Swami Vivekananda and Youth

A book entitled ‘Swami Vivekananda and Youth’ was released on 26th November, 2015 by Prof. Basab Chaudhuri, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, West Bengal State University Barasat.

Publishers Note

Swami Vivekananda, expresses his dream in the following words, in one of his letters to Alasinga Perumal, on 20th August, 1983: A hundred thousand men and women, fired with the zeal of holiness, fortified with eternal faith in the Lord, and nerved to lion`s courage by their sympathy for the poor and the fallen and the downtrodden, will go over the length and breadth of the land, preaching the gospel of salvation, the gospel of help, the gospel of social raising - up -- the gospel of equality. Inspired by this vision, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, Rahara is bringing out ‘Swami Vivekananda and Youth’ –a book for the youth to know, admire and imbibe Swamiji’s ideas.

Major part of the book consists of lectures delivered by eminent thinkers on Swami Vivekananda at an International Seminar on ‘Youth & Swami Vivekananda’ organized in the College on 13th January, 2015. This bouquet includes deliberations by Revered Swami Jyotirupananda, Minister-in-Charge, Vedanta Centre, Moscow, Russia, Revered Swami Suparnananda, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark, Kolkata, Swami Sumanasananda, The then Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Cherrapunjee & presently at Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, Durban & Prof. Ranjit Sen, Asiatic Society, Kolkata. We are indebted to all them for sharing their valuable ideas with the youth. We are highly grateful to Prof. T.V. Ramakrishnan, Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore & Padmashri Awardee, for kindly contributing an article, ‘Vivekananda and Modern Science’ based on his lecture delivered at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark, Kolkata. We felt Prof. T.V. Ramakrishnan’s topic highly relevant for the youth, the torch bearer of Modern Science. Hope the book will definitely inspire the youth, to shape the future of the nation and the world at large in a more meaningful and fulfilling way.

We are grateful to Revered Swami Jayananda, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Boys’ Home, Rahara for his foreword. We are thankful to Shri Manas Moulic, Asst. Professor in English of our college for helping us in organizing the material for the book.

The relevance of Swami Vivekananda’s message for the youth needs no introduction. But it is high time for the youth to adopt his guidelines and apply them in practice in their individual lives. With the newer challenges of moral and societal crises, Swami Vivekananda seems to heavily knock the doors of our conscience. Now, it is only for us to decide, whether we are willing to answer to his call or not.

We pray to Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda to inspire our souls through this book. We offer our humble effort to publish this book at their Lotus-Feet. We believe by their holy touch an enlivening spirit will definitely emerge from this book to benefit the youth and society at large.

Rahara

Mahalaya, 12th October, 2015