‘Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached.’ These great and ever inspiring words find their origin in the Katha Upanishad or the Kathopanishad, which is one of the primary Upanishads in ancient Indian texts. Swami Vivekanand took inspiration from the shloka i.e., mentioned in the Kathopanishad, and reiterated this ever-inspiring quote all his life and the same could be witnessed in several of his lectures, letters, essays, and public discourses. These words carry immense value with them and this is the main reason why they inspired people then, they inspire people now and they will continue to inspire coming generations for ages. Furthermore, Swami Vivekananda’s vision of Bharat always considered the youth as the torchbearer or forerunner. He has explained how a child is an optimist when after he is born but he becomes a pessimist at the end part of life. After birth, a child is in the age of seeing golden dreams and thus, he is an optimist. When his age of youth arrives, he becomes more optimistic and it’s hard for him to believe in things like death, defeat, or degradation. It’s because he dares to think that he can always win at any point of his life under any circumstances. In his youth, his will to achieve the impossible drives his inner thoughts and it matters the most. But when the old age or end part of life arrives, he witnesses a mass of ruins of dreams that he dreamt of in the age of youth and which have now vanished and he cannot achieve them now and thus, becomes a pessimist. Through this, Swami Vivekananda has tried to send a message that a dream or a vision can only be achieved at the age of youth.

Swami Vivekananda was delivering a speech at the Victoria Hall, Madras. He talked about his vision to start institutions in Bharat, that can train young men of Bharat as preachers of the truths of our scriptures in Bharat and outside Bharat. He says that “Men, men, these are wanted: everything else will be ready, but strong, vigorous, believing young men, sincere to the backbone, are wanted. A hundred such and the world becomes revolutionized.” A strong youth, full of vigor, with strong self-belief and sincerity to oneself and his motherland, can revolutionize the world if hundreds of such come together and work together for the holy motherland. Today in Modern Bharat, when our motherland is home to the youngest population, the youth seem to be diverted from the part of righteousness and self-consciousness. The path that Swami Vivekananda traveled and asked all the youth to travel is not present in most of the youth. For this divergence, we cannot blame technology or modernity, or anything else. Youth age certainly is an age of getting manipulated but a youth who lacks a will to act stronger and is not on the path of righteousness, cannot become part of Swami Vivekananda’s vision of Bharat. Today’s youth need to understand that if we cannot follow the path of wisdom that Swami Vivekananda followed throughout his life and became the symbol of youth power, then we can never contribute to the making of modern Bharat. We cannot serve our holy motherland if we are not together on the path of righteousness. We, the youth, have to become torchbearers in this Modern Bharat. We have to spread the message of peace that our holy motherland has taught us. If we, the youth, cannot read, understand, and grasp the message of Swami Vivekananda, whose entire life was a source of inspiration, then we certainly are not eligible to serve mankind. Once the Hindus of Jaffna presented a revering welcome address to Swami Vivekananda and in reply, he said “Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be; if you think yourselves impure, impure you will be; if you think yourselves pure, pure you will be.” Thus, he is trying to send a message to youth to think of themselves as strong, omnipotent, and omniscient. He has asked parents and guardians to make their children strong from the very beginning of childhood by letting them stand on their feet notwithstanding all-suffering, all-conquering, and boldness that they must witness. If they don’t learn from the glory of the soul at the very beginning, then they may not follow the path that they wish to.

Perseverance and tremendous will are demanded from the youth of Modern Bharat. The youth must drive themselves away from pleasure and happiness because they are supposed to be attained at the end. Knowledge shall be the ultimate goal in youth and they must try to possess knowledge from all the spheres of life. The first teacher is our holy motherland who teaches us to follow the path of righteousness no matter what obstacles come in the way. He had faith in the country and especially in the youth of the country, whose power, he thought, would raise our holy motherland to her proper spiritual place. The youth, with an immense amount of feeling and enthusiasm in their blood, will march from one corner of the earth to the other. The youth of today is the hope of the youth of the future. What the youth shall dream and preach today, shall also make a case and inspiration for the youth of tomorrow. Time is constant and thus, the age of youth is also constant. The age does not remain the same and today is the day to act and the right time to follow the path of Swami Vivekananda. The traits of youth, as demanded by Swami Vivekananda, to show vigor, self-belief, and loyalty are a need of the hour in Modern Bharat. All the youth must try to possess the traits posited by Swami Vivekananda and follow the path of righteousness. Therefore, Arise! Awake! And stop not till the desired end is reached.