Today is the anniversary of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, which was constructed in 1970 to celebrate Swami Vivekananda, who is said to have attained enlightenment on that rock after meditating there for three days. According to local legend, Goddess Kanyakumari (Parvathi) performed intense Tapasya on this rock for Lord Shiva.

A group of people gathered in January 1962 to form the Kanyakumari committee. They planned to construct this memorial to honor Swami Vivekananda. Almost simultaneously, the Ramakrishna Mission in Chennai was also planning this memorial.

A group of local Catholic fishermen did not like this idea, so they put a big cross on the rock visible from the shore. I wish someone had told them that Swami Vivekananda always carried Sermon on the Mount, which included the collection of teachings imparted by Jesus Christ. They ended up honoring him and his teachings in their desire to appropriate the rock. This led to a massive protest by the Hindu community. A judicial probe ordered by the Madras High Court unequivocally stated that the rock was Vivekananda Rock and the cross was a trespass. The cross disappeared overnight, but the rising tensions meant that the rock was declared a prohibited area. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu passed an order that one tablet could be placed on the rock to associate it with Swami Vivekananda.

Eknath Ranade then took up the cause for the Vivekanda Memorial. He was a social activist, leader, and general secretary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He received full support from the Ramakrishna Math Chennai and worked on a strategy to garner public support for building the memorial.

The first person he needed to influence was Humayun Kabir, the Union Minister for Cultural Affairs. The minister's public position was that any construction would spoil the natural beauty of the rock. Since Kabir was from Kolkata, Eknath campaigned there that Kabir was opposing the construction of a monument honoring Bengal's favorite son. The backlash was instantaneous, and he got massive support from the local population. Kabir immediately reversed his position.

The next obstacle was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, M Bhaktavatsalam. Eknath knew that he would only budge on the insistence of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Hence, he took advice from Sri Lal Bahadur Shastri and camped in Delhi. He collected the signatures of 323 members of parliament in three days to demonstrate unconditional support for the Vivekananda Rock Memorial and presented them to Prime Minister Nehru. CM Bhaktavatsalam now had to allow the construction of the Rock Memorial.

However, he permitted a small 15' x 15' shrine. Eknath Shinde knew that the CM was close to the Paramacharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. Hence, he got him to design the shrine, and the CM unhesitatingly agreed to the larger design (130’-1½" x 56') approved by the Paramacharya.

Now that the political struggles were over, Ranade confronted all the other civil and engineering challenges. Some of them included scientifically establishing that the rock could support a large structure and figuring out how to transport material to the rock and supply power and water. They also needed to build jetty platforms on the rock and the shore.

However, the biggest challenge was financing the whole operation. Ranade strongly believed that the Vivekananda Memorial belonged to the entire city. He never slowed work even when they had funding challenges and started a fundraising campaign to support the construction. It is said that Swami Chinmayananda sent one of the first contributions of 10000 rupees.

Ranade approached almost every state government and asked for their contribution. He made a special effort to go to the northeastern states of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh so that they could also feel a part of the national endeavor. The bulk of the contributions came from the general public. Ranade launched the campaign of one-rupee folders throughout the nation that he used to mobilize donations from every household in India.

In writing this article, something shifted in me today. I am generally an Advaitha and Nirguna follower by nature. Shiva and Shivaling are the closest to my heart, and I generally avoid institutional aspects of religion.

Eknath Ranade's efforts showed me why it's important to claim and own certain aspects of history because if we don't do it, someone else will appropriate them. The idea of peace and world religion only works when everyone else is leaning in the same direction. That's why Lord Vishnu took on the avatar of Sri Krishna to usher this world into Kaliyuga. When your intention is noble, you need to do everything that needs to be done to reach your goal. Swami Vivekananda literally burned himself up to take the Vedic way of life to the world, and it took so much trouble to build a simple memorial for him in our own country. That's a lesson for all of us.