On January 12, the country celebrated National Youth Day on the birth anniversary of one of the greatest Bharatiya Swami Vivekananda. In the honour of Swami Vivekananda, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman posted a stanza of a poem written by himself in his ‘The Awakened India’.
Awake, arise, and dream no more!
This is the land of dreams, where Karma
Weaves unthreaded garlands with our thoughts
…Be bold, and face
The Truth! Be one with it! Let visions cease…The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda IV, pp 388-89
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) January 12, 2020
As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman posted the message of Swami Vivekananda, a wannabe liberal jumped on to her timeline to mock her in a condescending manner for quoting Swami Vivekananda on his birth anniversary.
One Sanjoy Ghose, who claims to be a struggling lawyer, also struggled to comprehend facts and shockingly made sexist comments by calling the Union Minister ‘Sweetie’. He claimed that Finance Minister had wrongly quoted Swami Vivekananda’s poem which was inspired from Katha Upanishad.
@nsitharaman quotes from the Katha Upanishad & Swamiji’s adoption of the saying “arise awake”. Sweetie its “cease not until your goal is reached” not “dream no more”; unless it’s Budget 2020 that you are warning us about! ?? https://t.co/piAWuwpmgy
— sanjoy ghose (@advsanjoy) January 12, 2020
Responding to condescending ‘lawyer’, Sithraman shot back and schooled him regarding the facts. She stated that Swami Vivekananda is often quoted with the verse from Katha Upanishad, however, the poem was from ‘The Awakened India’, written in August 1898, contrary to what Ghose claimed.
Glad you’re taking interest. While he is oft-quoted w/the verse from Katha Upanishad, what I’ve excerpted, is from ‘The Awakened India’, written in Aug 1898 — BTW, I had cited the reference below the verse itself. Pub by Advaita Ashrama if you’re further interested. https://t.co/fceSBUxain
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) January 12, 2020
Swami Vivekananda is considered to be one of the greatest intellectual born in the country. He is seen as a youth idol because of the relevance of his ideas and ideals to the youth even today. The nation is celebrating his 150th birth anniversary.
Swami Vivekananda propounded the importance of education in building a nation. He believed that education was the primary means to empowering people. He especially emphasized on education being relevant to the common masses.
On the lines of making his dream come true, the Indian Government has sanctioned a “Value Education Project” of the Ramakrishna Mission. The ‘Value Education Project’ aims to inculcate moral values in students and provide them with a decision making framework for life.
In 2019, CBSE proposed to introduce the Value Education Programme in its affiliated schools for students of classes 6, 7, and 8.
