Monday, 09 SEPTEMBER 2024 | PNS | NEW TEHRI
Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh is reaching Chamba on Tuesday on a one-day visit. He is slated to release a book on the life of Swami Ram Teerth, written by journalist Vinod Chamoli.
Ram Teerth and the town of Tehri had a long relationship as he spent a considerable part of his life here. He propagated love and peace through Vedanta all over the world while also being devoted to the nation, inspiring revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh. In his younger days, he became a professor of mathematics after a tough struggle in life and later went to undertake penance in the Himalaya. On the basis of his experience after his self-realization in Tehri, he spread the message of true Vedanta in various parts of the world including the United States. Ram Teerth was among the first notable teachers of Hinduism to lecture in the United States, travelling there in 1902 some years after Swami Vivekanand. During his American tours, Ram Teerth spoke frequently on the concept of ‘practical Vedanta’ and education of Indian youth. He proposed bringing young Indians to American universities and helped establish scholarships for Indian students.
He was born in 1873 in Gujranwala. He topped the MA examination and was appointed as professor at Punjab University. His parents wanted him to have a family and lead an ordinary life but he stepped out of his house in search of spiritual enlightenment and took to meditation, along the Ganga in old Tehri town, which has now submerged in the Tehri dam reservoir. His love for Tehri is well known among his devotees.
