Swamiji upheld that genre of wisdom by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one’s own feet.

We, Indians, were supposed to be the more credible and more morally upright animals, by virtue of the legacy of the mahatmas and the sadhus. But today, we seem to have lost our way and have ended up nowhere.

The morality in whatever proportions, is prevalent in the society today, is all attributed to the fear for the law of the land or to the dread for public outrage. The thesis of ethics today, do not speak volume about the need to be moral. It was Swamiji who had taught us that we should be pure because purity is our real nature, our true Divine Spirit or the Aatma. We should be compassionate towards our fellow beings because we are all one in the Supreme Spirit or the Paramaatma. “Teach yourselves, teach everyone his real nature, call on the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is awaken to self-conscious activities”, he said.

He projected religion as the ‘Science of Consciousness’, as the pious pursuit for supreme liberty, supreme wisdom and supreme peace which is free from the shackles of superstitions and dogmatism.

More often than not, we have been resilient to adopting the western way of rendering life. Swamiji, India’s cultural ambassador to the west took mammoth leaps towards bridging the east and the west and invoked us to incorporate the best elements of the western culture, out of which science and technology, and humanism deserve special mention.

Netaji Subhash Bose was once quoted as saying, “Swamiji has harmonized the East and the West, religion and science, the past and the present. That is what makes him great as a man. The Indians have garnered self-esteem, self-reliance and self-assertion from his teachings, like never before.”

After his speeches at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, in 1893, shot him to fame as an ‘orator by divine right’ and as a ‘messenger of Indian wisdom to the west’, Swamiji tried to draw the attention of the educated section of the society on the misery of the down and outs, to make them realize their onus towards the downtrodden people and to strategize for their upgrade. Swamiji’s concept of ‘spiritual humanism’ celestializes the human bond and laid the very foundation for forging the human society in to a ‘global village’.

During his odyssey in the pursuit of discovery of real India, he was shaken by the deplorable condition of the poor and backward countrymen, who were deprived even of the basic necessities of life and the kind of indifference meted out to them. He spoke at length about the role-play of the poor labouring class in the generation of the country’s wealth. Vivekananda said, “As long as hundreds of thousands live in hunger and ignorance, I brand every man as a traitor who, having been educated at their expense does not pay even the least attention to the latter. He always strived for services to the threshold of the poorest of poor. He was the first spiritual leader of India to speak for the public, devise a definite scheme of service, and coordinate extensive social service.

Towards the final days of his life, an ailing Vivekananda, on the request of Sir Henry Cotton, visited Shillong, the-then capital of undivided Assam. The Himalayan city, by the benediction of its beauty, serenity, sublimity and hospitality took due care of Swamiji’s health, during his fortnight-long stay here. The Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Cultural Centre is a renaissance of the famous Quinton Hall, where Swamiji delivered the inaugural lecture on the 27 of April, 1901 which coincidentally turned out to be the last public lecture of his life. He stressed on imparting not mere degree providing education but education that makes the youths vocationally expert and that enables them become self-reliant.

The Government of India in 1984 declared that the birthday of Swami Vivekananda would henceforth be celebrated as the National Youth Day, every year. It was of the view that the philosophy of Swamiji and the ideals for which he lived and worked could be a great source of inspiration for the Indian Youths.

The President of India, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has also recently urged the youths of the nation to learn from the ideals of Swami Vivekananda and to equip themselves in every possible way to contribute to the development of the nation and its inhabitants.

As we commemorate Swami Vivekanda on his one-and-a-half birth centenary, there is an alarming need for some serious introspection and for delving deep into the lessons taught by him and putting them into practice too.

Raktim Paul.