Swami Vivekananda is the ultimate youth icon, If we followed him with dedication there would be a new India and a new humanity. The ideals of Swami Vivekananda inspire and energise millions of Indians, particularly our youth. It is from him that we draw the motivation of building an India that is well strong, vibrant, inclusive and an country that takes global leadership in several domains.

Swami Vivekananda, known in his pre-monastic life as Narendra Nath Datta, was born in an affluent family in Kolkata on 12 January 1863. His father, Vishwanath Datta, was a successful attorney with interests in a wide range of subjects, and his mother, Bhuvaneshwari Devi, was endowed with deep devotion, strong character and other qualities.

Swami excelled in music, gymnastics and studies. By the time he graduated from Calcutta University, he had acquired a vast knowledge of different subjects, especially Western philosophy and history. Born with a yogic temperament, he used to practise meditation even from his boyhood, and was associated with Brahmo Movement (Social Reform) for some time.

Vivekananda is credited with bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion in the late 19th century. He played an significant role in introducing the Indian Vedanta and philosophies of yoga to the western world, which really put India on the world's spiritual map. Further, It was Vivekananda’s 1893 speech at the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago that forever changed the way the world looked at India and made him popular as a messenger of Indian wisdom to the western world.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Marks 157th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda at Belur Math. Speaking on the occasion, The PM said his visit to the Math is a pilgrimage for him. In other words, Coming to Belur Math is no less than a pilgrimage. I am thankful to the president of the Math that they allowed me to stay here.

The PM, In a series of tweet, Swami Vivekananda lives in the hearts and minds of crores of Indians, especially the dynamic youth of India for whom he has a grand vision. Today, on Vivekananda Jayanti and National Youth Day I am at the Belur Math, including the room where Swami Ji meditated, He tweeted.

The thoughts of Sri Ramakrishna emphasise on furthering harmony and compassion. He believed that a great way to serve God is to serve people, especially the poor and downtrodden. At the Belur Math this morning, I paid tributes to Sri Ramakrishna, The PM asserted.

While President Ram Nath Kovind also paid tribute to swami ji and said, Homage to Swami Vivekananda on his birth anniversary. In honour of this great scholar, monk and visionary who has inspired generations, especially the youth, we commemorate this day as National Youth Day. May Swami Vivekananda’s life & deeds continue to inspire us in years to come.

However, The link between the Prime Minister and the Ramakrishna Mission goes back to mid-60s when a teenaged Narendra Modi, inspired by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, had arrived at the Mission's Rajkot branch in Gujarat and expressed the desire to join the order. As per the report, It is Modi's second visit to Belur Math after becoming PM. On May 10, 2015, a deeply emotional he had spent a few morning hours at the Math, praying and meditating.

Significantly, After establishing the new monastic order, Swami Vivekananda heard the inner call for a greater mission in his life. While most of the followers of Sri Ramakrishna thought of him in relation to their own personal lives, Vivekananda thought of the Master in relation to India and the rest of the world. Notably, Ramakrishna mission is a Hindu religious and spiritual organisation which forms the core of a worldwide spiritual movement known as the 'Ramakrishna Movement' or the 'Vedanta Movement'.

How a man must live his life by the following 15 Golden Rules?

1. Love Is The Law Of Life:
   All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves, lives; he who is selfish, is dying. Therefore, love for love's sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.
    
2. It's Your Outlook That Matters:
   It is our own mental attitude that makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful; our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.
    
3. Life is Beautiful:
   First, believe in this world--that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, interpret it to mean that you do not yet understand it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!
    
4. It's The Way You Feel:
   Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality--without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God.
    
5. Set Yourself Free:
   The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him--that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.
    
6. Don't Play The Blame Game: Condemn none:
   If you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers and let them go their own way.
    
7. Help Others:
   If money helps a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.
    
8. Uphold Your Ideals:
   Our duty is to encourage everyone in his struggle to live up to his own highest ideal, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.
    
9. Listen To Your Soul:
   You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.
    
10. Be Yourself:
    The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!
     
11. Nothing Is Impossible:
    Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin--to say that you are weak, or others are weak.
     
12. You Have The Power:
    All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.
     
13. Learn Every Day:
    The goal of mankind is knowledge... Now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man 'knows,' should, in strict psychological language, be what he 'discovers' or 'unveils;' what man 'learns' is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.
     
14. Be Truthful:
    Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.
     
15. Think Different:
    All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.
     

It is a well-known fact that Swami Vivekananda was a powerful orator whose speeches had the capacity to invoke great emotion in his listeners.

Was there a secret to his success?
However, Vivekananda’s elevated thoughts were the real secret behind his spell-binding success. As he himself remarked: Whatever you think, that you will become; so take care about what you think. If you have to think, think good thoughts, great thoughts. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.

Following his quote, I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. Sectarianism, bigotry, and it's horrible descendent, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now.

Despite all of this, During his travels all over India, Vivekananda was deeply moved to see the appalling poverty and backwardness of the masses. He was the first religious leader in India to understand and openly declare that the real cause of India’s downfall was the neglect of the masses. The immediate need was to provide food and other bare necessities of life to the hungry millions. For this they should be taught improved methods of agriculture, village industries, etc. Thus, The ideals of Vivekananda Ji inspire millions of Youth today. On 157th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the greatest Youth Icon, Spiritual Saint, and Philosopher, India celebrates National Youth Day.

National Youth Day is a day to commemorate the great contribution of Swami Vivekananda and praise him for not only saving Hinduism from the plight and misery but put India on the global map. His Jayanti plays as crucial a role in all our lives as Swami Vivekananda himself did in shaping India’s image in the modern world. It reminds us of our core values, the development of India and the Indians, and the potential that our ancestors insisted on.

Written By: Trilok Singh, Currently Studies Masters in Mass Communication & Journalism at International School of Media and Entertainment Studies, News 24 Campus. MA in Political Science, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi. Currently, CEO at Youth Darpan Media, IASmind, & India s Journal. Forthcoming Media House is Online Media 24.