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The life and message of Swami Vivekananda is highly inspired for the youth. His writings compiled in eight volumes of “The Complete Works� (CW) contain several articles with a universal and inspiring message for the youth. It is exactly a hundred years ago that Swami Vivekananda achieved world fame by his historic address at the Parliament of Religious at Chicago which began from 11 Sep­tember, 1893. As a representative of the Hindu religion, he exhibited great self-confidence and faith in his own religion, which is to be emulated by all. The youth in particular, would be happy to know that in the afternoon of 11 September 1893, when the Chairman of the Parliament invited him to present his views and when he started his address with “Sisters and Brothers of America,� it overtook the entire Parliament by a great storm of enthusiasm. Throughout the whole Assembly, there was a great thrill. Hundreds upon hundreds rose to their feetand sent up deafening notes of applause over and over again. He could not believe that it was he they were applauding. Swamiji attempted to speak for over two minutes but the great enthusiasm of the audience prevented him and when silence was re­stored. Swamiji began his address. He quoted two beautiful passages from the scriptures of Hinduism. His speech voiced the spirit of the Parliament. Swamiji presented his speech on Hin­duism on 19 September and stirred all people by his self-confidence and mastery of the subject and by going the universal message of Hinduism. This is a great lesson for the youth who feel shy in feeling proud of their own religion. In fact, Swamiji said, “Holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any Church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character�. Thus, Swamiji gave the message of universal religion of Vedanta as the universal re­ligion by giving the slogan: “Harmony and peace and not dissension�.

Swamiji’s Respect for Parents

Swamiji believed that the youth should have great respect fortheir parents and elders. He wanted the youth to show special regard to their mothers. In fact, he felt that the posi­tion of the mother is highest in the world as it is the one place in which one can learn to exercise the greatest unselfishness. His views on parents are particularly to be noted by the youth who unfortunately, are increasingly disobeying their parents. This is what Swamiji said:  

“Before parents one must not utter jokes, must not show restlessness, must not show anger or temper. Before mother or father, a child must bow down low, and stand up in their presence, and must not take a seat until they order him to sit�. (CW-l, 43)

Non-violence

It is often seen that youth in particular become violent at times. What is required is toleration and the practice of the principles of Ahimsa or non-injury to others. Swamiji’s mes­sage to youth on Ahimsa is:

“Never producing pain by thought, word, and deed, in any living being, is that is called Ahimsa, non-injury. There is no happiness higher than what a man obtains by this attitude of non-offensiveness, to all creation�. (CW-l, 189).

Purity

It cannot be gainsaid that purity of character is one of the greatest vir­tues to be imbibed by all in general and the youth in particular. We should not see evil in others. It is said that we cannot see evil unless we see ourselves with an evil mind. Swamiji wanted the people to be chaste and pure and to do noble things. Here is the message of Swamiji:

“Nothing is gained except by sacrifice...The holiest function of our human consciousness, the noblest, do not make it unclean! Do not degrade it to the level of the brutes ... Make yourselves decent men! Be chaste and pure!� (CW-1, 520).

Pure Food

It is often found that increasingly more and more youth are turning away from pure and sattvic food to impure and non-vegetarian food. It is contained in our scriptures that the nature of man is essentially vegetar­ian and the nature has made man essentially vegetarian. We should not kill or injure any animal for the sake of taste or gratification of the senses. If we want to be spiritual in the true sense-and believe that God pervades in all beings and exists in all, then we have no right to injure any creature and hence, eggs and other non-vegetarian food should be avoided. This is what Swamiji said on the question of food habits:

“All exciting food should be avoided, as meat, for instance; this should not be taken because it is by its very nature impure. We can get it only by taking the life of another. We get pleasure for a moment, and another creature has to give up its life to give us that pleasure. Not only so, but we demoralise other human beings.� (CW-4, 4).

Strength

The youth must pay attention to health and having strength of body, mind and character. In fact, religion comes afterwards. Swamiji always felt that the Gita can be understood with our biceps and our muscles, a little stronger. He also said that the mighty genius and the mighty strength of Krishna can be understood by us bet­ter with a little of strong blood in us. Therefore, he wanted the youth in particular to be strong. Quoting the Upanisads, he said that it was the only literature in the world where we could find the word “Abhih� (fearlessness) used again and again. The following message of Swamiji must be imbibed by every young person in the country:

“Make your nerves strong. What we want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel, we have wept long enough. No more weeping, but stand on your feet and be men. It is a man, making religion that we want. It is man-making theories that we want. It is man-making education all round that we want.� (CW-3, 224)

Hindu Pride

Swamiji felt that the youth in particular should read the Gita and other good works of Vedanta. In his opinion, the system of education was wrong, because the mind is crammed with facts before it knows how to think. Besides, Swamiji was of the view that the foundation of the society lay in renunciation. Therefore, he wanted, the youth to renounce all temptations to take neighbour’s prop­erty, to put hands upon neighbour, and the pleasure of cheating others by telling lies. These are the teachings of Hindu religion, and he wanted every Hindu to be proud of being a Hindu. But at the same time, he wanted that all people should respect other relig­ions because these are different paths to God-realisation. He believed in uni­versal religion, of seeing God in every­one and not having a narrow - minded approach. A true Hindu will be an asset to society. He does not harm anyone. He respects other’s religion, and therefore, he wanted every Hindu to be proud of his religion. This is what he said:

“I am proud to call myself a Hindu, I am proud that I am one of your unworthy servants. I am proud that I am a countryman of yours, you the descendants of the sages, you the descendants of the most glorious Rishis the world ever saw. Therefore, have faith in yourselves, be proud of your ancestors, instead of being ashamed of them.� (CW-3. 381)

These are some of the views of Swami Vivekananda. If the modern youth imbibe the great virtues of self-­confidence, renunciation, purity, non­violence and service to others as preached and exemplified by the glori­ous life of Swami Vivekananda, the life of the modem youth would be much better for themselves as also for soci­ety.

Kind courtesy of Prabhuddha Bharata.