Swami Rama Tirtha

The story today is about Indian Philosopher and Mathematician Swami Rama Tirtha, who was a Monk. He was born in 1873 in the District, Gujranwala, Punjab, British India (now in Pakistan). His mother passed away when he was only a few days old. He was very intelligent and loved solitude. Rama Tirtha was barely 10 years old when his father organized an arranged marriage for him.

Swami Tirtha was a brilliant student especially in mathematics. After completing his degree, he served for a while as a professor of mathematics in Forman Christian college. A great impetus to his spiritual life by Swami Vivekananda. Rama soon resigned from his teaching position and left for the forest. His wife and two children accompanied him as they traveled to the Himalayas. Sadly, due to ill health, his wife later returned with one of her two sons, with the other one left at Tehri for his schooling.

Swami Rama Tirtha took the sannyasa vow (renouncing the world) a few days before the passing of Swami Vivekananda, a great influence on him and many people at the time.

He traveled to Tokyo, Japan at the invitation of Maharaja of Tehri Garhwal of Uttarakhand to attend the "World Religious Conference", but the conference was cancelled . He then departed for the USA and spent about a year and a half in San Francisco with lodging provided by Dr. Albert Hillier. He gained a large following and started many groups. One of them being the Hermitage Brotherhood, dedicated to the study of Vedanta. His charming personality had a great impact on the Americans. Devout Americans even looked upon him as the living Christ. On his return to India, Swami Rama continued to lecture all over the subcontinent, but his health began to deteriorate. His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the river Ganges on the 17th of October, 1906 when he was only thirty-three years old. He was born on Diwali, he renounced the world on the Diwali, and left the world on the Diwali Day

Written By Anoop Sood

Facebook: @Anoop Kai