Vivekananda Kendra Patrika Magazine - VKP 86th Issue

In this issue

100% efforts to succeed in any endeavor small or big and yet complete surrender to the Divine; exceptional physical strength and yet tender at heart; total commitment to the goal and yet close rapport with people of all hues; serving the Ishwara all-around in the form of the needy and downtrodden and yet communing with Nirguna and Nirakara in meditation; suffered from penury in the childhood and yet never suffered or experienced scarcity; lived with the motto ‘one life one mission and yet contributed to various fields of life; always dedicated and focused on the duty in hand and yet could see far ahead; born in an ordinary family yet did extraordinary work; strict disciplinarian and yet radiated laughter and affection wherever he went; all these and many more paradoxical combinations were merged in one man called Sri Eknathji Ranade.
Eknathji born in an ordinary family and with all constraints in childhood ultimately developed into a person who did an extra-ordinary work. What was the driving force? When quite young, he was intrigued as to why Lokmanya Tilak was shown with the four hands? He thought that if someone does great work should we deify him and in a way abdicate our responsibility of doing great and good work? Should we not learn a lesson from it that our life should be manifestation of Divinity, that each one of us has the inherent capacity in us which can be expressed in life in great work if we strive hard enough with all conviction in it. Swami Vivekananda’s message that ‘Each soul is potentially Divine. The goal of life is to manifest that Divinity within by controlling the nature external and internal’ was a great inspiration for him. For Eknathji, life was thus striving for manifestation of Divinity. In this journey of manifestation of Divinity broadly three phases of his life are seen.