Swami Vivekananda’s Message to the Youth, ‘Youth, Peace Building and Non-violent Communication’, Keynote Address by Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director, the VIF, at the Malviya Centre for Peace Research, Banaras Hindu University, 31 March, 2018

Vice Chancellor Sh Bhatnagar, Head of UNESCO’s Education Department in India, Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank Prof. Priyankar Upadhayaya, UNESCO Chair, Head of the Malviya Peace Research Centre at the Banaras Hindu University for inviting me to this International Conference on Youth Peace Building, and Non-violent Communication.

Malviya Peace Research Centre has made a name for itself in the field of peace research on which Prof. Priyankar has been working tirelessly for several decades. His contribution to giving impetus to research this field of study is significant. He has done excellent work in deepening our understanding of peace and peace building not just in an academic way but also in practical direction. Students of the Centre have gone on to work on peace building missions in India and abroad.

Peace Building and Non-violent Communication

Today millions of people are trapped in unending spiral of violence across the world. Violence has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Millions have been displaced. Millions of children, born into the conflict have no future. The violence is caused by many factors - political, economic, social, historical and ideological. The ongoing conflicts have also created geo-political complications. India - the land of Buddha, Ashoka, Gandhi; the land of the philosophy of Vedas and Upanishads, the land of Ramayana and Mahabharata – can, and should make a contribution to bringing peace to the world.

It is not just the outward manifestation of violence that should worry us. The internal conflicts within ourselves are equally acute. The onset of technology has created not only opportunities but also alienation and loneliness. Today, people are scared of artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data like technologies which could displace jobs which were otherwise being done by humans. Technology is creating opportunities but also fear. The merging of the cyberspace with the physical world is having unforeseen consequences which manifest in the growing disconnect between self and surroundings. We are seeing the downside of the naked materialism taking its toll on human beings.

The nature of the society is also changing. It is extremely difficult to understand how thousands of young kids, leaving behind their comfortable lives, have been brainwashed into going to conflict ridden zones and subjecting themselves to tyranny of such groups as the Islamic State. It is difficult to understand how young people could be self-motivated to undertake lone-wolf attacks and destroy indiscriminately life and property in the name of dubious ideologies? It is difficult to understand how perfectly sane individuals are able to spray bullets in schools and hospitals to kill innocent people with whom they have had no previous contact.

Clearly, there is something very wrong with the society we are living in. We have to find answers to the questions why young minds can get so alienated from their surroundings and become a menace to society and themselves. It is in this context that seminars and workshops such as these help us to understand the nature of society we are living in today and find answers to the question of how to build peace and harmony in society.

Part of the answer lies in the fact that we have forgotten the role of character building in our education. In today’s free-thinking world driven by extreme individualism, ethics and character plays no role in a child’s growth. Old traditions are seen as burden which constrain the growth of the individual. There is too much of selfishness and too little of caring for the fellow beings. Materialism has turned as away from genuine spirituality. Unless we address these issues, peace will be difficult to achieve.

This is not to argue that the traditions have all the answers. Far from it. Not all traditions are worth following. Some traditions which encourage social ills, divisiveness, casteism, suppression of women and orthodoxy need to be destroyed and broken. Youth are naturally iconoclastic and creative. They look for new solutions and new vistas. However, future cannot be built without studying the past. What is good in the past should be taken and what is not good should be discarded. Knowledge is not enough. Wisdom needs to be created out of past knowledge and experience.

To build the future, we have to take help from the past. Those who ignore history are condemned to live it. This is the old saying. Today’s youth are disconnected from the past.

Friends, conflict and violence, war and peace are inseparable from each other. Historical experience shows us that we cannot have a society which is only peaceful and which has no conflicts within it. However, we need to learn to manage these binaries. The youth needs to be trained to manage these conflictual binaries. But how do we do that?

We must connect with our past with a view to learn about human dilemmas. The epics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana teach us about human dilemmas and how to resolve them. Indian ancient texts are a great treasure of learning which we seem to have neglected in modern education. We are looking for all kinds of solutions in western learning but ignoring what is already available. Therefore it is suggested in the Indian context at least, the study of epics with a view to learn about human contradictions, human strengths and failings, should be encouraged.

India also has a vast ancient literature on political science. Governance was a highly evolved discipline about which much has been written. The Shanti Parva of the Mahabharat, the Arthasastra of Kautilya, and many other texts are rich sources of knowledge. These must be studied from the point of view of their applicability to modern conditions. Conflict resolution is an essential part of peace building process. Indian epics are a wonderfully rich source of learning insofar as conflict resolution is concerned. This should also become a part of learning for youth.

The youth is idealistic, energetic and optimistic by nature. Their energy should be channeled for higher purposes. They should be challenged to work for higher ideals which are not motivated by selfishness. The Indian tradition places great emphasis on service of humanity, working selflessly for others, working for the nation, working for humanity, harmonising with the environment, respecting the feelings of others and so on. These are great values which are no longer emphasised. This must change. The youth must be encouraged to priorities service over self-interest.One of the themes of this conference is non-violent communication. Non-violence cannot be seen separately from violence. We must understand the causes of violence in order to make non-violence more effective. In Indian thinking, non-violent behaviour and communication comes naturally. The entire universe is interconnected. Divinity is present in all of us. When such a worldview is taken, non-violence is the natural outcome. Therefore, it is necessary to teach the philosophy of non-violence and its practice in a proper manner.

Swami Vivekananda’s Message to the Youth

Swami Vivekananda has inspired countless generations of Indians since he made his famous speech on 11 September 1893 at Chicago at the Parliament of World’s Religions. He exposed the western world to the spiritual aspects of Hindu religion and Indian civilisation. He was also delved upon the capacity and capabilities of the youth; he wanted the youth to train itself in order to give service to humanity.

Sacrifice and Selfless Service

It is useful to review what Swami Vivekananda had to say to the youth. He said that the goal of life is unselfishness and living for others. Life is all about sacrifice.

“This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.”

“Sacrifice in the past has been the Law, it will be, alas, for ages to come. The earth’s bravest and best will have to sacrifice themselves for the good of many, for the welfare of all. Buddhas by the hundred are necessary with eternal love and pity.” (SV, Letters, p. 295).

He wanted the youth to give up jealousy and conceit:

“Give up jealousy and conceit. Learn to work unitedly for others. This is the great need of our country.” (SV, Letters, p. 224).
For him, working for the poor was the highest form of work. Youth must be sensitive to the poor and work for them. This is particularly today when the inequalities in the society are increasing. He said,

“Feel, my children, feel; feel for the poor, the ignorant, the downtrodden, feel till the heart stops and the brain reels and you think you will go mad…” (SV, Letters, p. 173).

Nishkam Karma

For him, the ideal way of work was to have no expectation in return. He said,

“Those that want to help mankind must take their own pleasure and pain, name and fame, and all sorts of interests, and make a bundle of them and throw them into the sea…” (SV).

Unity as Basis of Ethics

Unity is the basis of ethics. He said,

“If we believe that the other person is my brother and same as me, there’ll be no basis for violence. He said, “There is but one basis of well-being, social, political, or spiritual—to know that I and my brother are one.” (SV, Letters, p. 248).

This is the basis of ethics.

Take Responsibility

He exhorted the youth to take responsibility for their actions. He said,
“…stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creators of your own destiny.” (SV).

Eschew Trivialities

Swamiji wanted the youth to be united and move away from trivialities. Only this way they would build a future for India. He said,

“Being of one mind is the secret of society. And the more you go on fighting and quarrelling about all trivialities such as "Dravidian" and "Aryan", and the question of Brahmins and non-Brahmins and all that, the further you are off from that accumulation of energy and power which is going to make the future India.”

Determination and Strength of Character

Unless the youth builds its character, their energy will be wasted in unproductive channels. Vivekananda said,
“What the world wants is character. The world is in need for those whose life is one burning love, selfless. That love will make every word tell like thunderbolt.” (SV, Letters, p. 295).

Health

The youth must have sound health. They must work for it. They should, play, exercise and take to physical activity. Otherwise they would not be able to work for their ideals. Healthy mind resides in healthy body. He said,

“My child, 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.” (SV)

And,

“Let each one of us pray day and night for the downtrodden millions in India who are held fast by poverty, priestcarft, and tyranny—pray day and night for them…Who feels…for the two hundred millions of men and women sunken for ever in poverty and ignorance? Where is the way out? Who feels for them. They cannot find light or education. Who will bring the light to them—who will travel from door to door bringing education to them? Let these people be your God—think of them, work for them, pray for them incessantly.” (SV, Letters, pp. 146-47)

And finally, Care for Environment, Respect Heritage and Learn from History

Environmental degradation is emerging as an existential threat to the mankind. The need of the hour is to save our forests, biodiversity, conserve water, conserve energy and so on. The young have a great role to play here;

“A nation that has no history of its own has nothing in this world. Do you believe that one who has such faith and pride as to feel, "I come of noble descent", can ever turn out to be bad? How could that be? That faith in himself would curb his actions and feelings, so much so that he would rather die than commit wrong. So a national history keeps a nation well-restrained and does not allow it to sink so low.” (SV).

The past has a lot of lessons to offer. Swami Vivekananda said,

“Throw yourselves, children of India, into the worship of […] your whole past. Strive passionately for knowledge. Yours are the spades and mattocks of this excavation. For with you and not with the foreigner, are the thought and language that will make it easy to unearth the old significance. India's whole hope lies in a deeper research, a more rigid investigation of facts.” (SN).
He wanted the youth to learn from history. He said,

“Pick out your Guru from history…Worship the heroes of the world. Do not forget your Mahabharata and Ramayana. The true knight fights for duty than for gain. Choose your heroes from the heroes of action…Take the motto of the Upanishads: Although the path be as sharp as the blade of razor, stop not till the goal is reached.” (SN, CW5, p. 335).

In Conclusion

I would like to say that you have a great responsibility of nation building. India is today poised to take its rightful place in the comity of nations. However, there are still many hurdles to cross. We have to deal with complex security environment surrounding India. We also have to deal many internal contradictions that India as a nation and society faces. The quality of politics in India is deteriorating. The youth will be disillusioned soon if proper jobs are not created and if opportunities for health, education, sports, recreation are not provided.

The elders have to provide a role model for the youth. We cannot preach the youth what we ourselves do not practice. Swami Vivekananda was preaching in the 19th Century when India was colonised. 70 years into independence and destined to rise further, let India’s rise be beneficial not only to our people but also to the world. The message of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ i.e. the ‘world is one family’ is highly relevant.

Youth need to believe in this. Thank you.