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September 1928: Swami Bhaskareshwarananda begins the Ashram - a shrine, a kitchen, and a Homeopathic Dispensary in that hut.
Swami Bhaskareshwarananda purchased a box of Homeopathic medicines with the two rupees given by his spiritual Master and came to Nagpur via Varanasi-Jabalpur in September 1928. The activities of Shri Ramakrishna Ashrama at Nagpur began in the hut mentioned above. Two Brahmacharis from Belur Math had accompanied Swamiji to assist him. They left after a few days. There was a shrine, a Kitchen and a Homeopathic Dispensary in that hut.
The work of collecting funds for the construction of the building of the Ashrama was started. Swamiji occasionally wrote articles about Shri Ramakrishna-Vivekananda in the local papers like 'Hitavada' and 'Maharashtra'. He took weekly moral classes in the local Patwardhan High School and Sule High School. Swamiji was occasionally invited to participate in the symposia organised by the Students' Union of Nagpur University. There was no bus-service of Rickshaws in Nagpur at that time. Tonga was the only available conveyance. But Swamiji had no money to pay for the fare. So sometimes he used to go on foot to distant areas like Mahal, Itwari, Civil Lines, Sadar etc. Sometimes he even had to personally distribute the handbills of the programmes held in the Ashrama. His noble personality, his love and sympathy for others, his command over English and his oratory attracted many people to the Ashrama. The young lawyer helping the swami renounced the world at about this time and entered monastic life. Swamiji got great help from him.
Initially, any great work has to face difficulties and impediments. However, if all actions are performed with the spirit of service to God with full faith in him, all those difficulties and impediments are surmounted by his grace. Here also some persons in society bitterly opposed the work and created various obstructions and problems. On the other hand some people helped the Ashrama a lot. Among them were people of different communities and of different social strata - young and old, men and women, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, Maharashtrians, Hindustanis, Gujaratis, Panjabis, Bengalis, etc. Sir B.K. Bose, Vice-Chancellor, Nagpur University, Shri P.N. Rudra, Advocate and Shri N.K. Behre, Headmaster, Patwardhan High School, helped the Ashrama in many ways. In the beginning for about six years Shri P.N. Rudra was the Secretary of the Ashrama. |
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