It’s all in the mind…
Man is born to conquer nature and not to follow it-Swami Vivekananda
Paying homage to SWAMI VIVEKANANDA: THE ETERNAL YOUTH ICON OF INDIA on his birth anniversary on 12 January which is celebrated as National Youth day in India.
What does the average 21-year-old today know about Swami Vivekananda?Nothing! Unless a google search fulfils the academic requirement on an assignment given in class. As the pandemic has made everyone both young and old come to terms with their mortality, it is indeed time to look within our rich cultural heritage and rekindle the knowledge left by Swami Vivekananda, as more than ever the gap between spirit and space, mind and body has blurred.
Swami Vivekananda was born Narendranath Dutta, on 12th January 1863 in Kolkata. The perfect blend of spiritual and pragmatism and man much ahead of his time. His vision and mission are relevant even today and one wonders how as a nation we have still not evolved and are grappling with the same issues which affected us pre-independence!
What is lacking today is the spiritual dynamism that he sparked, balanced with a logical aptitude. The most unique contribution of Swami Vivekanand towards the creation of a new Bharat was opening the minds of Indians to their duty to the downtrodden. Hinduism yes, but not the radical violent culture that seems to have permeated our system. Unity of society is something that finds an echo in today’s world when we witness conflict at various levels both on micro and macro levels.
He led a hermit life, reflected in the modern 21st century where we find the simpler ways we live our lives the more easily we adapt. His life, philosophy and teachings are truly golden for students and grown-ups alike as they can help all of us pave the way towards a better future.
Swami Vivekanand is the greatest youth icon produced by India and one that influenced millions of youth across the world. A renowned social reformer in the 19th and 20th centuries, Swami Vivekananda is often credited with the revival of Hinduism in India in its purest form. The relevance of Swami Vivekanand and his teachings today is with the ideals and goals that he devised for the youth. A great observer of the human mind and the human society at large. He propounded the scientific way to achieve these goals through these quests.
“Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas.” — his words ring true more than ever today as the entire education system has been rehauled due to the Pandemic and ensuing lockdowns.
What would his thoughts be on the pandemic, the vaccine, the health system, and the education system? Youth today should study his teachings and try to decode his thought process to arrive at some clarity in an increasingly chaotic world. The system where each individual can begin with himself by preparing himself for the greater cause. Understanding Swami Vivekananda and his message and putting it across to our youth can be the simplest way to address many problems faced by India today.
Physical, Social, Intellectual and Spiritual quest is what the youth seeks today, fighting the invisible enemy as many lives are lost and many dreams dead. He said, “Life is short, but the soul is immortal and eternal, and one thing being certain, death, let us, therefore, take up a great ideal and give up our whole life to it.” — Swami Vivekananda.
In 1902, he died at the age 0f 39, leaving behind a legacy of intellectual musings unmatched to date as no leader or philosopher across the globe can command such clarity or vision relevant across all centuries.
He often said, “It is the young, the strong, and healthy, of sharp intellect that will reach the Lord.” Will we indeed? is the question I pose to my young students, in the coming Spring semester of 2022 at Atlas Skilltech University . India- Mumbai
10 Golden Teachings of Swami Vivekananda
https://leverageedu.com/blog/teachings-of-swami-vivekananda/
UTKARSHA M. | Author | Design Thinker | Creator - A desire to understand the world and to improve it always remains at the core. Design is a managed process and my quest for knowledge is subject to an inquiry of the apparent, the imagined and the recalled. As I speculate and design, my liberty of self-expression is in direct correlation to my existence and knowledge. https://www.utkarshaofficial.com/
