AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

        The Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari was inaugurated in 1970. The construction of this memorial started in January 1964 and was completed in 1970. Whenever we think of Benaras Hindu University, the only name that comes to our mind is that of its chief Viswakarma Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya. Likewise, whenever we think of Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari, we think of only one remarkable individual who was the main propelling force behind the conception and speedy execution of this sacred monument. I am referring to Shri Eknath Ranade (1914 - 1982) who was a Swayamsevak of the RSS and who had served in various capacities in the RSS right from 1926 till he was assigned by Shri Guruji Golwalkar, the Sarsangchalak of the RSS, to look after the gigantic task of construction of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari in 1962. The story relating to the birth and growth of this great national project reads like an epic story. Eknath Ranade was indeed a Mahapurusha cast in a very grand mould.

Shri Paramacharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam and Shri Eknath Ranadeji.

In 1962, Shri Dattaji Didolkar was the RSS Prant Pracharak of Tamil Nadu. In the course of his state-wide tour, the Swayamsevaks of Kanyakumari broached the matter to him in these words: 'Preparations are going on throughout the country to celebrate the birth centenary of Swami Vivekananda who was born in 1863. It was in Kanyakumari that Swamiji remained in meditation for three days on a mid-sea rock and discovered the mission of his life; what is to be done further. The rock on which he meditated is known as the Vivekananda Rock. Therefore, we should install some worthy memorial on that rock to mark the great occasion'.         In January 1962, some leading citizens of Kanyakumari got together and thought of putting up a memorial on the rock off the shore of Kanyakumari where Swami Vivekananda sat and meditated about India's past, present and future for three days on 25, 26, and 27 December 1892. Thus was born the Kanyakumari Vivekananda Birth Centenary Committee and the declared objective of this Committee was to put up a memorial on the rock and a pedestrian bridge from the shore leading to the rock. Almost simultaneously, the Ramakrishna Mission in Madras also announced its plan of a similar project at Kanyakumari.

What is the historical and spiritual significance of the rock on which the Vivekananda memorial has been put up? As an itinerant monk travelling all over India, Swami Vivekananda reached Kanyakumari in December 1892. He had traversed the vast land of India upon the soles of his feet. He had suffered from hunger, from thirst, form murderous nature and insulting man. When he arrived at Kanyakumari, he was exhausted. Having no money to pay for a boat to take him to the end of his pilgrimage, he flung himself into the sea, and swam across the shark-infested strait and reached the top of a mid-sea rock on 25 December, Christmas day, in 1892. He spent three days there, returning to the shore only on 28th December 1892. At last his task was at an end, and then, looking back as from a mountain he embraced the whole of the India he had just traversed, and the world of thought that had beset him during his wanderings. For more than two years earlier he had lived in a seething cauldron, consumed with a fever ; he had carried a soul on fire, he was a storm and hurricane.          Now on this mid-sea rock, There he meditated not on God but on Mother India who for Swami Vivekananda was Divine Durga incarnate. What a strange meditation ! It was as if all the pages of India's history opened up before him. The vast panorama of his experiences during his travels past before his mind's eye. He meditated on the past, the present and the future of India, the cause of her downfall and the means of her resurrection.          He felt in his heart of hearts that India would rise only through a renewal and restoration of that highest spiritual consciousness which had made her, throughout her history, the cradle of religions and cultures. He then, sitting at the last bit of rock in the Indian ocean, took the momentous decision to go to the West to give shape to his life's mission of spreading India's religion and culture throughout the whole world and also to seek help for the poor millions of India.

Eknath Ranade at the consecration ceremony.

        To come back to the main story relating to the Vivekananda Memorial. When the proposal for a memorial for Swami Vivekananda became known to all in Kanyakumari in the latter half of 1962, suddenly the whole atmosphere in Kanyakumari got surcharged with conflicting emotions between the Hindus and the Christians in the area. The very idea of a memorial to Swami Vivekananda was not taken to kindly by a sizable population of the local Catholic fishermen. Stealthily they managed to put up a big Cross on the Rock which was visible from the shore. This led to strong protests by the Hindu population who said the Rock was a place of worship for Hindus. A judicial probe was ordered by the then Madras (now Tamilnadu) Government and the finding of this Commission was stated in unequivocal terms that the rock was indeed known as Vivekananda Rock, and that the Cross put up by the Catholic fishermen was a clear case of trespass. Amid all this controversy and acrimony, the Cross was one day removed secretly in the night. The law and order situation turned volatile and consequently the Rock was declared a prohibited area with armed guards patrolling it.

Shri Venkataraman Eknath Ranade’s Hanuman

The Government of Madras realised that the Rock was turning into an area of dispute with Hindus claiming it to be the Vivekananda Rock and Christians claiming it as St Xavier's Rock. The Government made it clear that although the rock was Vivekananda Rock, there would be no memorial constructed on it. The then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Shri M. Bhaktavatsalam, said that only a tablet declaring that the rock was associated with Swami Vivekananda could be put up, and nothing else.         Accordingly, with government permission, a tablet was installed on the Rock on 17 January 1963 to mark the birth centenary of Swami Vivekananda. But the voices clamouring for a full-fledged Memorial on the Rock did not die. In May1963, some Christian elements who were seeking vengeance for the earlier removal of the Cross from the rock, demolished the Vivekananda commemorative tablet and threw it into the sea.         Kanyakumari Vivekananda Birth Centenary Committee, realising its basic limitations as a mere District Committee, took the initiative to constitute an All India Vivekananda Birth Centenary Committee consisting of prominent persons in the country. This All India Committee felt the urgent need to have an effective and important person to deal with the project and one who could wield his influence in both the Central and State governments. It was at this point of time that Guruji Golwalkar, the Chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), requested Shri Eknath Ranade to devote his whole time attention to the proposed Vivekananda Memorial at Kanyakumari. This happened in January 1964. The first step he took on being asked to take charge of the Rock Memorial work, was to ascertain that this effort had the full support of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. Next, he saw to it that he was made the Organising Secretary of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial Committee so that he could officially be in charge of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial mission in Kanyakumari. From that moment, this great and sacred project took off with electronic speed, thanks to the dynamic, unshakeable, inspiring and bold leadership of Eknath Ranade.

        Another vital management decision that Eknath Ranade took was to requisition the services of a remarkable Swayamsevak Shri Venkataraman in November 1964. Venkatraman had been earlier a Sanghpracharak in Madurai from 1955-57. His name was recommended by Shri.Ramgopalji who today heads the Hindu Munnani in tamil Nadu. If Eknath Ranadeji can be viewed as Kodandarama, Shri.Venkatramanji can be viewed as his Hanuman in every sense of the word.

        The first obstacle that Eknath Ranade had to cross was from Shri Bhaktavatsalam who was then Chief Minister of Madras State. He 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 by spoiling the natural beauty of the Rock. He was also concerned about hurting the religious sentiments of the Catholic fishermen in the area. Bhaktavatsalam's view was also endorsed by Shri Humayun Kabir, the then Union Minister for Cultural Affairs, who too had to give his clearance for this project.

        To that end, on Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri's advice, Shri Eknath Ranade camped in Delhi. In three days, he collected the signatures of 323 Members of Parliament in a show of all-round support for the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, which was presented to the Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who in turn directed both Humayun Kabir and Shri.Bhaktavatsalam to give their immediate clearance for the construction of the Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari.

        Shri Bhaktavatsalam had given permission only for a small 15' x 15' shrine. Knowing his reverence for the Paramacharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Shri Eknath Ranade approached the latter for suggesting the design of the Rock Memorial. Shri Bhaktavatsalam unhesitatingly agreed to the larger design (130'-1½” x 56') approved and suggested by the Paramacharya of Kanchi! Thus all political hurdles for the construction of the Memorial were removed in one stroke by the shrewd move of Shri. Eknath Ranade