Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi organised a Youth Convention
New Delhi: Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi organised a Youth Convention which was attended by 220+ students from various top institutions of the country and abroad including IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIM Calcutta, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Oxford University etc.
Swami Shantatmananda, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi in his inaugural address emphasized on the need of taking out the ideas of Swami Vivekananda to all parts of the country starting from metro cities to remote villages to make youth aware of the infinite potential within. In this direction, Swami ji is working through Awakened Citizen Program which is running in 5800 schools across Indian to impart the “practical philosophy” of Swami Vivekanand among future generations of India. Swami Ji highlighted the point that GDP is not true indicators of real growth of country in the light of deep divide between rich and poor.
Swami Sarvapriyananda, Minister-in-Charge, Vedanta Society of New York addressed the assembled youth as the keynote speaker on the theme “Are the ideas of Swami Vivekananda relevant for youth of India today?” followed by an hour-long question-answer session. Swami Sarvapriyananda pointed out that life of Swami Vivekananda is inspiring different generation of politicians right from Jawahar Lal Nehru to Narendra Modi. He further said that in Chicago Parliament of Religion behind Swami Vivekananda 5,000 years of Hindu tradition was speaking. Swami Vivekananda gave light to western country, in that light India was able to discover herself. He said India is not dead country but sleeping country.
Swami Sarvapriyananda was questioned on topics ranging from emotional well-being to God realisation. He quoted various verses from Upanishads while answering the questions of audience. He put spirituality in simple words of Swami Ranganathanda, the 13th president of Ramakrishna order as spirituality means when I close my eyes, I find peace within and when I open my eyes, I feel what can I do for others.
While answering a query of one youth Swami Sarvapriyananda said spirituality helps a person to resist harming others in cutthroat competition. While answering a difficult question of a youth who is facing tremendous family disharmony in his life, he said first you focus on your life. Believe that God will take care of everyone and do whatever possible from your side to help your parents. Don’t harm yourself, until you become capable you can’t help your parents. This is practical Vedanta.