Guwahati: National Youth Day is celebrated every year in India on 12 January. The day is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. He was a philosopher and a social reformer who worked very hard towards fighting illiteracy and eliminating child marriage.
He also worked towards spreading education among women and the people belonging to lower castes.
His ideas and philosophies were highly popular among the youth, and still remain relevant.
To acknowledge and celebrate his teachings, his birth anniversary is celebrated every year as National Youth Day! Multiple events are organized all around the country to celebrate his teachings.
Swami Vivekananda was born Narendranath Datta on January 12, 1863, in Kolkata, West Bengal. He was always inclined towards spirituality. He practised meditation from a very early age and also joined the Brahmo Samaj movement for a certain period. One of the greatest patriots, he was also credited for introducing Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world.
Although he was devastated by the demise of his father, Shri Ramakrishna, he embarked on a long journey to explore and discover every part of India.
A true Karma Yogi, he had full faith in the youth of this country. He had a very strong belief that youth can transform the fate of India through their hard work, dedication and spiritual power.
His message to the youth was, “What I want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel, inside which dwells a mind of the same material as that of which the thunderbolt is made.” Through messages like this, he wished to instil basic values into the youth.
He always inspired the youth to have a confident attitude. The reason behind it – people are always fearful of the challenges presented by life when they don’t have confidence in themselves.
Swami Vivekananda had believed that anything which makes us weak spiritually, physically or mentally should be rejected like poison. Weak thoughts should be replaced with optimism with the help of yoga and meditation.
