basking in the light - VI

chyk (chinmaya yuva kendra) mumbai had called for a youth meet at sandeepany sadhanalaya on 15th july 2007. guruji (swami tejomayanadaji) addressed the youngsters. this is a brief synopsis of that talk :

guruji started off with a joke about a speaker who was asked to address a group of students. the speaker said he was from yale and started off by saying that the letter y from yale stood for 'youth'. he then spoke to them for about 20 mins on this topic. he then said the 'a' stood for ambition and then spoke about this for 30 mins. he explained that the 'l' stood for love and waxed eloquent about love for 15 mins and then finally said that 'e' stood for enthusiasm which he continued to speak about for a final 20 mins.

when he asked the audience for feedback about his talk one youngster piped up and said that the talk was good but that they were very glad that he was not from massachusetts!

guruji said he would keep his talk brief, and as is his style he managed to convey everything so wonderfully within the truncated time available to him.

he said that the older generation usually perceived the youth as 'people who know nothing but think they know everything'. at the same time the youth believe that the elders do not understand anything.

he then shared something he had read which was very apt - 'by the time you realise your father was right, you already have a son who thinks you are wrong!'

another common perception about the youth is that they are 'rash'. and this is best exemplified by their driving antics on the roads. a father tells his son who is a rash driver that 'it is better to be late here by a few hours, than to be early 'up there' by a few years!'

guruji said that youth is a phase when you find a contradiction - there is maximum energy levels among the youth, and you also find maximum levels of frustration!

most youngsters want to express themselves freely, revolt against convention and they consider themselves independent thinkers. but you also find that they are also blind followers of things that are considered 'cool' and 'different'.

the youth tend to have many questions. but its also important to ask the questions, ask the questions of the right person who can guide you with the answers, and have the courage to accept the answers. a fundamental quality required is 'humility' which is essential to be able to learn anything.

here guruji shared a beautiful story from the ramayana where hanumanji who has just been made aware of his powers by jambavan was very eager to cross the ocean, destroy lanka, kill ravana and get back seetaji. but then he suddenly realises that he might be getting carried away and so he decides to ask jambavan for guidance.

the point is that one should have the humility to say 'i don't know'!

here guruji mentioned a well-known saying among the armed forces - 'the more and more you sweat in peace; the less and less you will bleed in war'. similarly we should use our youth to work hard and prepare for life.

this is the aim of chyk - to harness youth potential to give them the right vision so that they can aim high in life.

he then referred to our shanti-path (peace invocation) where it is pointed out that success depends on mutual effort so that there is fruitful discussion and success and true transformation!

- saraswati nilayam, sandeepany sadhanalaya, july 15, 2007