"I WOULD wish to do all in my power to preserve the memory of Swami Ram fresh and green. Such a memory should be an inspiration both to those who knew and loved him and also to the younger student life of India which has grown up since he passed away," wrote C.F. Andrews in 1909, when the influence of Swami Ram Tirtha was deeply felt among the youth of the country.

Tirtha Ram Goswami was born on October 22, 1873, in a small village called Murariwala in Gujranwala district, now in Pakistan. His mother died when he was hardly a year old. His father was a poor priest who brought up his son in penury. After doing his matriculation from Mission High School at Gujranwala, he joined Forman Christian College, Lahore, where he eventually became professor of mathematics in 1896. Married at the age of 10, he was foresaken by his father and had to support his wife while studying in intermediate. He worked his way up through the munificence of Bhagat Dhanna Ram, a coppersmith of Gujranwala, Professor Gilbertson and Principal Bell of F.C. College from whom he received timely financial help in addition to the merit scholarship that he won in the matriculation examination.

Tirtha Ram demonstrated idealism even as a young boy. "Poverty is blessed," reads an entry in his notebook. "It constructs the ladder of tear drops to the throne of God." Even when he became a professor and got a monthly salary of Rs 100, he cut down his personal needs to the minimum and his generosity always outstretched his scanty means.

He became a sanyasi in 1900, visited Japan and stayed in the USA for two years where he mirrored the highest principles of Hindu spirituality. He spoke and wrote on subjects "according to God’s dictation". In 1906, he laid himself to rest in the cold, gurgling waters of the Ganga at Tehri. He was just 33 then. In a moving dirge, Sir Mohammed Iqbal characterised him as "a precious jewel, a restless crystal drop who has merged with the mother steam." This, in brief, is the story of Swami Ram Tirtha, ‘that slender Brahman boy of Punjab’ stretching his wings to embrace the whole cosmos.’

The stirring ideas of Swami Ram Tirtha are preserved in his complete works entitled In Woods of God-Realization, first published in four volumes in Delhi by Amir Chand in 1909-10. He was a practical vedantist. He did not indulge in metaphysical subtleties or any particular system of philosophy or religion. The word somehow caught his fancy. For him it was a comprehensive term seeking fundamental unity of men who realise the universal harmony of love. It is not merely an intellectual ascent but the most solemn and sacred offering of body and mind at the holy altar of love. Freedom of the spirit was an ideal for him. He identified himself with man, nature and God.

He did not hesitate to deride formal yajna activities, and rituals being practised by the Hindus. In a scholarly paper, he bemoaned the lack of practical wisdom and the growing population of the country and appealed to his countrymen to adopt scientific methods for development and adjust themselves to the needs of the time.

He considered the advancement of science and political democracy in the West as the triumph of the Oriental Vedanta. His philosophy was the philosophy of love that embraced the whole of universe.

Swami Ram Tirtha was a poet of ecstasy, of eternal bliss and beatitude. Sufi poets like Hafiz, Attaar and Maulana Rumi, saint poets like Guru Nanak, Tulsi and Surdas were his constant companions. The mystery of Krishna and Shiva and the thought of Emerson, Kant, Goethe, Carlyle, Whitman and Thoreau constantly fed his liberal mind. Through self-discipline and ascetic labour, he had cultivated his soul with the best that was said and thought in the past. Puran Singh called him the ‘Poet Monk of Punjab’ who demonstrated in his personality "the great type of men that wrote the Upanishads and sang the Vedic hymns..."

In his famous essay, "An appeal to Americans on behalf of India" he reminded the American ‘brethren in the name of humanity and freedom’, of the world’s spiritual debt to India. He vividly described the helpless condition of the country under the British rule and sought their help in matter of education and scientific practicality.

He was one of the first Indians who advocated the scientific study of comparative religion and philosophy. He appealed for the propagation of women’s education and a rightful place for them in society, the use of mother tongue in place of Sanskrit, Persian and English as the medium of instruction for the proper progress of the country. Above all, his watchword for patriotism was "sacrifice of the self".

Swami Ram Tirtha was confident that emancipation of the Indian society could only be accomplished by following the concept of Vedanta. "Anyone who is duly acquainted with the external situations of India," he said, " can see without difficulty that the future religion of educated India must be Practical Vedanta or renunciation through love in Action... Vedanta printed in books and placed in shelves to be eaten by the worms won’t do." He held out the conviction that through hard work and perseverance the country could achieve the glory of the past and the heights unattained hitherto.

The message of this inebriated spirit, which harangued "give me liberty or give me death’, scoffing at misery and smiling at tribulations, is the one that India needs today. His inspiring convictions can serve as a beacon-light. Mahatma Gandhi called him as "one of the greatest souls not of India, but of the whole world." He incorporated in his daily prayer the composition of this divine melodist: