Divine inspiration once made a young monk, Swami Vivekananda, swim across the seashore in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, braving the sharks, to reach a rock perched mid-sea. He meditated there for three days and nights on the sacred rock until he discovered the goal of his life. The rock is also significant for Hindus because of the presence of the footprints of Goddess Parvati who blessed it by meditating there.

We know that the same rock is the venue of Vivekanand Memorial where a large statue of Vivekanand resides and is visible from the mainland. The Memorial is today a very well-known spot, with visitors coming from all over the world.  But what is not widely known is the story behind how the memorial was built and how Eknath Ranade, noted Indian social and spiritual reformer and a senior promoter of the ‘Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh’ (RSS), skillfully obtained the necessary support and money for its construction.

Eknath Ranade was born on 19th November 1914, at Timtal in Amravati District, Maharashtra, in an ordinary household, his father Shri Ramakrishna beings a station master. And not very well-to do His mother Ramabai was loving and devout, the source of his spiritual leanings which took the shape of selfless service and his devotion to Vivekananda’s doctrine “Service of humanity is true worship of divinity” which was Eknath’s, life’s Mantra. His life was full of problems and obstacles, but he found opportunities in all of them and made his work and life successful. He once said, “Every problem has a solution, every obstacle is an opportunity,”,

It took him 6 years, to build a memorial at this site.

Initial Plan

In 1962 a committee was formed at Kanyakumari to initiate plans to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Swami Vivekanand. They proposed to build a memorial at The Rock with a pedestrian bridge connecting it to mainland. Simultaneously the Ramkrishan Mission also decided to celebrate the event by building a memorial at the rock.

When this was made public there was a backlash from the local population of catholic fisherman. They claimed that the rock was called St Xavier rock and not Vivekanand rock. They went so far as to erect a huge cross on the rock which was visible from the mainland. This in turn led to protest from the local Hindu population which had been worshipping there for ages.

To placate everyone, the state government ordered a judicial probe to ascertain the true nature of the rock. The judicial probe concluded that the Rock was indeed the Vivekanand Rock and ordered the Cross to be taken down. This led to further acrimony and to calm things down the Cross was dismantled in the night. Of course this had an opposite effect. Clashes broke out between Hindus and Christians. Section 144 was imposed in the area by the police, access to the rock was prohibited, and armed guards were posted.

The then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Mr. M Bhakthavatsalam realized that things have become volatile and declared that although the Rock will be called Vivekanand Rock, no memorial will be built on it. A plaque stating that this was the place where Swami Vivekanand meditated was installed on 17th January 1963, on the rock as per the instruction of the state government.

In the next few months, the local committee of Kanyakumari morphed into an all-India committee which also demanded a memorial, with a statue of Swami Vivekanand. To make things worse In May 1963, the stone tablet was demolished and thrown into the sea by some Christian miscreants.

How The Memorial Was Built

In August 1963, Eknath Ranade took over as the organizing secretary of the committee. He had been the general secretary of the RSS earlier and had written a book on Vivekananda’s teachings.

The first thing Eknath did was to visit the Ramkrishna mission at Kolkata to seek their blessings and include them in the fight to build the memorial.

The first problem was the then Union Culture minister Humayun Kabir, who was from Calcutta, was opposing a statue of Vivekananda on the site as it would ‘spoil the natural beauty of the place’. Having obtained the support of the Ramakrishna Mission for the memorial, Ranade then publicly stated in Calcutta that Kabir was opposing it for the reason stated above. There was a backlash against Kabir in his hometown, and there was such a hue and cry that Kabir had to do a volte-face.

Next Eknath had to tackle Chief Minister Bhakthavatsalam who took a stand that he would not allow the memorial to come up on the mid-sea rock on the flimsy ground that it would pose a hazard to the environment of the Rock. He was also afraid of hurting the sentiments of the Christen fishermen who lived around Kanyakumari.

When Eknath met Bhakthavatsalam, he met with questions on need for the memorial and the statue. Bhakthavatsalam stated that the statue would not be visible from the shore. Further, he said that he would not allow a bridge as it would damage the environment. 

Eknath Realized that only the PM Jawaharlal Nehru could convince Bhakthavatsalam. His next stop was to Delhi, where he met the then home minister Lal Bhadhur Shastri. Together they hatched a plan of submitting a petition with the signatures of Parliamentarians to Nehru. Eknath Ranade camped in Delhi and personally met all the Parliamentarians. In three days, he collected 323 signatures and submitted to Nehru.

Nehru expressed his support and Bhakthavatsalam had to accede. But Bhakthavatsalam gave approval for a small memorial of 15X15 feet, while Ranade and others wanted a larger and grander memorial.

Knowing Bhakthavatsalam reverence for the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram Eknath Ranade approached the latter for suggesting the design of the Rock Memorial. Shri Bhakthavatsalam unhesitatingly agreed to the larger design approved and proposed by the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram. Thus, all political hurdles for the construction of the Memorial were finally removed.

The construction was finally underway. Ranade gave personal attention to all the problems in making such an important memorial. Be it the challenge to establish scientifically that the Rock was structurally sound and could support such a huge structure on it; the logistics of quarrying and transporting large blocks of stone from great distances, and from the shore to the Rock; provision of water and power supplies; the growing demand for skilled artisans, craftsmen, and labor; building of jetty platforms on the rock and the shore and so on.

However, the biggest and ever-present challenge, was that of financing the whole operation. Ranade believed that as the Vivekananda Rock Memorial was a national monument; every Indian should be invited to contribute to its construction. One very significant dimension of Eknath’s concept of national reconstruction is that it covered all sections of Indian society and all parts of the country. He said: “Bhartheeyata in everybody has to be aroused, work should be taken from them.”

It is this national vision that took Eknathji to all sections of people during the course of the collection campaign. He approached almost every state government and asked for their contribution, making a special effort to go to the north-eastern states of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, where awareness about Swami Vivekananda was not much, and urged them to contribute. When the CM of Nagaland questioned him about the wisdom of his spending so much time for a paltry amount, Eknath’s reply was typical & revealing. He said: “My motive is just not funds. I want your participation, participation of the Govt and people of Nagaland – because Nagaland is part of the Nation”

The bulk of the contributions came from the general public. (All the State Governments put together made only a paltry contribution of Rs.35 Lakhs.) Ranade launched the campaign of one-rupee folders throughout the nation, which was used to mobilize the donations of the common man, starting from as tiny an amount as a rupee.

Industrialists, members of the armed forces, students’ unions, NGOs, educational institutions and the general populace—all sections of society contributed, making it a truly national project.

In the beginning, the estimated cost of construction of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial was Rs 30 Lakh. Then it rose to Rs 60 Lakhs, Later to Rs 75 Lakhs. Finally, the total cost after completion worked out to Rs one Crore and Thirty-Five Lakhs. It was a monumental achievement to mobilize such a huge sum of Money Sixty Years ago and complete the work in Six Years!

The memorial was finally inaugurated on 2 September 1970 by the then President of India, V. V. Giri.

Selfless service

But Eknath Ranade work was not yet over. Eknath then started Vivekananda Kendra – a spiritually oriented service organization.

During the course of his campaign for the Vivekanand Rock Memorial he realized that political factionalism & religious sectarianism, had always prevented people from coming together even on issues of national good, about which intrinsically they had no conflicting opinion. Politics being the pursuit of power, acted as an instrument of division. Eknath was painfully aware that even spiritual movements degenerated into rival sects. As a keen student of history, he found that this had become a national defect with the Hindus and unless it was overcome national reconstruction would remain a mirage. Therefore, he suggested an organization which would be meticulously kept beyond politics & sectarianism.

Eknath Ranade used to call the Vivekananda Kendra, not only a service Mission, with a cadre of dedicated life-workers both men and women, but he also used to call it a Thought Movement, the thought being selfless service. The spread of this thought, the inculcation of this idea of selfless service, is the essence of the Vivekananda Kendra work

History of the past many centuries taught Eknath that the Hindu society has lost its sense of Self-Confidence. They were in the habit of looking for an incarnation to descend and save society. What is worse, every great man, who achieved something for the society, was immediately deified and put on a pedestal & worshipped. Eknath declared that this suicidal trend has to be reversed. He wanted a new generation that believed in themselves, that they can do anything. He accepted Swami Vivekanand as an ordinary human being, who raised himself to the highest rung of human evolution, by dint of self-confidence & self-sacrifice.

After the groundwork of about nine years, Vivekananda Kendra was officially founded on 7 January 1972, next to the Memorial built so painstakingly by Eknath Ranade’s efforts.

Today this organization is serving in all the states of India. It has 68 schools, four hospitals and over 800 activity centers. And so Eknath Ranade, the man with a Mission, will continue to live through the Vivekananda Kendra with its vision of selfless service.

–