Swami Vivekananda’s birthday is celebrated as National Youth Day, the 12^th of January. In India as well as around the world,  Swami Vivekananda is considered as a role model for many successful people.

How was Vivekananda lifestyle?

He loved to eat fried potatoes which he cooked with butter and curry powder. His foreign trips, developed a liking for different types of tea. He used to observe the eating habits and cultures and he tested indian ingredients in foreign dishes. He would cook food with great interest even for his hosts. He believed that home cooked food was the best way to put love into practice.

Swamiji would sleep by 10 o’clock at night and he would get up early in the morning called amritvela. Meditating at these hours was an important part of his daily routine, due to which he got spiritual strength and his thought power was enlightened.

A well-planned daily routine is observed in the Gurukul established by Swami Vivekananda. This routine is carefully followed to train the disciples, so that all the values ​​are automatically inculcated in the mind. This is one of the best way for today’s youth to pay attention to. At 9.15 pm, Swamiji had the habit to sit regularly with all the disciples of Gurukul for redressal of grievances.

After his father’s untimely death, he stumbled to take up different jobs from place to place to repay the loans. From the practice of meditation taught to him by his spiritual master, Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa, he got the strength to face the ups and downs of life. He put his mind in reading the spiritual literature of India, and he got connected with the Indian Sanatan culture, which considers the whole world as one family. This was the effect on his words during the Chicago Parliament of Religions – “My dear sisters and brothers of America”, which convinced the western world about him and Indian culture.

Vivekananda believed that “the greatest religion is to be true to one’s own nature”. Children and youth must learn to value and respect people based on their actions and opinions.

How does Vivekananda control his mind?

Swami Vivekananda acknowledged that an uncontrolled mind attracts negativity into life and a controlled mind brings good thoughts, good people and favorable circumstances into life and releases negativity. He found that ‘self-awareness’ is the best way to control the mind. Self-awareness increases the power of the intellect which prevents the mind from wandering.

Vivekananda has linked morality with the control of the mind. He saw truthfulness, purity and unselfishness as the traits that strengthen morality. He advised his followers to have purity, selflessness and faith in life. Vivekananda espoused celibacy, believing it to be the source of his physical and mental stamina and eloquence, and led a lifelong pious life.

Swami Vivekananda believed:-

• “Godly awareness is possible only through self-awareness”

His famous quote is:-

• “Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached”

His best teachings are:-

• “The best method for solving every problem is to move from inside out”
• “Follow your heart in the midst of a struggle between heart and head”
• “Only those live who live for others”
• “Neither seek nor avoid, take what comes”

Swami Vivekananda was a very practical man, he believed that service to mankind should be selfless because service to mankind is service to God. He worked tirelessly for the betterment of the society, for the welfare of the poor and the needy. He dedicated his everything for his country.

His famous line are:

“Take up an idea. Make that one idea your life; dream of it; think about it; live on that idea. Brain, body, muscles, nerves, fill every part of your body with that idea, and leave every other idea. This is the way to success, and this is the way great people are born.”