RELEVANCE OF VIVEKANANDA AMONG YOUTH

Swami Vivekananda is the greatest youth icon India has ever produced and one that influence millions of youths across the world. In the present scenario, youth of India are facing new challenges, pushing boundaries and aspiring for a better future, thought of Swami Vivekananda have become more relevant. To pursue their goals the fourfold mantras (Physical quest, Social quest, Intellectual quest and Spiritual quest) of Swami Vivekananda can be the greatest armour of their arsenal.

By physical quest he like to mean taking care of the physical body and taking proper care to mitigate physical sufferings. Youth can only lead a successful life if they are physically fit. He said, "Power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak. Therefore, arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached." Vivekananda wanted the youth to be 'muscle of iron' and 'nerves of steel'. He said, "You will be nearer to heaven through football than through the study of the Gita."

Vivekananda wanted their individual evolution and growth by undertaking social activities. Running hospitals, orphanages and old - age homes qualify for this level. He advised the youth to 'Serve God in man' and he clubbed spiritualism with social service. He asserted that 'the first gods deserve our worship are our countrymen. These we have to worship, instead of being jealous of each other and fighting each other'. The most unique contribution towards the creation of New India can be by means of upliftment of the downtrodden.

According to Vivekananda, "It is the young, the strong and healthy, of sharp intellect that will reach the Lord". Intellectual quest can be by means of running schools, colleges and empowerment programs. The main objective should be raising one's intellectual, gaining knowledge and spreading and sharing it with the people of society. Throughout his journey he emphasized on education for all and said, '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.

He advocated the highest level of spiritual services - one of them is Dhayan and another is Sadhana. In present situation, when our youth find themselves gripped by increasing isolation, purposelessness, depression and mental fatigue, despite material success, they must go for a spiritual quest and achieve greater goals 

He prescribed the youth to live for a noble cause, a mighty ideal and a higher state so that they are able to transcend the impermanence.