Taoshobuddha

Vivekananda the Nectar of Youth

‘Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your

own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own
destiny’ - Vivekananda

‘Then only will India awake, when hundreds of large hearted men
and women, giving up all desires of enjoying the luxuries of life, will
long and exert themselves to their utmost, for the well being of the
millions of their countrymen.’ - Vivekananda

Are you among those whom Vivekananda had in mind for awakening
the millions of our motherland? Introspect!

MY RELIGION IS MY SERVICE TO THE NATION. And VIVEKANANDA

IS MY GURU. - SUBHASH CHANRDRA BOSE

I HAVE COME HERE TO BELLURE MATH TO SEEK INSPIRATION FROM

VIVEKANADA NOT DELIVER ANY SPEECH. MK GANDHI

If there has been anyone who has inspired the youth it is indeed
Vivekananda. When he returned from the West to his motherland it was the
youth who yoked themselves to the chariot in his honor.

Vivekananda is widely considered to have inspired not only youth instead

India’s freedom movement as well. His writings inspired Subhash Chandra
Bose, Aurobindo Ghosh, Mahatma Gandhi and Bagha Jatin. In 1897 when
Vivekananda returned to India still yoked under the British rule after four
years of trip to North America, England and Europe he was asked

‘Will India ever get freedom?’

A confident Vivekananda responded in affirmation,

‘India will attain to its freedom in fifty years.’

And Lo! It was exactly in fifty year that India attained freedom in 1947.

Aurobindo Ghosh considered Vivekananda as his spiritual mentor. He said,

“Vivekananda was a soul of puissance if ever there was one, a very lion
among men, but the definitive work he has left behind is quite
incommensurate with our impression of his creative might and energy. We
perceive his influence still working gigantically, we know not well how, we
know not well where, in something that is not yet formed, something
leonine, grand, and intuitive, up heaving that has entered the soul of India
and we say, ‘Behold, Vivekananda still lives in the soul of his Mother and in
the souls of her children’”.

Swami Vivekananda represents perennial youth. When you look at the face
he represents faith in self, wisdom and indomitable energy. Trust yourself.
Develop your head, heart and hands. This is the message of
VIVEKANANDA.

When through ‘Mindfulness’ mind becomes ‘aware’! When heart evolves

‘love’ emanates and love matures as ‘compassion’. When the streams of
‘AWARENESS’ and ‘COMPASSION’ merger into one ‘WISDOM’ is born in you.

“Youth is the fountain head of energy. However the flow and direction of this
energy need a guidance. The value of youth is indescribable. Youth is the
most precious part of life. The way in which you utilize this period will
decide the years that lie ahead of you. Your happiness, success, honor and
good name will all depend upon the way in which you live now. This period is
the soft wet clay in the hands of the potter. Skillfully the potter brings a
shape and form, which he intends to give. So too you can wisely mould your
life, your physical health and strength. And you must do this now.

Fortunate is the one who has recognized this. This is your privilege and
adventure as well. God watches you graciously, ever ready to help and
guide. I wish you to be great. The world has put its faith in you. Your
elders keep their hopes in you. Now youth means to place your firm
confidence in yourself and exercise your hopeful determination and
resolution and willing good intentions in this beautiful task of self-culture.
This will truly bring supreme satisfaction and fulfillment not only to you, but
also to all concerned. The shaping of your life is indeed in your own hands.

Practice virtue, persevere in virtue. Become established in virtue. Shine as

an embodiment of noblest virtue and heroic adherence to goodness. Youth
is meant for this grand process. Youth is the active development and
fulfillment of these processes. This period provides the suitable and
favorable fields for the working out of this extremely important and most
indispensable process in life. This is the special significance, the great
importance and supreme value of youth life. It signifies the creation of
noble personality. It is ‘atma-Viakasa’. It is ‘Atma –Nirmana’. Please try to
understand the correct implication of the term successful life.”

Hindu culture conceived of life in four stages - preliminary stage,

development stage, flowering or blossoming stage and the ultimate frution
stage. This is like preparing the field, sowing the seeds. Now, you can easily
understand, what is the significance this in connection with the harvest,
which anyone would wish to reap later on? Also, it is like laying of the
foundation for a building. If this building is something very important to
you, then you just think how much more important its proper foundation
becomes. The strong existence of the building depends certainly upon its
foundation. This is the stage you are now in. Let your preparations be wise.

This is ‘Vidyarthi Jivan’. Here, you acquire knowledge of not only subjects
like History, Geography, Mathematics, etc., but also about human nature,
behavior , science of Self- control, art of developing pure mind, Dharma, the
duties of man and the proper relationship between you, your family, your
society and the world.

In 1984, the Government of India declared the Birthday of Swami

Vivekananda (12 January) as National Youth Day every year from 1985
onwards. To quote from the Government of India’s Communication, ‘it was
felt that the philosophy of Swamiji and the ideals for which he lived and
worked could be a great source of inspiration for the Indian Youth.’

Swami Vivekananda touched the hearts of many. He reached the Himalayas

and from there travelled south until he reached the southernmost tip of
India. There he meditated for three days straight on top of Kanya-Kumari.
Heartbroken, Swami Vivekananda met the poverty-stricken and illiterate as
well, and saw the effects of Hinduism’s social caste system. However, Swami
Vivekananda understood that religion was the backbone of mother India and
that it must also be the foundation of modern India as well.

To Swami Vivekananda religion meant truth as Vedantic truths. To spread

this message, Swami Vivekananda travelled to the United States to
represent Hinduism at the Parliament of Religions on September 11th, 1893.
On this famous day, many say the West was finally connected to the East
and many ideas such as Yoga, Zen, Meditation, and Eastern Studies began
to spread to the United States.

On Sept 22, 2009 I had the occasion to speak to a large audience at Harvard
University. I had emphasized the significance of Meditation. The talk entitled
‘Meditation the missing dimension in education’. This was taking the
vision of Vivekananda to a new horizon bringing the dimension of meditation
as the essential aspect of University curriculum.

…. This evening’s topic is not only eye opener for those who are in authority
to look into the education systems throughout the world instead through this
I share my insights into meditation and how it can bring about a new
dimension into the life’s of the youth. The youth today is the backbone of the
humanity. It is our responsibility to mould this life energy into a direction
that it is a blend between the inner and the outer. Inner and the outer are
two wings. And without one you can simply limp. The two are complimentary
to one another and therefore cannot be negated.

Before I begin this evening’s talk I must take you into retrospect. It was the
year 1893, the same month of September as it is now. However, it was
eleven day earlier on September 11. 1893 that a simple, but elegant, unique
in his gestures, radiant, and serene monk travelled all the way from the
shores of the east in India. He came to attend the Parliaments of Religions at
Chicago. Vivekananda was the name assumed by this wandering monk. No
credentials, unknown, unaware of the ways and means of this world that he
was plundering into he set his feet on the shore of United States of America.
He was not even the official representative. However, the date for the
registration at the parliaments had expired. He was an orator by divine
rights. And a messenger from Heavens! None could stop him the opportunity
to enter the Parliament of Religions. Heavenly forces brought him into
contact with one Professor of this very Harvard University – Professor Henry
John Write. The way was paved the registration. This very ‘Harvard
University’ opened a new avenue for the merger of the wisdoms of the East
and the West.

Once again, this day instead of Vivekananda it is Taoshobuddha is once

again bringing the wisdom of the East to merge in the stream of the West to
create a new confluence where the weary traveler can sojourn for a while
feel resurrected and full of vitality to continue life’s journey. … Let us all
cherish it to the very core of our being that such opportunities come our way
more often than not.
‘Meditation the missing dimension in education’ is indeed a revelation
for the educationists so that they can look into the education system.

As a student or an educationist, you either spend or help someone go

through nearly one third precious years of life in acquiring all that is deemed
necessary to plunder into the outer world of competition, conflict, and
duality, where everything is measured in terms of money, efficiency, and
speed. After spending nearly 20-25-27 years of your youthful life of vigor
you are decorated with degrees, credits, honors of various kinds and colors.
It is said, ironically, you are now ready to the world that lies ahead of you.

Have you wondered that after spending nearly one third of your life’s
precious years when you leave the universities to enter the outside world are
you a balanced human being. Are you capable to deal with the unique
questions the life poses to you? Are you blissful deep within? Are fully ready
to enter the mysterious world, with unique way and means that is inviting
you in all its glamour and glitter?

Introspect deep within the silence of your being. If the answer is NO then we
need to revisit our systems of education at schools colleges and universities.
Certainly, something is grossly missing in your education system. And that
which is missing is Fourth Dimension or Dimension of the Being. It is
Meditation. Meditation is the missing dimension in education.

Let not any hasty conclude that I want the entire education system into
older one. Remember life does not move backward. Life always moves
forward. Wise never lament for that which is not. But certainly learn from
the wisdom of the past and translate or present the old into new jargons.
Each master does this. He is the link between the past and the present. Like
a bridge under which life energy flows, he connects the two shores.

My purpose of this talk this evening is to bring a new awareness and deep
down a realization that indeed ‘Meditation is the missing dimension in
our education system’. This realization is the first step for journey forward
into a new horizon.

Meditation is that link or bridge or the master within that connects the two
shores – the inner and the outer and in the process prepares you to face the
intricate situations that life presents as you interact in the outer world of
objects and beings.

Let us embark on a journey that we create balanced, harmonious, and

blissful human beings who are the essence of life....”