अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि
My ideal indeed can be put into a few words and that is: to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life. — Swami Vivekananda
The Vedanata Kesari and Brahmavadin :
To realise this ideal of Inherent Divinity, one of the channels Swamiji envisaged was a print journal. Swamiji inspired his ardent disciple Alasinga Perumal to bring out a journal “ Brahmavadin” to propagate the powerful message of Vedanta.
Deferring to Swamiji’s exhortations, Alansinga Perumal persisted in publishing the paper, despite bad financial struggles till his demise in 1909. Despite the hurdles, it continued being published till Mar-April 1914. It was then revived the very month it closed , under the new name “ The Vedanta Kesari.” ( never missing a single issue for last 106 years).
The critical nature and importance of Brahamvadin can be gauged from the various letters Swamji wrote to Alasinga Perumal. He wrote :
‘Now I am bent upon starting the journal. Herewith I send a hundred dollars… Hope this will go just a little in starting your paper.’ ..
‘I learnt from your letter the bad financial state that Brahmavadin is in.’ …
‘I pledge myself to maintain the paper anyhow.’…
‘The Brahmavadin is a jewel – it must not perish!” …
The First ever issue of Brahmavadin came out of press on 14 September 1895. We deemed it proper to launch this site on same date , 14 Sept.
In reverence to Swami Vivekananda’s Ideal and to fulfill his wishes including “ .. “ to bring out the gems of spirituality that are stored up in our books….. to make them popular… let them be the common property of all, of every man in India” “ ,this website “ Brahmavad.in” is being launched on 14 Sept 2020.
We owe our gratitude to people and institutions whose works we have referred to. They belong to all walks of life and span all faiths, traditions, sects , nations and our fellow travellers in pursuit of TRUTH.
Our special and continued thanks to various monks, admirers ,devotees and volunteers of Ramakrishna Vivekananda Movement who have helped form our understanding and opinions.
