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Swami Rama Tirtha Pratishthan

On the 17th October 1906, on the Dipawali day, while taking bath in the Bhilang-ganga, below the Simlasu palace of the Maharajah of Tehri, Swami Rama Tirtha's mortal body was swept away in the current of the swift flowing hilly river and disappeared in the nearby whirlpool.

After the death of his mortal body, Swami Narayana, his chief disciple, thought that, in order to perpetuate the memory of this supersaint, if his lectures, writings and other works were not compiled and published, these would soon be lost into oblivion. But, unfortunately, this proved to be a very difficult job.

The typed copies of only a very few of his lectures which were brought from America to India by Mrs. Wellman, one of his American admirers, were found in one of the boxes in his room. Some of these lectures were already published during his lifetime in some of the magazines in India. But that was not enough. Rama was known to have delivered hundreds of lectures in America and elsewhere. How to obtain them then, was a great problem.

Some of the ardent American devotees of Rama had collected from various sources his lectures, delivered in America, and, at the time of his departure from that country, had even tried to present to him on the ship their typed copies, nicely packed in a few steel boxes, along with the concerned cuttings of the American newspapers. Rama, however, refused to accept them, saying that he was not the beast of burden to carry those boxes with him all the way to India. To the astonishment of all, he even got them immersed in the sea joyously saying ‘Jai Gange’.

At the Nirvan of Rama, Swami Narayana was, therefore, very unhappy and dejected to realize the great difficulty in collecting all his lectures again from abroad. But, being a man of resolute will and strong determination, he did not lose his heart. For about four years he, assisted by Sardar Puran Singh, made ceaseless efforts and entered into a long drawn correspondence with Rama’s known American admirers and was ultimately successful in collecting only these few lectures which have later been incorporated in the three volumes, I, II and III (Library Edition). Besides, there were hundreds of other such lectures, as is abundantly clear from Rama’s various speeches in America, which had to be left out of his works, because of their non-availability. Rama’s Urdu works have now been translated into English and are published in volume IV & V of the Library Edition. It was Sardar Puran Singh who had suggested the name of "In the woods of God Realization" for Rama’s works.

Be that as it may, even these few lectures in the first three volumes are considered to be quite sufficient to impart the highest truth to a devoted seeker. Swami Narayana has done invaluable service to the humanity in taking immense pains to collect and compile Rama’s works and propagate his teachings through the medium of "Rama Tirtha Publication League", later renamed as "Rama Tirtha Pratishthan"

Rama’s lectures are so stirring, animating and intoxicating that, while going through them, one is lost, at least for the time being, into divine ecstasy and a state of self-forgetfulness. Rama has himself guaranteed that any person, who might seriously go through these speeches, would get all his doubts removed and would be convinced of his own Divinity. Rama used to say, "I am God, as you are". He was God intoxicated and never experienced anything other than God.

Accordingly, after all these lectures were collected, money was needed for their publications. For this purpose, the great lover and admirer of Swami Rama, Master Amir Chand of Delhi, who was also a great patriot and had to be hanged in 1914 by the then British rulers in India, for the alleged throwing of a bomb on Lord Hardinge in 1912, came forward and offered the entire earnings of his whole life. The ball was set rolling, the publications were started and with their sale-proceeds, Swami Narayana managed to continue to republish them for some time. Later, it was decided to establish a permanent institute which may carry on this work, even after the death of Narayana Swami. It was thus that the "Rama Tirtha Publication League" was founded at Lucknow in 1919 and registered in 1920 by Swami Narayana, the founder.

The Institution was establised at Lucknow, because Swami Rama, whenever he came down to the plains, chose to make Lucknow his usual Headquarters and stayed with Rai Bahadur Ganga Prasad Varma, the editor of "Advocate", who, being a very great devotee of Rama, would not let him stay anywhere else. His grandson, Dr. Anant Ram Tandon, even at the age of eighty three, continues to be a very active member of the Rama Tirtha Pratishthan and successfully manages the affairs of its hospital. It was from Lucknow that Swami Rama visited, from time to time, various places in U. P., like Faizabad, Allahabad, Varanasi, Ghazipur, Balrampur, Agra, Mathura etc. It was, therefore, in the fitness of things that his disciple, Swami Narayana, decided to make Lucknow the Hd. Quarters for the publication of Rama’s works. The name of "Rama Tirtha Publication League" was given a Hindi name of "Rama Tirtha Pratishthan" when India won freedom in 1947-48. This freedom was already predicted by Swami Rama about half a century back in 1900 A. D.

The current address of Swami Rama Tirtha Pratishthan is:

Swami Rama Tirtha Pratisthan
9, Vishnupuri, Church Road,
Aliganj,
Lucknow,
226 020 INDIA.


Last Updated: Fri Dec 3, 1999
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