National Youth Day of India , also known as Swami Vivekananda Jayanti is celebrated on 12th of January every year to commemorate and celebrate the birthday of Swami Vivekananda. The Government of India declared his birthday to be celebrated as National Youth day in the year 1984 and since 1985, this day is celebrated all over India. The intention of declaring this particular day as National youth day was that Government of India felt that the teachings and ideologies of Swami Vivekananda can be a great source of motivation and inspiration for the Indian Youth. Swamiji was born on the Paush Krishna Saptami, the 7th day after the full moon day in the Hindu month of Paush, which according to the English Calander falls of different dates every year but 12th January has been fixed to celebrate the birth of a great Saint, who dedicated his life towards the development of the Nation. Born in the year 1883, Swamiji was one of the main person to introduce the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world and is accredited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century. He was a chief force in the restoration of Hinduism in India, and contributed towards the concept of nationalism during the time of India’s freedom movement. Swami Vivekananda was inclined towards mysticism and was influenced by his guru, Ramakrishna, from whom he learnt that all living beings were a personification of the divine self; as a result, service to God could be made by service to mankind. After Ramakrishna's death, Vivekananda toured the Indian subcontinent extensively and acquired first-hand knowledge of the conditions prevailing in British India. He later travelled to the United States, representing India at the 1893 Parliament of the World Religions. He conducted numerous public and private lectures and classes, propagating the tenets of Hindu philosophy in the western countries like United States, England and Europe. On 4th July, 1902, at a very young age, Swamiji passed left this World for his heavenly abode in Belur Math. “Learn everything that is good from others, but bring it in, and in your own way absorb it; do not become others. Do not be dragged away out of this Indian life; do not for a moment think that it would be better for India if all the Indians dressed, ate, and behaved like another race. " - Swami Vivekananda The Headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission and their branch centers observe the birthday of Swami Vivekananda with mangalarati, special worship, homa, meditation, devotional songs, religious discourses, sandhyarati, etc. The National Youth Day is extensively celebrated in every educational institutions of India, which include schools and colleges. The day is celebrated with processions, speeches, recitations, music, youth conventions, seminars, Yogasanas, presentations, competitions in essay-writing, recitations and sports. Swami Vivekananda's lectures and writings, deriving their inspiration from Indian spiritual tradition and the broad outlook of his Master Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, act as the source of inspiration and have motivated many youth organizations, study circles and service projects involving the youth. On the occasion of National Youth Day, people for all over India and World partake in several activities to encourage the youth in the field of education, art, culture with the desire to inculcate moral values with illumination of inner soul. This day is celebrated to encourage and motivate the Indian youth to love India and to work towards the nation and the mankind.
