“You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself”.
The above was famously quoted by the great, Swami Vivekanand Ji. The key lies in understanding the above quote and adapting to that quote in real life. This article would especially focus on how his key teachings could be applied in the current generation of young people who have their whole life ahead of them and can mould their life in an altogether different dimension if they bring a positive change to themselves by getting inspired by Swami Vivekanand Ji and by abiding his principles.
Humans most of the time know the address of the place. Youth tells them the path to that address. The importance of youth in constructing a proper path so that one can achieve their goals is inexplicably crucial.
If one constructs a shaky path or chooses a wrong path then that might lead to self-destruction. That might lead to wandering and no one likes wandering when it’s about their lives and their career. Swami Vivekanand Ji believed that the youth should keep themselves mentally and physically fit so that they have that energy and the spirit to work with full zeal and enthusiasm towards their respective responsibilities and goals. Stressing on this further and correlating it with the example displayed above, one can say that if the traveller is not agile and is not able to walk the distance then will he/she ever be able to achieve the goal which he/she had set for themselves? Ostensibly no. Unless of course someone gives you a little lift to that destination or provides you with steroids so that you run and get to the end of the road. This further brings me to another point.
Being self sufficient. Swami Vivekanand Ji was of the view that if the youth of today are educated then that would lead them to be independent and enable them with the right skills which they can sharpen further and help in the upliftment of the society. He stressed on education and spirituality. He opined that if the youth of today gets the right essence of the spirituality present in our culture and if they keep faith in our spiritual heritage then they can win over any problem they face in their life and can bring a positive change around.
He once quoted, “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.”.
I believe in today’s age we, the younger generation, are educated but we are not applying that learning in our respective lives. It has all become very mechanical to a point where one can’t really explain even the nature around us. Our education system has regressed so much that subjects like Moral Science and Environment Studies are not relevant anymore. The youth of today are not even aware of the spirituality heritage we have in our country and are squandering themselves by wasting their precious time in wasteful activities like drinking, smoking, social media and whatnot. In my opinion, all this is fine as long as we know how to balance things but the youth of today is struggling to hit the right balance which can help them in transforming the society and bring that positive change which Swami Vivekanand Ji had envisaged of.
It is time we start looking around ourselves and understand the nature and the society around us. We must try to read our ancient history and develop knowledge about spirituality while referring to so many texts which Swami Vivekanand Ji has left for us. We must focus on our mental health by practicing meditation and by taking up the spiritual legacy left behind by our ancestors. It is imperative for us to keep ourselves fit so that we are prepared to face any challenges we get in future. Any roadblock which we have to put off to get to our destination and for putting that off we must be sharp, agile and calm enough.
I would like to conclude that we, the youth of today, can do wonders if we understand Swami Vivekanand Ji and his principles and if we put it across our youth and the upcoming generation in a simple way. This could well and truly lead our society to glory. And we, the youth would be the one leading it from the front.
~Vanshaj Jha, Squad for Change volunteer
This article was declared the winning piece in the Essay Writing Competition organised by Squad for Change on the occasion of National Youth Day.