Swami Vivekananda remembered

Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, January 12

The 153rd birth anniversary of saint Swami Vivekananda was celebrated with devotion in the Kumaon region today and people took a pledge to follow the path shown by him. The state Cultural Department is constructing a yoga centre, museum and library in the memory of Swami Vivekananda at Kakrighat where he had stayed for meditation on his way to Almora in 1890.

Programmes were organised in various schools while Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad (ABVP) volunteers today held a procession in several towns of the region singing patriotic songs.

Swami Vivekananda, who visited Almora four times during his lifetime and meditated at Kasar Devi hills near the town. “During his first visit to Almora in 1890, Vivekananda lived with our family for over 45 days while on the second visit in 1897 he stayed for over 90 days in the town. His next two visits were short and brief,” said Garish Lal Shah, grandson of Lala Badri Lal Shah with whom Vivekananda had stayed in Almora in 1890.

The state Cultural Department is constructing a meditation centre in the memory of Vivekananda at Kakrighat where he stayed on his way to Almora and meditated under a ‘peepal’ tree.

Several programmes were also organized at the Mayawati Ashram, near Lohaghat, in Champawat district today. Vivekananda had visited Champawat district and established the Mayawati ashram with the help of his disciple Captain Savior and his wife in 1898 during his third visit to the region. “Vivekananda again visited Mayawati on December 30, 1900, and stayed there for 18 days before departing to Kolkata on January 18, 1901,” said Dinesh Pandey, a journalist based in Champawat district.