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        Eknath Ranade was a man of tremendous vision and right from day one he had planned to achieve two inseparable objectives. The first major objective was to complete the work of installation of Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari. This work was started in 1964 and completed on September 2nd 1970 when the memorial was dedicated to the nation by V V Giri, the President of India. The second major objective of Eknath Ranade was to establish VIVEKANANDA KENDRA — the Living Memorial alongside the stone-structure of the rock memorial. After going through a carefully planned process of groundwork for nearly nine years, Vivekananda Kendra was officially founded by Eknath Ranade on 7 January, 1972 which marked the 108th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda by the Hindu calendar. On that day, as the sun rose, a saffron flag with Om inscribed on it was unfurled in the serene atmosphere on the Vivekananda Rock Memorial so as to herald the founding of Vivekananda Kendra— a spiritually oriented service mission of non-monastic order.

This second phase of the Memorial for Swami Vivekananda was not just an afterthought which arose in Eknath Ranade's mind. The establishment of Vivekananda Kendra was conceived by him as early as in 1964. To quote the exact words of Eknath Ranade in this context: 'As a whole timer of RSS from 1938 to 1962 , for about 24 years, I had a fund of experience. I had come across many people who were not full-timers as they were leading family life. But all the same, there was a great dedication in their lives. Sometimes it occurred to me, 'This person is having a family — is having children — is in service — is doing business. Still, with what a great dedication he is leading a householder's life? Suppose he was free of all domestic worries, what great amount of work he would have put in? We can have a particular order of workers in whose case marriage need not be barred and who can marry if they want. If we can provide for all their basic needs, we may get a fine class of workers out of such dedicated people we see all around'. But what that work could be? I started discussing this proposal with Swami Ranganathananda, Secretary of the Institute of Culture. He welcomed the establishment of a LAY ORDER of life-time workers to work for the cause of Sanatana Dharma as expounded by Swami Vivekananda by his life and example. Likewise I had discussions with Dr.Radhakrishnan, the President of India, Shri Jayaprakash Narayan, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri and several other national leaders and all of them applauded and approved of the idea. The then President of the Ramakrishna Mission gave his concurrence to my proposal for the establishment of VIVEKANANDA KENDRA'.       Great faith is not like an exact mathematical formula which can be agreed to if the weight of evidence favours it. Vigorous questioning can always propel a restoration and deepening of conviction. Paradoxically, it is the very questioning that causes the rubbing that polishes the pearl. This is what exactly happened with Eknath Ranade whose faith in his mission was invincible. He passionately shared Einstein's affirmation that anyone who is not lost on the rapturous awe at the power and glory of the mind and the spirit behind the universe 'is as good as burnt out candle'.

Eknath Ranade (1914-1982)

         During his last meeting with me in June 1982 when he was fighting against the machinations of some Christian clerics in Kanyakumari, he told me with calm determination: 'It is your own assent to yourself, and the constant voice of your own reason, and not of others, that should make you believe. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Faith has to be kept alive in us so that it gathers strength, more from practice than from speculations. Faith is not a series of gilt-edged propositions that you sit down to figure out, and if you follow all the logic and accept all the conclusions, then you have it. On the contrary, it is crumpling and throwing away everything, proposition by proposition, until nothing is left, and then writing a new proposition, your very own, to throw in the teeth of despair'. As it was for his master Shri Guruji Golwalkar and in turn his master Dr Hedgewar, faith was the antiseptic of Eknath Ranade's soul. Vivekananda Kendra was an outgrowth of such a kind of faith.

        Thanks to the faith and vision of Eknath Ranade, the glorious tradition of penance established by Swami Vivekananda on the mid-sea rock in December 1982 has been continued by young men and women coming as Karyakartas of Vivekananda Kendra to spread the immortal message of Swami Vivekananda: 'A hundred thousand men and women, fired with the zeal of holiness, fortified with eternal faith in the Lord, and nerved to lion's courage by their sympathy for the poor and the fallen and the downtrodden, will go over the length and breadth of the land, preaching the gospel of salvation, the gospel of help, the gospel of social raising up, the gospel of equality'. Everyday, at sunrise the saffron flag with Om is hoisted on the Rock Memorial and lowered at sunset.

        The twin objectives of Vivekananda Kendra are man-making and nation-building. With great foresight, Shri Eknath Ranade decided that Vivekananda Kendra should be a cadre-based organisation. Young men and women whose hearts long to serve the nation should be provided the opportunity and the right platform to serve God in man. As envisaged by him, carefully chosen lifetime workers called Jeevanvratis are properly trained and posted to different parts of the country. They work without any salary. However, their upkeep and wellbeing— Yogakshema — are taken care of by Vivekananda Kendra. The mission statement of Vivekananda Kendra was given by Eknath Ranade in these words: 'The remedy for the ills of our country, therefore, lies in launching a mighty movement of right thought sweeping the entire country. It has to be a two-pronged move. On the one hand, it is to be aimed (I) transforming our people's inherent God-wardness into right spiritual urge rising out of the teachings of the Upanishads , namely, (a) each soul is potentially divine and (b) faith in God, in turn means faith in one's self, ie. In one's potentiality to rise to divine heights. On the other hand, it is (II) to convert the spiritual fervour thus released into works of national reconstruction'.

During the last 34 years Vivekananda Kendra has grown from strength to strength covering different parts of India like Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madya Pradesh, Rajasthan, New Delhi, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Developmental and Welfare activities in the field of pre-education, primary education, secondary education, public health and various other aspects of rural development have been undertaken to initiate a new process of development in the remote and backward areas in order to open out to the poor people in those areas opportunities for a richer and fuller life.

The twin rocks

        There are two mid-sea rocks off the shore of Kanyakumari. One of the rocks is the Vivekananda Rock, on which a memorial has been constructed and nearly 12 lakh of people visit this memorial annually. There is another smaller rock, not very far from the Vivekananda rock, and many of the Christian missionaries laid their claim for constructing a small church or a statue of Jesus Christ on this rock in 1979. Eknath Ranade showed his clairvoyant vision by persuading Dr MGR, the then Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, agree to the installation of Thiruvalluvar statue on this rock. The foundation stone for the Thiruvalluvar statue was laid by Morarji Desai, the Prime Minister of India on 15 April, 1979. Eknath Ranade was a great statesman and he used the good offices of Prabhudas Patwari, the then Governor of Tamilnadu to make Dr MGR agree to this proposal. Like Mahakavi Bharathi, Eknath Ranade was a true nationalist and a true Tamilian rolled into one. Prabhudas Patwari was persuaded by the inspiring words of Eknath Ranade. 'Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us dare to do our duty as we understand it'. Eknath Ranade dared and succeeded.

        After leading a glorious life of unexampled service and selflessness as a Karmayogi, Eknath Ranade passed into immortality at Madras on Vinayak Chaturthi day on 22 August, 1982. The main theme of Eknath Ranade's life was to take the message of Sanatana Dharma to every home and pave the way for launching in a big way the man-making programmes preached and envisaged by great seers like Swami Vivekananda. By establishing the Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari and by creating Vivekananda Kendra, Eknath Ranade has indeed made the following words of Swami Vivekananda come true in letter and spirit: 'We want thousands of men and women, who will spread like wild fire from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari, from North Pole to South Pole — all over the world. Let those who have come for child's play be off now, while there is time, or they will surely come to grief. We want an organisation. Off with Lazyness ! Spread ! Run like fire to all place. Who will give the world light? Sacrifice in the past has been the Law, it will be, alas, for ages to come. The earth's bravest and best will have to sacrifice themselves for the good for man, for the welfare of all'.