From the moment he was inspired
by the idea of a rock memorial for Swami Vivekananda he allowed that idea to
take up his entire being. The idea evolved on him; first the rock memorial to
Swami Vivekananda – in that last piece of Indian mainland where the great son
of Mother India visualized his mission and then a living memorial to Swami
Vivekananda – an institution of dedicated men and women - a non-sanyasi order
of workers for spirituality based social empowerment of the down-trodden and
the renaissance of the Indian society. His spirituality was all encompassing.
He created an institution that took care of the toddlers in Balwadis ; an
institution that also published the most authentic and elaborate book to date
on the contribution of India to world civilization;
How did this become possible?
Eknathji himself explains how this happened:
How will I
justify while talking to the people for money for putting up the structure?
Will a simple structure be enough to perpetuate Swami Vivekananda’s memory? All
these thoughts came to my mind. I said to myself that whatever came should be
welcomed and at the same time we should plan in such a way that some good was
achieved out of this Memorial when it came up. This Memorial should form a
nucleus for something still greater. What would be that and how this situation
could be made best use of for that purpose?
With this fireling seeded in his
heart he started working. And the fireling became a mighty flame illuminating
all his works and guiding all his actions; it attracted all the needed
ingredients – both human and material. By 1967 as the work was progressing and
new challenges in the form of unforeseen problems arose in the mission of
building the rock memorial, his vision of the living memorial was becoming more
concretized. In his letter dated 21-12-1967 he wrote:
I can assure
you that this big Vivekananda Memorial is destined to develop into an equally
big and even bigger centre of activities envisaged and preached by Swami
Viveakananda. …in the fullness of time, the Committee’s plans in this regard
are finalized and people of intense feeling and devotion like you are called
upon by the Committee to come forward to take up the work of serving the poor
and the downtrodden.
At last when the Rock Memorial
came up against the tides of all odds, it was not just a physical building on
the rock as a tourist attraction or mere architectural memorial with no life
left. But what emerged was a living memorial of humans united by the mission of
serving the poor, fallen and the downtrodden through many means – from teaching
Yoga to conducting livelihood classes in rural areas to taking quality modern
education to the tribal communities in the far away border states which vital
for the national security to publishing invigorating literature. Here then is a classic example of how one
single idea taken up by a person transforms him into a great nation builder.
Eknathji is the living example of the words of Swami Vivekananda:
“Take up one
idea. Make that one idea your life; dream of it; think of it; live on that
idea. Let the brain, the body, 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.”
In the same way in approaching
the people for the building of the Rock Memorial and getting not just donations
but their heartfelt support as well as possible contribution beyond the
financial contribution, he shunned none based on ideology or other divisions.
Beyond the cloaks and colors of politics and ideologies which people were
wearing, he was able to see their Hindu heart. In his own words:
There is
almost a uniform idea or aspiration in the minds of all people belonging to
different political groups as to what should be the future of India. But then because of politics you find
differences. It is the politics that divides us. Political considerations make
two people separate even though they belong to the same group and have similar
ideas. Politics makes them speak in different tongues. So if we steered clear
of politics and restricted our activities on the basis of our cultural heritage
of what we call Bharath, to catch up several of our old values, we may perhaps gain
equal support from all sides. … In the heart of hearts all are real Hindus,
children of the soil.
These were not mere words of
Eknathji. He acted upon them. He approached every Member of Parliament,
Nehruvian secularist, Lohiaite, socialist, Marxist, cultural nationalist and
even Dravidianists. And he was able to touch and revive the deeply buried Hindu
heartbeat waiting to be resurrected by such a touch of understanding and hope. The
Rock Memorial was built on the ability of Eknathji to feel the dormant Hindu
spirit in all Indians and rekindle it through the dialogue of the heart. Once
again that is the very fundamental road map Swami Vivekananda had given us:
Let them
follow their own path to realisation so long as they struggle to see truth in
their own hearts; and when the broad, naked truth will be seen, then they will
find that wonderful blissfulness which marvellously enough has been testified
to by every seer in India, by every one who has realised the truth. Then words
of love alone will come out of that heart, for it has already been touched by
Him who is the essence of Love Himself. Then and then alone, all sectarian
quarrels will cease, and we shall be in a position to understand, to bring to
our hearts, to embrace, to intensely love the very word Hindu and everyone who
bears that name.
Eknathji
lived Swami Vivekananda and in such a life the spiritual heartbeat of the Hindu
nation has been validated once again.
Aravindan Neelakandan