Swami Ramatirtha (English: Swami Rama Tirtha, Born: October 22, 1873 – Death: October 17, 1906[1]) was a Hindu religious leader, noted for teaching practical Vedanta in a highly personal and poetic manner. Ramtirtha was the living embodiment of Vedanta. His original name was ‘Tirath Ram’. He used ordinary experiences to describe the divine nature of man. For Ramtirtha, every visible object was a reflection of God. In his short life, he achieved the status of a great social reformer, a dynamic orator, an excellent writer, a brilliant ascetic and a great nationalist. Swami Ramtirtha who made his name famous all over the world with his extraordinary works. He sacrificed his life at the age of just 32, but the many extraordinary achievements to his credit in this short life prove that living an exemplary life does not require a long life, but a high willpower.
Swami Ramtirtha was born in Gujranwala district of Punjab province of Pakistan. His mother died just a few days after his birth. Ramtirtha had a sharp intellect since childhood. At that age, when children of his age used to play with dolls, Ramtirtha used to spend his time in contemplation on many esoteric subjects. Being brilliant in studies, Ramtirtha obtained a master’s degree in mathematics and started living as a mathematics professor in Lahore. The year 1897 was the turning point of his life, when he got a chance to hear Swami Vivekananda’s speech at a program in Lahore.
After listening to Swamiji’s vigorous thoughts, a feeling of doing something for the country and society arose in Ramtirtha’s mind. Due to this feeling, Professor Ramtirtha became Swami Ramtirtha. Now Swami Ramtirtha had only one goal – to make the society aware, to make people understand about Hindutva and to remove social evils. This was the time of the 19th century when the country, especially the youth, was going crazy about his vigorous ideas and nationalist speeches. His innovative and out-of-the-box ideas greatly influenced the youth. His essays written on Shri Krishna and Advaita Vedanta gave rise to a new ideological revolution in the country. It was due to the amazing speech style and original thoughts of Swami Ramtirtha that people not only in India but also in foreign countries became fans of his speech. He went to Japan specifically to explain about Hindutva.
Educated from ‘Forman Christian College’ and ‘Government College, Lahore, Ramtirtha was appointed professor of mathematics in Christian College in 1895. The meeting with Swami Vivekananda further strengthened his interest in religious studies and his desire to propagate the monotheistic doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. He contributed in establishing the Urdu magazine ‘Alif’, in which many of his articles about Vedanta were published.
Ramtirtha had studied under very heart-wrenching circumstances. Spiritual passion and sharp intelligence were present in him since childhood. Although he was doing his job well as a teacher, his focus was always towards spirituality. So one day I said goodbye to my mathematics teacher. In 1901, he left his wife and children and went for solitude in the Himalayas and took sannyasa. From here his name changed from Tirath Ram to ‘Swami Ramtirtha’. It was here that he attained self-realization. He did not become anyone’s disciple, nor did he ever make anyone his disciple. Advaita Vedanta was his favorite subject and was related to life.
Swamiji was a supporter of Hindi and used to dream of the independence of the country. He used to say that national religion should be given a higher place than personal religion. Worship the hungry Narayans of the country and the hard-working Vishnu. Swamiji traveled to Japan and America and people everywhere were attracted towards his ideas. He was a contemporary of Swami Vivekananda and both had contact. Swamiji advocated the complete liberation of the entire human race, starting from the personal liberation of the individual. What made him unique was the joy with which he propagated the traditional teachings of Vedanta. He often answered religious questions with a long laugh. Along with his spiritual knowledge, he also considered Western science and technology as a means to solve India’s social and economic problems. He fully supported every form of mass education.
In 1902, he explained the essence of Hindutva to Americans for two years. He told that Hindutva is not only the ideology of a particular religion but is a complete philosophy of life. Swami Ramtirtha was a supporter of Hindutva and conducted many seminars on Hindutva in the country and abroad, but he was never accused of being communal. Knowledgeable people believe that if Ramtirtha had happened today, there would have been no issues like Ayodhya dispute and pseudo secularism and communalism in India. Swami Ramatirtha campaigned to spread education among the lower class people and end the caste system. He got success to a great extent in this campaign. His outspoken thoughts gave a lot of inspiration to the society trapped in caste, religion and illiteracy. Swami Ramatirtha said that India does not need missionaries but educated youth. To provide higher education to the Indian youth, he launched a campaign to send the youth to America.
When he returned to India from America in 1904, a large section of the country had become his admirer. But curious Swami Ramtirtha’s hunger to gain knowledge was not over yet. Swamiji wanted to leave the worldly life and gain knowledge of the philosophy of life, hence he left everything and went to the caves of the Himalayas. Here he started writing a book on practical Vedanta philosophy. In this book, he tried to put into words his life experience, the unresolved mysteries of religion and society, but unfortunately his effort could not be completed. On 17 October 1906, on the auspicious day of Diwali, when he was bathing on the banks of the Ganges in the Himalayan region, he died due to drowning in the Ganges. His followers believe that he was not drowned in the Ganga, but Mother Ganga had taken her beloved and the pride of India into her loving embrace.
17 October 1906[1] On the day of Diwali, when he was only 32 years old, while taking bath in Bhagirathi near Tehri, his body got trapped in a whirlpool in the holy river. Whether his death was an accident or due to some conspiracy remains a mystery among his followers even today.
