Acharya Prashant: By looking at one Vivekanand, you start imagining, or dreaming, or expecting that all youth can be like Vivekanand. And in this lies your ingratitude and disrespect towards Vivekanand. You do not know what kind of an impossibility a Vivekanand is. You do not appreciate him, so you feel that anybody and everybody can be a Vivekanand.
You do not know the colossal height of the Himalayas, so you start feeling that the little bit of mud you have gathered in your lawn must be able to have some snow on its peak. And then you complain, you say, “The Himalayas have so much snow on their peaks. I too have raised this little mound, five kilograms of earth I dug up. And then this hill I have created all of 24 inches height, but I do not see any snow on its peak.” You do not see any snow on its peak because you do not have respect for the glory of the Himalayas. You do not know what it takes to have your peaks crowned with snow; you feel that the crown is cheap. The snow crown does not come cheap, it requires the height of a giant. You do not respect the giant.
Human beings are all like those little mounds, those little heaps of earth on ground. The religious teachers, the Gurus, have been like the mighty Everest, but we keep comparing ourselves to them and feel disappointed when we do not find snow in our hair. Try being a Guru Nanak Dev or a Swami Vivekanand for one day; try living their life for one day, and then you will realize who we are. One hour? Please, somebody take the bait. For one hour try living as the Guru, and then you will realize how impossible a Guru is. And then you will realize where you would have been without the Gurus.
It’s become a fad to curse religion and to say, “Oh, all religions are outdated, and we do not need to even read the ancient scriptures.” It’s become a fashionable thing. It is the vilest kind of ingratitude that deserves the most severe kind of punishment. And the punishment is forthcoming: man is suffering. Is there love in the animal world? Is there love in the android world? Go, find out where love comes from.
