GL Raina
giridharraina@gmail.com
Swami Vivekananda remains one of India’s most enduring youth icons-an apostle of self-belief, fearlessness, and selfless service. His clarion call to the youth, “Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached,” was not merely motivational rhetoric but a civilisational summons. Rooted in Vedanta yet oriented toward action, his message fused spiritual awakening with national regeneration, offering India a vision of strength grounded in character, discipline, and compassion.
For Vivekananda, youth was the decisive force in shaping society. He believed that the most potent period of life was meant not for passivity or self-indulgence but for character-building and service. Strength-both physical and mental-was central to his philosophy. His famous assertion that one would be “nearer to heaven through football than through the study of the Gita” was not a rejection of scripture but a reminder that a weak body and timid mind could never sustain lofty ideals. To him, true nation-building required a harmonious development of the Head, Heart, Hands, and Health-clear thinking, compassion, action, and physical vitality.
Equally central was his insistence on faith in oneself. Vivekananda warned that weakness-mental or moral-was the root of all misery. “Whatever you think, that you will be,” he said, urging the youth to shed fear and internalised inferiority. Education, in his vision, was not an accumulation of information but a proces of drawing out the best within-building character, discipline, empathy, and courage. Spiritual growth, he believed, found its truest expression in service: “Serve God in man.”
It is therefore fitting that his birthday, January 12, is celebrated as National Youth Day, honouring a man who placed unshakeable faith in the young generation’s ability to transform the nation. His address at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago announced India’s spiritual universality to the world and reinforced a sense of civilisational confidence among Indians at home. As a monk, he embodied austerity, focus, and selfless dedication-setting a standard not merely to admire, but to emulate.
Swami Vivekananda and Kashmir
Among the many places that shaped Vivekananda’s spiritual journey, Kashmir held a special place. He visited the Valley twice-briefly in 1897 and more extensively in 1898. The second visit, from mid-June to mid-September, proved transformative. Accompanied by a small group that included Sister Nivedita, he immersed himself in Kashmir’s spiritual and historical landscape, describing it as the “lamp of civilisation” and “a land fit for yogis.”
During this stay, he visited sites of immense religious and historical significance-Shankaracharya Hill, Hari Parbat, Martand Sun Temple, Avantipora, Bijbehara, and the Mughal gardens of Nishat and Shalimar. Yet the spiritual core of his Kashmir sojourn lay in his pilgrimages to Shri Amarnath Ji and Mata Kheer Bhawani at Tulmulla.
At the holy Amarnath cave, Vivekananda experienced a spiritual exaltation unlike any he had known before. He later confided that he felt the Ice Lingam was Shiva Himself and that the Lord had granted him the “grace of Amarnath”-a blessing he interpreted as freedom from death until divine consent was given. The experience left an indelible mark on him.
Following Amarnath, his devotion to the Divine Mother intensified. In Srinagar, while staying on a houseboat, he worshipped the four-year-old daughter of his Muslim boatman as Goddess Uma-an act that symbolised his profound belief in the universality of the divine, transcending religious boundaries.
His stay at Kheer Bhawani proved even more introspective. There, he worshipped in solitude, performing daily havans and offering kheer to the Mother. One moment of inner turmoil-when he reflected on the historical desecration of the shrine-gave rise to a defining spiritual revelation. Distressed by the thought that the Mother’s temple had been violated, he inwardly lamented that he would have sacrificed his life to protect it. The response he heard, as he later recounted, transformed him:
“Do you protect me, or do I protect you?”
When he later contemplated rebuilding the dilapidated shrine, the Divine Mother’s voice again intervened, reminding him that divine will, not human planning, governed creation. These revelations stripped him of residual ambition-even patriotic urgency-and dissolved his sense of personal agency. As he later told his disciples, “All my patriotism is gone… now it is only Mother! Mother!”
Many believe that the vision at Tulmulla brought Vivekananda to the threshold of his life’s ultimate realisation-clarifying who he was and why he had come into the world. His guru, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, had once foretold that once Vivekananda fully realised his true nature, he would not remain long in the mortal world. On July 4, 1902, at the age of 39, Vivekananda left his body, fulfilling his own prophecy that he would not live to see forty.
His love for Kashmir endured. Writing to Swami Suddhananda in 1897, he described it as “one land fit for yogis.” To Sister Nivedita, he confessed that he had never felt sorrow leaving any place except Kashmir-“this paradise on earth.”
Enduring Legacy
The ideals Vivekananda championed-fearlessness, self-belief, service, and spiritual universality-remain urgently relevant. Through the Ramakrishna Mission, he provided a practical framework to translate Vedanta into social action, offering generations of youth a path of disciplined service to humanity.
In Kashmir, as elsewhere, his life stands as a reminder that spiritual depth and national purpose are not opposing forces but complementary energies. Swami Vivekananda’s message to the youth irrespective of division based on faith, region or gender- is rooted in strength, clarity, and compassion. This universal message continues to echo across time, calling each generation to rise above fear and realise its highest potential.
(The author is a former Member of the legislative council of erstwhile Jammu Kashmir and spokesperson of the BJP JK-UT)
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