Why is Today's Youth not Like Swami Vivekananda?
Questioner: Our young adults seem to be full of confidence in the way they speak, dress, look, and act. But when I look into their eyes, there is a lot of fear, insecurity, and sometimes indifference reflecting back. Obviously, the outer facade is just a cover-up. Being a mother of two young adults, aged 22 and 19, I sense this with my own kids at times. I feel overwhelmed imagining what their future will be like.
Today, I see my kids and their peers mostly holding up in their rooms, staring at a computer screen for hours on end. They seem to be uninterested in what is happening outside. They are lost in their own inner worlds. Perhaps because we as parents have failed to provide them with something meaningful.
Recently, a good friend's son was arrested for assaulting a cop on duty when he was stopped at Nakabandi and asked to produce his papers. Acharya Ji, I sense this pent-up frustration and anger amongst our young adults. I feel a sense of helplessness because I too am frustrated at the current state of affairs. I can only imagine what they must be going through. Acharya Ji, please can you talk a bit about our youth and how best to guide them. Thank you. Love and gratitude. Nimisha.
Acharya Prashant: Are you surprised when you look at a 6-month-old, or 3-year-old, or six-year-old and you find him eager for his food, comfort, security, entertainment? Oblivious of all other worldly concerns? Do you cry out, "Why is this three-year-old lost in his little self and little world? Why is he not eager for liberation?" How many three-year-olds have you found longing for liberation? Have you found that? Not only do you not accuse the kid or the boy of not being enough of a seeker, you in fact find his ignorance towards everything but his own comfort as cute. Don't you? It is a norm, and it is a very acceptable norm with us. Is it not? Three-year-olds will be three-year-olds.
Similarly, do you feel worried when you look at an animal busy doing what animals do? Does that look apocalyptic to you? Do you say, "The end of the world is surely near because the deer has no interest in the scriptures?" Deers do what deers are supposed to do. Three-year-old human kids do what three-year-olds are supposed to do. But when it comes to young members of the species Homo sapiens, then we somehow have very romantic expectations.
We mean to say that if a human being is young, he should naturally be full of light, eagerness to learn. Let's look at what all you expect from them — fearlessness, interest in the fears of the world, humility, meaning and purpose in life. I'm asking you, from where is this idealism coming? Why do you expect these things from young human beings in the first place?
You have quoted Swami Vivekanand as saying, the minds of our modern youths are becoming storehouses of multiple complexes such as sex complex, fear complex, ego complex, inferiority complex. Hidden in your eagerness is an image, an ideal. And all ideals spring from an obliviousness to the fact. Very ideally, you are assuming and desiring that a young person should be free of the complexes and compulsions of sex, fear, ego, and comparison. Why must it be like that? What entitles you to think and demand that just by virtue of having attained a certain age, a human being should be free of sex, fear, ego, inferiority, and many, many other bad things?
You look at a Swami Vivekanand and then you want the others to be like that. But a Swami Vivekanand is not normal. He's an aberration. He's a great exception. Just by looking at him, if you start assuming that all young human beings by default should be like him, then you are missing the fact of what it means to be a human being.
Look at the life cycle of the ordinary human being. We say he's designed to live till 100. He's designed to live till 100. When does he begin to procreate? At 12, 14. It is under the influence of civilization that you push him to delay his reproductive activity. Otherwise, when it comes to Prakriti, — physical nature, she prepares him or her and pushes him to indulge in the sexual and reproductive act even at the age of 10 or 12 or 14.
Now that's quite interesting, because the man is supposed to live till 100, but the sexual act does not start somewhere close to the midpoint. It does not start at 30 or 40 or 50. In fact, even before one reaches midway, the sexual act actually starts tapering off. If hundred is how long one is supposed to live, then by fifty the sexual zeal has mostly diminished. It is at its peak not when you are 40 or 50 or 60, but when you are just 15 or 20.
What does it tell you about this so-called glorious period called youth? Has Prakriti prepared you for greatness? Greatness in the likes of Swami Vivekanand is a great exception.
** Prakriti does not prepare you for greatness. Prakriti prepares you for procreation. **
All this great upsurge of energy that you see in youth is not meant to break their chains or raise a fire that would unfetter them. All this great energy that we so fondly talk of in youth is actually aimed at just furtherance of the Prakritic motives.
So, first of all, let's keep our expectations in check. First of all, let's not unduly assume that youth is the golden period of one's life. First of all, let's not assume without fact or reason — young is to be desirous of freedom. It is not so. And therefore, what you are seeing in today's youth is just normal — in worldly language, natural. The boy has reached 20. What is he supposed to do? Look at the massive universe and wonder about its secrets? Think about how insignificant he is in the greater order of things? Look at the birds and the bees and say, "Oh, all this is but ”Maya"?
Do you see that in animals? Do you see that in kids? Then why do you expect that the youth would magically turn into great lovers of truth and freedom? You're saying, "Oh, the youth are so full of sex, fear, ego, and inferiority." Do you equally lament it when you see that the kids and the old ones are full of sex, ego, fear, and inferiority or superiority? No, you don't lament it then.
I have not heard anybody come and say, "You know sir, all the octogenarians and the nanogenarians, they are so full of ego. They don't have the desire or energy for liberation." Neither have I heard somebody come to me and say, "My Pintu is now six years old, but he has no yearning for God." Now then it becomes quite strange. The fellow has no feeling for freedom when he is six, and you don't find it odd. The fellow has no feeling for freedom when he's sixty. That too you don't find odd. But when the fellow is twenty five you expect that somehow, magically, just like Swami Vivekanand, he too will turn into an ideal seeker, renouncing everything, sacrificing everything for the sake of inner joy.
Why would he do that? What is it about attaining a certain age in life that makes you think that one would be full of zeal and energy and compassion and great love for the truth? Nothing. Nimisha — six is sixteen. Sixteen is twenty six. Twenty six is forty six. Forty six is eighty six, Nothing changes. When you are six, you behave as your DNA dictates you to behave at six. When you are twenty six, you behave just as your DNA dictates you to behave at twenty six. And when you are sixty six, you behave just as your DNA dictates you to behave at sixty six.
We are just another species of animals. Why do you forget that? Just because in between, once in a few centuries, you get somebody like Swami Vivekanand who seems to defy the Prakritic order, we start thinking too big of ourselves. We disrespect and undervalue man so much that we feel that what he did was fairly normal, easy and common. We want that to be the norm. We say, "Oh, if he could do it, why are the other youths not found doing it?" And when they are not found doing it, then we regret and lament and complain.
Do you see that? It is based on an underestimation of what it really means to be a Swami Vivekanand. If we could really see that he was an eternal genius, an unthinkable aberration, an Everest in a landscape crowded at best with plateaus, then we would not demand that every normal youth be free of fear and lust and ego and self-centeredness. We compare ourselves to the ideal that is Vivekanand, and when we find ourselves short, then we say, "Oh, the times are so bad. We are not even Vivekanand. You know, it really is Kalyug. I'm not able to match even Vivekanand."
Excuse me. What did you just say? It suits a Vivekanand to be free of lust and fear and ego. Others will be others. Why do you expect them to be abnormal, if not paranormal? They are not supposed to be. In fact, if they act as if they are Vivekanand, then they would be putting up a facade, as most youth do. No, they are stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea.
If they are being themselves — which is, if they are following their animal instincts — then you say, "Oh, you are necessarily putting up a facade," as you have mentioned in your question. Is it not so? Let's think over it. That if they try to act spiritual — then they are really putting up a facade.
I know what I'm saying is not idealistic. Most people will not find it uplifting or motivating. But then, I find facts more valuable than any kind of motivational fiction. You're saying youth has pent-up frustration and anger, and there is no dearth of literature and opinion that suggests that youth is angry and frustrated because there is no freedom in the world. Is that really so? Is the youth really clamoring for freedom?
Ask them, why are you frustrated? How many of them would really say, "We want to be free of our ego, and that is why we are frustrated?" What is it that makes them frustrated? If you want to know that, see what it is that would quell their frustration or calm them down. Offer them money. Offer them sex. Offer them some weed. Offer them comfort. And all the frustration and anger is gone. It's not?
So, is it real of you, Nimisha, to think that the youth are frustrated and angry because they are not getting enlightenment? Seriously? I'm again asking you — at eight, he didn't want enlightenment. Even at forty eight, you'll not find him wanting enlightenment. What makes you think that at twenty eight, he should be full of the urge to seek enlightenment?
He does not seek it. He is not designed to seek it. Look at man's configuration. What makes you think that a kid is born to be a Swami Vivekanand? No. What makes you think that a woman is born to be one of the greats — Meera or a Marry? Neither Meera nor Marry Curie. It's an imposition upon her.
If you constantly push her the Meera or Marry way — she starts menstruating at 12. Now what is Meera and what is Marry? The boy starts masturbating at 14. What’s Vivekanand? And often you don't even have to teach him to masturbate. It comes to him, in your language — “Naturally.” You don't have to teach it to him. Even if he's been living in a cave, he would learn to explore his body.
Why bring Swami Vivekanand into all this? He was a distant star. Let us continuously and steadfastly remember who we are. Otherwise, we start thinking too much of ourselves.
Otherwise, we start feeling as if enlightenment is a birthright and seeking enlightenment is a fundamental duty. Neither is enlightenment a birthright, nor is a human being obliged in any way to seek freedom or liberation. Human beings are designed to eat, sleep, have sex, and die. If you expect anything beyond this from them, that is when they will get frustrated and they will rebel.
You know of the rebellious youth movement of the 60s and 70s, right? The counterculture. You know of the hippies. I do not know how many of them were getting God. But what is certain is that most of them, probably all of them, were getting good sex. That's what youthful, rebellious energy is all about. How many hippies got God? How many of them got good sex?
Rare, utterly rare, is a human being of any age who is magically implored from within to chart a totally different way. It has always been, and would always remain, a sensational exception. The others will continue to do what they are designed to do.
Nimisha, if you expect otherwise from them, it's almost like crying in despair when you don't find a donkey reciting the Gayatri Mantra. "Oh, it's a young donkey, you see." And you have expectations. You feel that a young person must be full of reverence for the scriptures. Why do you forget that youth is just another period of the life cycle? Prakriti invests in you that tremendous energy at that time so that you can produce babies, and that's what your principal concern will be —"I want babies."
Have you ever wondered why old people don't procreate — rather, can't procreate? Because they don't have enough energy. And Prakriti says bringing up a baby, raising a kid, requires a lot of physical energy. So it is not a coincidence that you exhibit the peak of your reproductive activity, sexual activity, when it is coinciding with the peak of your energy levels. Don't you see the coincidence? The peak of your energy levels coincide with the peak of your sexual activity.
So what has Prakriti given you all this energy for? Isn't it obvious? Prakriti has given you all this energy so that you can chase men and women. This energy has not been given to you so that you can climb up the Himalayas and meditate there. This energy has been given to you so that you can run after the woman, pick her up, please her five times a day.
When you look at Swami Vivekanand, you feel, "Oh, the energy is there so that the fellow can crisscross the country on foot, raise awareness among the masses, exalt them towards freedom." No. Look at the chimps — our cousins — and you'll realize what all this energy is for. What does a chimpanzee use his youthful energy for? He uses that energy to beat down the other male chimpanzees and secure the most fertile females among the lot. That's why we have all this energy.
Let's lower the expectations a little. In fact, by the time you cross fifty, don't you see that your sexual urge diminishes? Even Prakriti knows that by the time you gain a little sense, owing to your life experiences, you would probably not be so deeply interested in the mating game. So Prakriti says, Before you gain any wisdom, any sense, any experience, it is important that you do what I command you to do. That work should be given the top priority and must get finished off as quickly as possible.
So you become sexually eager just as you cross your childhood. Prakriti does not want to wait even a day after that. The day you are not a child, you are immediately sexually eager. Prakriti says, "First things first. Your freedom, your wisdom, your liberation — all can wait. This thing must take the first priority."
Now what has happened is civilization has blocked that. So we have passed laws that say, you know, the girl has to be 18, the boy has to be 21. And if she's below 16, then it becomes an even more heinous offense. And the social structure is such that you say even 18 and 21 are no good. You must, first of all, earn, have a career, be economically secure. So 21 gets pushed to 25 or 28. And so there is frustration, nothing else.
You know, when I was in class 12th, we had this novel “Lord of the Flies,” right? And at that time, I had wondered — rather, resented — why this kind of a novel is being taught to impressionable students. They were just 16 or 17. Those who are from the ISC board might know “Lord of the Flies” — William Golding. No, I forget that there is a generation gap. ISC is not what ISC used to be. Have you read that one?
So what was it about? It's the Second World War, and a group of school kids from Britain, they lose their way while on a flight. They are probably being taken to a secure location, given that the war is raging. But somehow, the plane loses its way. It lands on a desolate island, bereft of any trace of any civilization. The pilot is dead.
The pilot is dead and the kids are on their own. And the kids vary from 5-year-olds to, well, probably 15-year-olds. An entire novel is about how the kids very, very quickly turn into beasts. And they are from a very prestigious school of one of the most developed nations on the earth.
They actually don't turn into beasts. Man is a beast. It is under the transforming effect of civilization that man appears to be a little different from a chimpanzee or some other animal. Otherwise, that's what we are — beasts.
Why do you expect, Nimisha, that the young people would naturally be like the Sannyasis of Swami Vivekanand? Why should they be that way?
The climactic scene with which the novel is eponymous sees the kids slaughtering one of their own and putting up his severed head on a stick. And the flies on the island have all shrouded that head, and the head is hardly visible. So Lord of the Flies. And then there are a couple of more deaths — a couple of more murders, rather. They almost turn into cannibals, and all this within a matter of a few months.
Our civilization is a façade. It doesn't take long for the veneer to come off. Remove fear, remove police, and remove the incentives towards civilized behavior, and very soon you will see how much of Swami Vivekanand is there in today's youth.
Later on, I felt grateful that the novel was a part of the syllabus. Far better to know the facts than to wallow in ideals. The serious, austere, simple, energetic, fearless, truth-loving young man is an idea. He really does not exist. He has to be brought into existence by someone who is exactly that which needs to be brought into existence.
Before we talk of Swami Vivekanand, let's talk of Ramakrishna Paramhans. There would have been no Swami Vivekanand had there been no Paramhans. First of all, Swami Vivekananda doesn't drop off from the sky. They are raised, they are made, they are given birth — not by their mothers, but by somebody like Paramhans.
Where are the Paramhans? Swami Vivekanand was an ordinary man, Narendra, and he too had his ordinary pursuits. It was the magical touch of Paramhans that turned him into Vivekanand. And he wasn't too eager either. Many times he ran away from Ramakrishna — sometimes in the name of family responsibilities, sometimes in the name of education, sometimes because he was just bored with this ordinary devotee of Dakshineshwar temple.
It's a gigantic task. It doesn't just happen on its own. If you leave the youth to how they are, it is not liberation that would happen. Procreation would happen.
On its own liberation never happens. Procreation happens.
That you don't have to teach. But we somehow have a feeling that liberation is cheap. It too should happen on its own. Why must it happen on its own? When we complain that our sons and daughters are not like Vivekanand and Nivedita, we must first ask ourselves — are we like Ramakrishna and Sharada? If we are not like Ramakrishna and Sharada, how will our sons and daughters be like Vivekanand and Nivedita?
I repeat, fruits drop from trees. It is automatic, it is Prakritik . It just happens. Man does not automatically get liberated. Man does not even have a conscious, innate desire for liberation. It is not there. In fact, if somebody has it, it is unnatural — unnatural in the Prakritik sense. One is not supposed to have it. How will you have it?
Even Vivekanand would not have had it, had it not been aroused in him by an external agency. Nobody can just have it — except maybe, let's say, one in a million, one in a billion. We should not even talk about them.
They are some kind of manufacturing problems. They are God's mistakes. They cannot be taken as the rule. They cannot be taken as ideals.
Throughout his childhood, the fellow was interested in toys and sweets, right? When he would play with fellow kids, he would either be violent or afraid. And we would say, "Oh, this for the course for kids. This is how kids are," right? And when he turns 15, then we say, "Why is he not turning towards wisdom literature?" Why must he turn towards wisdom literature?
A six-month-old baby — you go close to him, you want to kiss his face. And what does he do? He extends his little fingers and clasps at your necklace. Then do you complain that the fellow is so materialistic? "I wanted to kiss, but all he was looking at was my necklace." And you know that babies do exhibit exactly this kind of behavior, right? Go close to them and they'll want to grab whatever they can. Not God, something material. The Arjun goes to them, they will. This is from experience. And the grip is firm. The fist won't open too easily. And when you try to force it open, then the kid would cry.
Do you see the fellow has an inclination towards fisting right from that age? He wants to hold stuff. Here. And then you don't say, "Why is he not like Swami Vivekanand? Why does he not approach people with palms wide open — one denoting that I came with nothing, the other denoting I will go away with nothing?" Then you don't say. Then you say, "Oh, he is but a baby. It is very natural that he is clasping at everything." Tomorrow he clasps at money, at security, at all these things that you are complaining against. Then why do you find it odd?
Just as this fist was trying to clutch something, similarly, at some other age, this same fist is used to clutch the genitals. Don't you see it's the same stream? Why complain against it when it comes midway? Its very origin is in darkness. How do you expect it to magically transform all by itself when it reaches the mid-ranges? It won't.
The clasping fist — is it not symbolic of babies across gender, nationality, religion? This is what you'll find, little kids are always exhibiting. Instead of forcing an idealism upon them, Nimisha, it would be far better if we first of all have them realize that beneath the veil of civilization, we are 100% apes and chimpanzees. And even this civilization is an attempt gone badly wrong. It was supposed to raise us from the jungle. Instead, it has been such a botched up attempt that it has repressed us. That which needed to be elevated could not be elevated. So to hide the failure, it has been repressed. Are you getting it?
And that has given rise to the dark and dirty subconscious mind, which is a storehouse of all kinds of frustrations and desires and pent-up urges. If you will force kids to behave differently than their Prakritik selves, their jungle selves, their chimpanzee selves, then they will do that with persuasiveness and punishment and incentive. You can succeed in getting the youth to behave in an ideal way. But I assure you, beneath that ideal behavior, an angry chimpanzee would still be lurking. And the chimpanzee would now be very, very angry.
Why would he be angry? Because he's being made to act like Swami Vivekanand inside — a chimpanzee and outside, he has been forced to behave as a swami. You see a lot of that in the circus, don't you? The elephant is walking on two legs and shaking hands with kids. How do you think he's actually feeling?
That's how our civilized youth are, especially spiritually civilized youth. The chimpanzee is speaking in French and reciting Sanskrit verses. Inside, he's swearing. He'll have a super go at you whenever he can get half a chance.
There was this parrot who was being made to ride a bicycle. A little bicycle. How do you think the parrot is feeling? That's how the youth today are feeling. You want to elevate their consciousness, right? First of all, you must know what elevation really means. And you must know, even before that, where do you want to elevate them from?
It is a problem if you do not know where you want to go. It's a far more massive problem if you do not know where you are standing. You can be helped if you do not know where to go. You cannot be helped if you do not tell where you are standing.
"I need help. I need help."
"But where are you?"
"That I do not know."
First of all, tell the youth where they are really standing. Tell them that they are chimpanzees, as we all are. It's not an insult. It's the fact of our physical existence. It's not a humiliation. Don't unnecessarily eulogize human birth. Don't say that because you are born as a biped and your surname is Singh or Shukla or Johnson, so you're destined to do great things. Tell them that it doesn't matter that you are born human. The fact is: you are an animal, and you better know that. You better fully, fully acknowledge that. All your natural instincts are towards physical security, continuation, procreation. That's what you continuously want, and you should never, never forget this.
Teach this to the youngster even before he turns young. Let him know this when he is 8 years of age. When he looks at the dog going after the bitch and he asks, "Mama, what's this?"— tell him, "Human birth. We all are born as a result of this." And we are all born to do this. Man is a dog. A woman is a bitch without exception. That's what this entire drama is about. And no amount of economic progress, technical sophistication, or civilizational advancement can hide that or should hide that. That's what man's basic energy is — libido. You can give it fascinating names. All right.
Teach this to them, and when they encounter the fact of their savagery in all its bloodiness, then maybe a repulsion and inner repugnance would arise, and that would be transformational. But there can be no transformation without an intimacy with the fact. If the fellow is thinking, as most of us do, that we are special just because we were born in a hospital and not in a jungle, then too bad for us.
Men might find it humiliating. The ego finds it absolutely scurrilous that after centuries — rather, millennia — of development and progress, one is still to be called an animal. But we must acknowledge it because that is the fact. And every kid must be taught this. Then there would be the one odd little Narendra who would say, "I hear this. I know this to be true as a fact, but I don't like this. There's something in me that revolts against this." And then let him walk out of the classroom and discover a Paramhans. And then there is some possibility of a real Vivekananda taking birth.
You do not get them cheap, Namisha, please. It's almost like asking, "Why aren't diamonds falling from the skies?" and complaining and crying hoarse —"Oh, there was a hailstorm, there was a hailstorm. Why didn't I find precious stones in them?" Why must you find precious stones in them? A hailstorm will give you water — frozen water. What makes you think that you will find diamonds amongst hills? How did you come to have this expectation? What makes you think that you will just find a Vivekanada amongst usual human beings?
I bought 5 kgs of mangoes and now I'm weeping so badly. Why? Because none of the mangoes contained emeralds. I cut them all open. All I found was a normal seed. A big one — Mangoes.
Chimpanzees will be chimpanzees. A human chimpanzee cannot just turn into a Vivekananda. Drop the expectation. Instead, teach him that he is a chimpanzee. Sounds brutal but would be helpful. That's what he needs to hear and acknowledge — "I am chimp." Don't just go about telling him, "No, you are God personified. When God wants to visit Earth, then He takes birth as a kid." Stop all this nonsense.
There are too many people who have actually hypnotized themselves into believing that they are the true Self, or Silence, or Atma, or Brahma. Even chimpanzees are mocking him. Imagine one of them saying, "I am Brahma." And then rushing towards the nearest fruit or the nearest female and constantly reciting, "I am Brahma, Brahma and Zi" — that's a good name for most spiritual seekers, especially those who believe that they have attained Brahmalinta, Brahma and Zi.
Next time you find yourselves energetic, just ask yourselves, "If this Prakritik energy is arising in me, surely Prakriti wants just one thing from me." And then you will be left aghast and very disappointed with yourself, because you'll find that behind all the reasons that you assign to yourself, ultimately, there are just these few basic, primeval things that you want.
It would be shocking, and it would be humiliating, but it would be real. Let's, for a change, give value to reality. Look at your likes, dislikes, urges. If the session were happening in a forsaken place, dark and damp, you wouldn't have been probably so eager to attend. Here, you are far more agreeable. Ask yourself, "What is it that makes me agree to this environment rather than a so-called inferior environment?" And even here you will find Prakritik motives.
Even here, the more you will scrutinize your behavior, actions, thoughts, and intentions, the more horrified you will be. All the time, there is just fulfillment at the material level that we are seeking. It would be truly horrifying to discover — even when we say that we are spiritual seekers — it is actually material fulfillment that we are targeting.
And if you can look at your life, your actions and intentions, with that brutal honesty, then it is possible that out of sheer disgust towards yourself, you say, "I'm dropping myself." But without that ruthless honesty, you'll just keep believing that you are a lover of Truth.
Will you remember this? We are not born to be lovers of Truth. Each of us is born as a lover of flesh. So if an inner voice says, "I'm doing this for the sake of Truth. I'm doing this because I like Truth,"— don't believe it too easily.
If you'll go closer, if you'll investigate, you'll find that all attempts, all intentions, all likes and dislikes, all decisions ultimately boil down to just the Prakritik narrative: food, comfort, and sex. That's what we live for. That's what we act for. And that's what we die for. That's what we are kids for. That's what we are young for. That's what we are old for.
What is the fellow going to the temple for? — Food, comfort, and sex. What is the fellow giving birth for? What is the fellow committing suicide for?
One thing that you should stoutly resist believing in is your own piousness. That's your greatest propaganda against yourself —"I am pious. I have holy intentions." Come on. What do you think — fake news are a recent phenomenon, and WhatsApp can't ban it? You don't have to forward it to others. You invert it to yourself —"I am pious and I have holy intentions."
This was the first piece of fake news invented by man. Never forget that the intentions of the chimpanzee are just: food, comfort, sex.
