Swami Ranganathananda

Named as Shankaran , the Swami was born in Trikkur , Kerala on the auspicious occasion of Holy Mother Sarada Devi's Jayanthi in the year 1908. During early 1920, he had the opportunity to read the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He was captured by a divine spiritual power and by which he completed 100 pages of the book with any stop and then he developed acquaintance with the works of Swami Vivekananda. 

One day while playing with some of his friends, Shankaran used a foul word addressed to one of his friend. His Mother overheard him and took the boy and advised him, " Listen My boy ! Your tongue is the abode of Saraswati. Never use it for demeaning purpose. Its a means of dishonoring her. 

This advice of her mother went straight into his heart and from then on he never used demeaning words whatsoever the circumstances were. He attained the Vak Siddhi .Thus, with the power of his words and captivating talks he pulled countless to the path of Vedanta

Indian Railway Battalions in WW1

The Importance of Indian Railway Troops

​The war effort in Mesopotamia was utterly dependent on the Indian auxiliaries and Railway units. As one snippet notes, "Without the work of the Indian auxiliaries on the Mesopotamian railways... the Allied forces would never have enjoyed the victory they achieved."

• ​Location: The main area of this work in 1918 was Mesopotamia, where Indian Railway Construction Battalions (units like the Railway Construction Company RLY. C.C. and Railway Battalion Sappers & Miners) extended the line from Basra north towards Baghdad following the British advance.
• ​Purpose: The railways were essential to supply the troops, cutting travel times dramatically (e.g., Kut to Baghdad from 2 days to 8 hours).

​2. The Broad Gauge Connection

​While the main line connecting Basra and Baghdad was ultimately completed as a metre-gauge line (which was the gauge of the existing lines in India), the connection to broad gauge is significant:

• ​Materials from India: Track, locomotives, and rolling stock were shipped from India—in some cases by pulling up existing lines there and transporting them to the Middle East. India primarily used broad gauge (1,676 \text{ mm} or 5 \text{ ft } 6 \text{ in}) and metre gauge (1,000 \text{ mm}).

​Therefore, the Indian soldiers were heavily involved, and the materials they were handling, particularly the sleepers, were often sourced from the broad-gauge system of India. The final track laid in 1918 was most likely metre gauge, but the term "broad gauge" would correctly describe much of the underlying material and the troops' experience, as they were drawn from India's broad-gauge railway system

Power and Respect of a Teacher!

In 1994, The President of India, Shri Shankar Dayal Sharma visited Muscat on an official trip :-

When the flight landed, 3 very unusual incidents took place:

1. The Sultan of Oman never goes to the airport to receive dignitaries of any country. But he made an exception this time and went to the airport to receive the President of India.

2. When the flight landed, the Sultan of Oman climbed up the steps and received the President from his seat.

3 . After alighting the flight, there was a car with the chauffeur waiting. But, the Sultan signalled the driver to move and he himself drove the car with President.

Later, when the reporters questioned the Sultan why he broke so many protocols, the Sultan replied, I did not go to the airport to receive Mr. Sharma because he was India’s President, I studied in India and learnt so many things, when I was a student  in Pune, Mr. Sharma was my Professor- that is why I did this.

This is the power and respect of being a Teacher!