Wordsworth wrote about Milton, “Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart. Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea.” When India is celebrating National Youth Day, similar sentiments are echoed from all parts of the nation about Vivekananda, the perennial youth icon India has given to the world.
Addressing the innate potentials of the youth of the nation, Vivekananda had exhorted: “My hope of the future lies in the youths of character, intelligent, renouncing all for the service of others, and obedient – good to themselves and the country at large” What is the relevance of Vivekananda in contemporary society, particularly to the new generation. The ideals for which Vivekananda stood, the intellectual and spiritual pursuits he had, his ‘parikrama’ to discover his own land, his lucid postulates about relations between East and the West, his far-sighted approach towards men and matter, make Vivekananda the quintessence of the best that India has in its heritage and culture.
As T. S. Eliot says: “Time past time present rolls into time future.” Swami Vivekananda epitomised what T.S. Eliot had said. This was the vision of Vivekananda that he held up to the world at the Chicago Parliament of Religion.
Today India is one of the youngest nations in the world. It is estimated that the mean age of India is to go down further below its current figure of around 29 years. The great demographic dividend which India has is also to be utilised for the good of the nation on the lines envisaged by Vivekananda. Vivekananda demonstrated through his life that youth are not creations of the past or custodians of the present, but creators of the future. The clarion call – “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached” is the sum and substance of eternal truth.
Vivekananda points out: “Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be; if you think yourselves impure, impure you will be; if you think yourselves pure, pure you will be.”In Indian mythology, there is a belief that a Goddess by name Tatha Astu remains on your forehead. Tatha Astu means ‘Let it be so’. After the Christian prayers they say ‘Amen’, which has the same meaning. When you are venturing upon a new initiative or a new journey, if your mind prompts you ‘I cannot take it up, I don’t have the wherewithal I will fail’, then the Goddess will say Tatha Astu. On the other hand, if you say I will not break any hindrance, I shall overcome, I will emerge victorious, the Goddess will tell you ‘Tatha Astu’. In psychology this is called autosuggestion – you make or mar your future. Vivekananda, like a seasoned psychologist like Sigmund Freud, tells this in clear terms “if you feel you are weak, you will be weak. If you feel you are strong, you will be strong”. This very fact decides your success or failure. That is why Milton said: “The mind is its own place and, in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.” As Brown has stated: “The best is yet to come.”
This determination to win, the determination to overcome, the determination to reach your goal is imbibed in the surcharged statement – “Arise, awake and stop not till you achieve the goal”. As Tennyson, in Ulysses, would say, youth is there to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
If Gopalkrishna Gokhale said: “What Bengal thinks today India thinks tomorrow” that stems from the culture and heritage which made Bengal the leader of the nation. Bengal has been in the vanguard of socio-cultural renaissance and has cradled a galaxy of luminaries in its intellectual and cultural scape.
When the Nation is celebrating National Youth Day, one promise which we have to make to ourselves is that we will overcome the ‘youthquake.’ ‘Youthquake’ is similar to an earthquake. We know what happens when there is an earthquake. Anything and everything that has stood the test of time, crumbles down like a pack of cards – almost like the prophetic prophecy of Yeats – “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”. When the youth power is ignited and used in the negative way, it explodes and destroys everything that is around it. We have to contain the ‘youthquake’ and channelise the youth for the betterment of themselves and the glory of the nation. This metamorphosis is possible with the vision that Vivekananda had and exhorted us to follow. Vivekananda represents the indomitable spirit of the youth. Vivekananda represents the determination to overcome. Vivekananda represents the future of youth. Vivekananda represents whatever is best in the culture, heritage, history and consciousness of this great Nation.