Swami Ramtirtha bid good bye to all his friend, followers and admirers and boarded a ship bound for Bombay. Months later, on 4th of December, 1904 the ship carrying Swamiji docked at Bombay port.
Thousands of people were gathered at the port to welcome him home. After years Swamiji was again setting his foot on the soil of the motherland. It was a very overwhelming moment.
In Bombay several meeting were organised where people converged to hear him about his own spiritual growth and the experience of the foreign lands.
The sum total of the experience he gained in America and Japan was revealed. He put his own conclusion in the words, ‘The people of India need to hear the voice of their own conscience and act according to it because India wants freedom, only the freedom.’
Obviously he had realised that India could not depend on other nations to win its freedom. India would have to fight its own war. The other nations at best could lend only moral support. There were people abroad, who were of the opinion that the people of India were not fit to rule over themselves. It was the burden of Indians themselves to prove others wrong.
For such lowly opinion abroad about India no one but Indians themselves were to be blamed. They had allowed their society to become a hot bed of social evils, caste systems, horrendous customs, blind faiths, moral degradations, exploitations, illiteracy, poverty, corruption and nepotism.
Through exhortations Swamiji made a great effort to arouse the youth in realising the greatness of the cultural and spiritual heritage of India. Then, the youth were getting attracted to the western culture of Christianity. He had thought that if youth could be won back to Indian culture and thought the political battle for freedom would automatically follow. The influence of the western culture was turning youth into mental slaves of the aliens.
His efforts bore positive results. In all the places the people came in large numbers to hear him. His followers were so enthused that they began to think in terms of founding an organisation to propagate his message. There were a good numbers of rich people who were ready to chip in with donations.
But the idea didn’t find favour with Swami Ramtirtha. He was not looking for himself becoming an institution. It was against the call of his conscience to remain strictly ascetic, free of all attachments.
He said, “All the existing social organisations in this country belong to me. They are doing good work for social upliftment. All the temples, gurudwaras and monasteries of this land are mine. I don’t want to set up any new institution. I want to stay away from all that for the time being.”
That silenced his disciples.
Swami Ramtirtha departed from Bombay and reached Pushkar visiting several other towns. Raja of Kishangarh arranged for his stay at Pushkar. He was put up in a secluded palace which suited Swamiji well.
He had become fed up with crowds. He needed solitude. That is what he got there. He began to write inspired by the peace of the palace. Swamiji stayed there for three months.
Every morning he would go to the holy river to take bath and in the evenings he delivered sermons in a temple.
From there he went to Jaipur, Ajmer and Udaipur holding discourses at every place.
Then, he moved eastwards and went to the scenic hill station of Darjeeling where he spent five moths.
Watching snow capped hills gave him immense spiritual joy. He would watch them for hours lost in lofty thoughts. Those snow tops had something very inspiring and they appeared to transmit divine wisdom which no scripture or meditational exercise could impart. Swami Ramtirtha enjoyed his stay thoroughly and had got so buoyed up that he wrote several books of verses.
Several locals and people from nearby areas extended invitations to him for a visit. He didn’t disappoint any one. So full of life he was feeling. He gave sermons to all groups of people.
After five months he descended to plains and toured Bengal and Bihar areas. Then he arrived at Lucknow, the capital of U.P. Babu Ganga Prasad Verma came forward to host his Lucknow stay. Swamiji would come to his place for nights only. In day time he would be out roaming around, meeting people and watching the world in action.
Early morning he would go to Gomti river to take his bath. In the afternoons he would hold question-answer sessions with the students. Which was a very enjoyable affair. For a long time he had been a teacher and the students still were his constituency. Meeting them was like reviving the past.
He would conclude his day with a prayer meeting in Kaisarbagh where a crowd would be waiting for him to hear his sermons. Often he would ask people to chant ‘Om’ with him. The audience dutifully did that. Then he would began his sermon.
Suddenly one day he fell ill. His disciples moved him to Muzzafarnagar where he was given treatment. He recovered to the great relief of his disciples.
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