India has recently witnessed deliberate political attempts to provoke a Gen Z uprising. Those who planned such movements, similar to incidents in our neighborhood, sought to incite the youth to revolt against the country, even if their aggression resulted in destruction, as it did in Nepal and Bangladesh. The intention behind such calls was the belief that political establishments could be toppled through intense youth agitation. While the design for such upheavals appeared local, the masterminds behind them were often external. The aspiration was political, and the intention, sinister. The perpetrators understood that aggression capable of overthrowing a government can emerge only from the youth. This underscores the precariousness of being young, a phase so easily influenced by misleading forces.
As we approach another National Youth Day, discourse on the role of youth in nation-building has become increasingly relevant, especially at a time when attempts are being made to divert their immense potential toward destructive ends. Swami Vivekananda’s birthday, celebrated as National Youth Day on 12 January, provides the perfect occasion to reflect on this.
Vivekananda, throughout his life, stood for India and its people. His efforts were primarily focused on the complete revival of India’s spiritual essence, not only within its socio-cultural framework but also on a global level. He realized that India possessed profound civilizational wealth that the world would one day require, and he believed this to be India’s greatest contribution to humanity. His visit to the West was unprecedented; never before had a Hindu saint undertaken such a universal mission. An India subjected to Western sarcasm and condescension rose to cultural prominence as a monk in ochre robes confronted the West’s intellectual prejudice and spiritual barrenness. Much was spoken against him, and much against India. The West, deeply invested in the perceived supremacy of its monotheistic spirituality, was left disillusioned. Vivekananda dismantled these assumptions with remarkable clarity. For the first time, the West experienced a powerful wave of intellectual and spiritual thought challenging its cultural bigotry. Vivekananda keenly sensed the West’s contempt for India and its discriminatory attitude toward the East.
Everything he did, he said, was aimed at restoring India’s centuries-old spiritual philosophies, brutally suppressed under repeated invasions and British hegemony. He believed that achieving independence was not difficult; governing it wisely would be the greater challenge. His foresight accurately predicted India’s freedom. Political will alone, he argued, would not liberate India, its spiritual aspirations had to rise from the ruins of its distorted past.
His mission was directed at the youth. His call to them was phenomenal, his vision exceptional, and its essence profoundly veritable. The youth, he believed, were the instruments of national regeneration. “Youth is the best time; the will is strong, faith is strong, and the mind is strong,” he reminded India’s young minds. A young saint who lived for less than four decades possessed a grand vision that spoke powerfully to India’s youth. He declared, “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life, think of it, dream of it, and live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, and every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.” Never before, in India’s history, such a message had been delivered with visionary zeal and articulated with comparable intellectual clarity and spiritual depth.
The relevance of Vivekananda even today is indisputable. National Youth Day, like any other nationally observed day, cannot pass in silence. It must loudly proclaim what Swami Vivekananda stood for- India’s national resurgence. This is a dream we have been nurturing for nearly a decade. Vishwa Guru India is not merely a nationalist fantasy, purportedly decorated with fine political vocabulary. India’s global significance and its rise as a spiritual power were realities that Vivekananda foresaw. Yet, for decades, there was an unforgivable reluctance to institutionalize and streamline the spiritual might that Vivekananda revealed to the world.
India’s G20 presidency and its global outreach, guided by the ancient Upanishadic aphorism “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” have been a resounding retelling of Vivekananda’s mission. Though divided on multiple fronts, by region, religion, and faith; the world, Vivekananda believed, had reasons to remain united. There was space for all civilizations to survive and for every belief system to proclaim its depth and veracity. Conflicts in the name of differing faiths, he asserted, were meaningless. Different rivers, flowing through varied terrains, are ultimately destined to reach the same ocean, where differences dissolve and oneness emerges.
Most astoundingly, the journey of an ordinary boy into what he later came to manifest as, began in the courtyard of an illiterate man. A temple priest, outwardly unlettered yet inwardly an ocean of transcendental wisdom, transformed a speck of dust into a spiritual storm. Rooted in the sanctum of Dakshineswar, Ramakrishna embodied a living synthesis of devotion, mysticism, and divine realization. His choice of Vivekananda was precise, nothing short of a divine will. With childlike simplicity and disarming clarity, Ramakrishna articulated the loftiest metaphysical truths, and Vivekananda became his most powerful spiritual instrument- one who would later transform the world’s perception of India and secure historic recognition for its ancient wisdom.
An aspirational Gen Z has every reason to look beyond the disruptive influence of political ideologies. Vivekananda envisioned an India that is spiritually elevated, intellectually rejuvenated, emotionally resilient, and socially strengthened. For him, the nation comes first, its survival, with ancient glory restored, is the true path to its global leadership. National Youth Day arrives once again with this profound reminder for the youth of India, the Gen Z, to embrace their potential in shaping a resurgent India.
