Swami Ramtirtha (1873-1906) was one of the greatest spiritual figures of modern India. He also visited the United States from 1902-1904 and was one of the first great Swamis to bring the Vedantic teaching to the West, following in the footsteps of Vivekananda. Though his teachings are on par with Vivekananda—indeed often more poetic and inspiring—since he formed no organization they are not as well known. Rama did not even care to collect his own writings. He was such a God intoxicated person that the entire manifest universe did not count for anything more than straw for him.
His greatness has been recognized by many great people including Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Shivananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, and Anandamayi Ma. He is lauded in yogic circles as a man of spiritual knowledge.
Mahatma Gandhi himself said, “Swami Rama’s teachings have got to be propagated. He was one of the greatest souls, not only of India but of the whole world.”
Rama was a very learned man, a great poet and scholar. He knew many languages including Hindi, Urdu, English, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, French and German. He was not only a great Vedantin, he was also a Sufi, studies the Persian Sufi works and the Koran, which works he often quoted in his talks and writings. He spoke in Arabic to Islamic groups in Egypt during his world travels. As he was a child of the Punjab and knew the Hindu and Islamic religions intimately, his statements about Islam are worthy of note.
Rama stated to the Indians, “Please study your own history with care and attention, you will please mark that, so long as we were strictly following the basic tenets of our Sanatana Dharma, which is based on mutual love, unity and selfless discharge of our moral duty, with faith in God, no outside power could dare look at us with evil designs. Hindus today need to look at their history in that light of dharma. Only then will emerge the true way to develop the country for the future.”
Swami Ramtirtha, the beloved ‘Ram Badshah’ of millions of Indians was not only born on DEEPAWALI day and took ‘Sanyas’ but also took ‘Samadhi’ on this day.
