Brandt Dayton

Swami Rama Tirtha was one of the greatest seers, not only of India, but of the whole world. He was a sage, poet, philosopher and spiritual leader of our times. To give an exhaustive list of his many attainments from early youth onward would be a difficult task-for his was a towering personality. Philosophy, mathematics, the Persian language, these were only a few of the subjects at his command. As a student Swami Rama Tirtha was fond of keeping journals. Over a thousand of his letters, mostly written to his Guru while he was a student, and later to his friends and followers, are still available. They reflect his unique personality at every stage as in a mirror. Swami Rama Tirtha spoke ex tempore. He writes: "Poverty is blessed: it constructs a ladder of tear drops to the throne of God." His father felt that Rama Tirtha should be earning bread for the family, but destiny seemed to have willed otherwise. Both as a student and as a professor, Swami Rama Tirtha placed great emphasis on the value of work. "We are abundantly reaping the fruits of the labors of others. Let us not forget that we ought to do something for others in return." He felt that we owe a heavy debt to humanity and that we ought to leave the world better than we found it. "Work with all your heart and might remembering that work is worship. Genuine work will be found to be its own reward." Work is the normal state of man. The natural way to enlightenment is the faithful use of what we have. Practice alone makes us perfect. It is not enough to know theory; man must practice the art if he wants to swim across the river.