Today the country is celebrating National Youth Day. On this occasion, only garlanding the statue of Swami Vivekananda will not make a difference, but we also have to understand and assimilate his philosophy. Swami Vivekananda had deeply contemplated various problems of human life. His areas of thought were religion, philosophy, social and political system, education system, the status of women and respect of the nation etc. His views on various problems have given a new direction to the nation. According to him, education is a means of discovering the inner self.
Education is the means of realizing the fact of human life that we are all part of one God. He believed in the all-around development of personality through education. He believed that perfection already lies in man. Education is an expression of that. In other words, all knowledge is already inherent in man. No knowledge comes into him from outside. Education introduces a man to it and makes it emerge. He used to say that the main aim of education should be life-building, human-building, character-building.
Swami Vivekananda was completely dissatisfied with the prevailing education system under British rule. He advocated the Indian method of teaching. He had declared that the entire education of our country should be in our own hands. This should be done on national lines and as far as possible through national concerns. He was in favour of designing the structure of education in such a way that the individual realizes that infinite knowledge and power resides in him and that education is the means to reach it. He emphasized the personal contact between the student and the teacher and said that the teacher should be the highest living example of character and morality. He believed that knowledge can be acquired only through concentration. One who learns with concentration surely performs better in different areas of life.
Swami Vivekananda used to be disappointed with the pathetic condition of women in India. He believed that the progress of the nation lies in the progress of women. He quoted from Manusmriti that where women are respected, the gods are pleased. And where they are not pleased, all efforts come to nought. The family or country in which women are not happy can never rise. He strongly recommended that daughters should be raised as sons. he believed that women should be given a chance to realize the idea of chastity, as these ideas would give them the strength to reach their ideal womanhood. He considered Mother Sita to be ideal for the Indian woman. He remarked that any attempt to modernize women which takes women away from the ideal of Sita is reprehensible and must be stopped immediately.
Swami Vivekananda was a spiritually enlightened monk. He was a great Vedantist, who propagated the ideas of the Vedas. In his very short life, he influenced the whole world and tried to modernize India keeping the culture intact. His thoughts encourage the spirit of humanity. Throughout his life, he practised the ideas of the Vedas such as enlightenment, self-reliance, fearlessness and concentration. He is credited with making western countries realize that India is not a country of illiterate people. With the light of his knowledge, he proved that India was indeed a Vishwa Guru. He told the western world about the spiritual aspects of Indian civilization. He toured India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Bengal to Punjab before preaching Hinduism in western countries, because he used to say that unless I see the people of my country, how will I tell the world about them?
The country needs his teachings the most today. Since independence, our country has made immense progress in various fields. The country has become self-reliant in many areas, but sadly we are still divided in the name of caste and religion. Most of the youth, ignorant of their duties towards the country and humanity, are seen busy using the daily quota of two GB of data on their mobile phones. Swami Vivekananda had sent a message to the youth of the country from Osaka (Japan) - Let's be human. He used to say that the muscles of youth should be like iron and nerves like steel.
Today we are moving towards implementing the recommendations of the National Education Policy-2020 in the country, so that self-reliance, constitutional values can be replaced in the youth. On the other hand, Swami Vivekananda himself is a message for the youth of India. His teachings will always be relevant.
Swami Vivekananda believed in the comprehensive development of personality through education. According to him, education is the means of realizing the reality of human life that we are all part of one God.
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