Swami Ram Tirath (1873-1906), an extremely learned man, was renowned for his sagacity. One of his aphorisms wisely observes that “on all the doors of life is written ‘Pull’ but we generally prefer to ‘Push’!”
A fluent speaker of English, Tirath set off in 1903 for America in order to propagate his religion. When he disembarked at San Francisco, he was approached by an American who was interested in finding out who he was. “Where is your luggage?” asked the American, “This is all the luggage I have,” replied the Swami. “Where do you keep your money?” was the American’s next question and on hearing that the Swami had “none to keep,” he asked him how he “got by.” “I love everybody. That is how I get by.” “But you must have some friend in America …” At this Tirath placed both his hands on the American’s shoulders and said, “Yes, you are that friend.” The Swami’s action had a profound effect upon the American. He became such a close friend of the Swami’s that he took him to his own house, stayed by his side throughout his sojourn in America and offered him every kind of service. Eventually, the American became Tirath’s disciple.
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