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CEO Speaks: Vivekananda: India’s eternal youth icon

CEO Speaks: Vivekananda: India’s eternal youth icon
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India’s first global guru, who considered youth to be the foundation of a country and its greatest asset; whose teachings and philosophies have been instrumental in introducing Indian ideas and values to the Western world, continues to inspire millions of young minds across the globe to “Arise! Awake! and stop not until the goal is reached”.

Born on January 12, 1863, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, Narendranath Datta, the proselytising monk known as Swami Vivekananda, grew up as the symbol of youth power, who hoisted the flag of Indian culture overseas.

His entire life has been a source of immense inspiration, fostering fresh enthusiasm for progress among the youth, so much so that the whole country celebrates his birth anniversary as ‘National Youth Day’.

While he moved among the people in flesh and blood, he was a rousing fire at heart that could ignite the minds with spirit, energy, courage and motivation.

Summarising the Vedanta, he believed: “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or mental discipline or philosophy - by one or more or all of these and be free. This is the whole religion. Doctrines, dogmas, rituals, books, temples are but secondary details”.

He stressed that good education is not merely learning of facts but the development of character. Redefining the concept, he said education should not be limited to exploring means of earning only but must always emerge as a way to build one’s character, strength and intellect.

A preacher of education for one and all, he maintained that it should cease to be a monopoly among the upper castes and be made available to every section of society. A follower of ‘true education and free education’, Vivekananda had immense confidence in the youth of this nation — an exemplary force, which he believed could take India to great heights and rewrite history, marked with certitude, hope and ambition.

Vivekananda is all the more relevant today as India strives to establish its prominence on the world map, seeking inspiration from a man who spent his whole life in the service of his nation, exhorting overall human development, the emancipation of women and the downtrodden, aiming “to set in motion a machinery which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest”.

Dr Sanku Bose, Group CEO (Techno India Group)

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