Vivekananda Jayanti 2021

 Swami Vivekananda (January 12, 1863 - July 4, 1902) was a Hindu spiritual leader, visionary, monk, educationist, thinker and philosopher. He was born as Narendra Nath Datta in a Bengali family in Kolkata.  He renounced the worldly pleasures and became a Sanyasi after he became the disciple of Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa, who was his spiritual guru. Swami Vivekananda was and will always be a source of inspiration for youth for his charismatic personality, broad outlook, and love for the well-being of his people. 

For his popularity among youth, his birth anniversary is celebrated as National Youth Day all over India since 1985 which implies that Swami Vivekananda Jayanti or National Youth Day is celebrated on 12^th January every year. 

           He was deeply sensitive to the evils and orthodox customs that marred the society at that time. His thoughts and teachings were way ahead of his time. He tried to combine the goodness of the western society and eastern world to bring about positive changes in the lives of people. He was a revolutionary thinker, who did not get bound by the religious fanaticism and rituals that were popular at that time. He popularized the Vedanta teachings and propagated the ‘Vedantic movement’ across India and abroad. He tried to raise the religious and spiritual consciousness through Vedanta teachings. He was highly intellectual, a true patriot, spiritualist at heart and an excellent orator, these and many other qualities made him an inspirational figure for youth at that times. Prernamurti Bharti Shriji in one of her discourse narrated an incidence from Swami Vivekananda’s life, and how his motivating speech emotionally stirred and roused the patriotic feelings in a 14-year boy named Subhash and changed his life course towards becoming the renowned freedom fighter Netaji Subash Chandra Bose.  

          Some of the exceptional qualities of Swami Vivekananda which set him apart from others of his age were: 

Confident and True Patriot

Swami Vivekananda was the first person to present India to the world. His love for his nation and its people led him to accept the invitation to deliver a speech in the World Parliament of Religions. He gave a groundbreaking address in the World’s Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893, for which he received a standing ovation by their people. During his speech he introduced Hinduism to the world and suggested to end religious intolerance and fanaticism when he said “If one religion true, then all the others also must be true. Thus, the Hindu faith is yours as much as mine.” Respecting all religions, purpose of religions, understanding the roots of Hinduism, goals of science, etc. were among the many issues he raised during his speech. His speech was a historic event and gave India, an anonymous nation, its identity, and popularity among the world. Prernamurti Bharti Shriji in one of her discourse discussed Vivekananda’s experiences during his stay in Chicago. Before his historic speech, Vivekananda was mocked by the white people of the U.S for being non-white and was perceived to be incompetent based on his skin color. India was considered by them to be the land of snakes, and unskilled people. Vivekananda did not get demotivated or deterred by this attitude, neither did he try to convince people otherwise. He was secured, mentally strong and confident of himself. He was very much aware of his potential and abilities and what he could achieve. Yet he did not counter argue or debated any of those opinions and stereotypical assumptions held by westerners. This criticism and contempt continued till he came on stage for his speech, but not for a moment Vivekananda got disturbed or offended by these, neither had he harbored any hostile feelings towards those who were scornful. We feel bad with criticism only if there are weaknesses at our own end. Swami Vivekananda knew his worth and power, and he did not weigh himself from criteria set by others. Shriji suggested all to be like Swami Vivekananda and be comfortable and confident within oneself. 

Compassionate Soul

An epitome of compassion and a lover of mankind, for him among all religions the religion of humanity and truth was the highest. Once Swamiji was walking on the road with a picture of God in his hand. Suddenly he saw an old lady getting fainted due to a heat stroke. Swamiji kept the idol image on the roadside, and immediately started to attend and give care to her. Someone pointed at him saying you will invite sin by placing God’s idol on the road, Swamiji replied saying “What you are referring to is only an image of God, whereas I am serving a living God”.  He was deeply touched and pained by the poverty of his nation and the miserable conditions in which poor people lived. However, he was equally concerned about the poverty of soul. He encouraged everyone and especially the youth to be courageous and fearless.

Focus and Concentration

He also had an extraordinary power of concentration. A real-life event that is popularly narrated reveals that: He was very fond of reading and while in Chicago he used to issue a number of books from a library there and return them in a day. The librarian got frustrated by his daily behavior and one day retorted ‘why do you take these books, when you don’t read them?’. Hearing this Swami ji politely told he had read them all. The librarian said she would test him on that and took a random page number from a book and asked him what was written on that. To her utter surprise, Swamiji repeated the exact lines written on that page, and likewise for many other pages. This and many other such incidences throw light on Swamiji’s focus and concentration. His famous quote also stresses on the power of focus, goal orientation and goal attainment: 

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone.  This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.” 

He worked hard to eradicate the untouchability and caste and religion-based prejudices. There are numerous anecdotes from his life where he ate food from people of low caste and lived in the house of non-Hindus. He upheld the religion of humanity over staunch religious rituals and beliefs. His life was devoted to reawakening the peopleof India and abroad in understanding the true meaning and purpose of religion and Vedantic philosophy. Swami ji’s teachings, life lessons, books and discourses are a continuous source of inspiration and encouragement for all age groups and especially the youth across the world. 

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