Message : Swami Smaranananda

I am happy to learn that Shri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Rajkot, Gujarat, has been celebrating the 125th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s visit to Gujarat by organizing many programmes and as part of the concluding celebration, a souvenir will be published.

Swami Vivekananda had great admiration for Gujarat and its people, especially how warmly they had welcomed and accommodated him during his days of wanderings and also of their vast scholarship and benevolent character. In a letter addressed to Shri Haridas Viharidas Desai, the Diwan of Junagadh, Swamiji mentioned thus, “Very happy to receive your kind letter even here. I had not the least difficulty in reaching your house from the station of Nadiad. And your brothers, they are what they should be, your brothers. May the Lord shower his choicest blessings on your family. I have never found such a glorious one in all my travels…” Swamiji was also very warmly greeted and honorably lodged with Sri Sankar Panduranga Pandit of Probandar. The Pandit who was then editing Sri Sayanacharya’s commentary on the Atharva Veda was startled with Swamiji’s profound and expansive wisdom and he often consulted Swamiji for an explanation of the intricate passages therein. I am sure that through the programs conducted in this yearlong celebration, Swami Vivekananda’s message of strength, purity and the potential divinity of each individual could be spread among the people, especially among the youth, of the society.

May by the grace of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda the concluding celebration and the publication be a grand success!

I convey my good wishes to all.

Swami Smaranananda
President

Belur Math
10th October, 2018