reader’s attention. Hesitantly I cited the instance of the ‘Armchair
Travelogue’ column of Reader’s Digest. The flora of distant Philippines
used to be described with the spire of a church invariably zooming in the
background - a case of smartly packaging religion along an otherwise mundane
depiction targeting tourists. Let us remember, over decades Ekanathji had
interacted with scores of VIPs and governments all over Bharat in connection
with Kendra work and Vivekananda Rock Memorial work earlier. A person of such eminence gracefully accepted
my suggestion that day leaving me
emotionally charged; but, for him, it was an occasion to pat performance. That
is not the end of the story; all of us in the room sat up in rapt attention
even as Ekanathji began to narrate his own experience. “During one of my
travels I met Shri Om Mehta, Minister of State (Home Affairs) in Indira
Gandhi's government, at Bhopal railway station platform. We exchanged pleasantries. Suddenly he
exclaimed, ‘Mr. Ranade, I adore your noble ideal of building a memorial for
Swami Vivekananda and the hard, sincere work you put in for that. If such a person like you belongs to an organisation,
the organisation should be great, I mean the RSS’. I knew how the Minister earlier
held a wrong notion about RSS.”
**
Years earlier, at daybreak on September 2, 1970, I was on the Vivekananda Rock
to cover the inaugural ceremony for ‘Thyagabhoomi’, a Tamil weekly. The
President of India and the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu were slated to arrive
minutes later. Sadhus and eminent saints had gathered all around the imposing
memorial at mid sea. One among them was
Swami Chinmayananda, who had famously conquered the entire thinking world
through his powerful Gita Gnana Yagna lectures. He was seated on a rock. Just
then he sighted Ekanathji coming along. Swamiji sprang to his feet with a roar,
“Hara Hara Gangey!” to greet Ekanathji. That spoke volumes not only of the
personality of Ekanathji but also his life dedicated to Desh and Dharma. Years
later, Ekanathji was awarded the ‘Bharat Seva Ratna’ by none other than the
senior Sankaracharya of Kanchi, in appreciation of strengthening national oneness through the
magnificent Vivekananda Rock Memorial at the land’s end. As a token of
appreciation of his mission of promoting national integration, the Railway authorities offered
him an all Bharat free travel paas.
**
Not many might have heard of the huge service project under Ekanathji’s able
guidance when the country needed it most.
It was in 1950. Ekanathji was Kshetra Pracharak for Poorvanchal Kshetra
comprising Bengal, Orissa, and Assam. A massive influx of Hindu refugees from
East Pakistan (now Bangla Desh) resulted after their religious persecution
there. The relief work by the ‘Vastuhara Sahayata Samiti’ organised by Ekanathji
was outstanding. “Service with spiritual orientation results in man-making
which is invariably and inseparably connected with nation building”, he would
say. That is the underlying principle Ekanathji stood for.
**
A tree is known by the fruit it bears. Ekanathji’s vision inspired a team of
social workers and educationists of Chennai to establish the Vivekananda
Educational Society (VES) in 1972. They all had been closely associated with Vivekananda Rock Memorial work at
Kanyakumari. Today VES runs two dozen schools providing quality education to students
from thousands of needy families across Chennai.
**
In Assam, Ekanathji once met a 7 year old girl at the residence of a Kendra
worker hailing from Maharashtra. He asked her,
how many languages she knew. When “four” was the reply, he wanted to
know wahat are they. Marathi, Hindi, Asamiya and English, she said. No difficulty in learning all four, he wanted
to know. The little girl asserted, absolutely no difficulty. When someone
complained about a task saying ‘It is difficult / impossible’, Ekanathji would
cite the example of the little ‘linguist’ of Assam. Everything depended on how
one looks at it, he would point out.
**
Impossible, as some may think, but Ekanathji could do it – not only the Rock
Memorial in mid sea; over decades Ekanathji wrote nearly 25,000 letters as part
of Rock Memorial and Vivekananda Kendra work. The point is, every letter was a work
of precision. One of his assistants told me how he used to mark corrections not
less than three times in every draft before it went in for final typing. Those
days, there was no computer.
**
Soon after the Rock Memorial inauguration, Ekanathji initiated the work to
install Saint poet Thiruvalluvar’s statue off Kanyakumari shore. Years later, a
133-foot high statue came up as proof of Ekanathji’s farsightedness.
**
This happened in 1960s on Yugadi, the new year’s day according to lunar
calendar. Ekanathji was then the all India bauddhik pramukh of RSS; he
was present at the Royapettah shakha, close to Thiruvallikeni VRMC office. That
day I was to give a talk there on the significance of Yugadi which coincides
with the birthday of Dr K.B. Hedgewar, the founder of RSS and childhood mentor
of Ekanathji. In real trepidation I completed my task. On our request Ekanathji
briefly addressed the swayamsevaks gathered at the function. In a humourous
vein, he spoke of the short lived ‘new year resolutions’ like “writing diary
daily” and added, “It is a weakness to look for an auspicious day to start
doing a good work. If you are convinced that a cause is good, begin to work for
it right away”. His own life stood there as a shining example for all of us to
see. He started working for the national cause in his teens and was immersed in
it till his end came on August 22, 1982.
**
Yes, Ekanathji’s life is marked by the dictum, ‘One life, One mission’. That
applies to every small detail all along
his lifetime. Dr. Hedgewar advised schoolboy Nath, as Ekanathji was known, to
do Surya Namaskar daily. As the legend goes, Ekanathji was found practising it
well past 60 years of his age. He attained Nirvana at the age of 68, as the
official records of Kendra shows. Nirvana, yes. Though he wore no saffron
clothes, his life was as selfless as that of a Sanyasi. Also, like a sadhu, he had
no fear for anything. He would stand for a long time on the Chennai seashore particularly
when cyclone hits the coast. Perhaps, he
saw the cyclone as a reflection of the stormy nature of his life journey. (VIVEKA SINCHANA / July-August 2024)
Shri Ekanath Ranade
S.S.
Mahadevan
Senior Journalist
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