Swami Satyananda Saraswati (Bihar School o f Yoga, Monghyr, Bihar)
"Is everything wrong with our young generation ? And is there no way of redemption for today's youth, other than law and social welfare schemes ? One ideal educational syllabus evolved by the ancient Indian culture included a process of 6 auto mental ' education, which was successfully taught to, and practised by, students for centuries. Today, after a lapse of a few hundred years, it is claimed that the content of the ancient life-moulding system, has been rediscovered and will revitalize future generations all over the world. The basis of this much acclaimed ancient system is Yoga."
The Ever-rebellious Young
YOUNG people today are seeking to break down the barriers of society, to create new means of expression, to improve society and to rectify any injustices which they see around them.
In this respect, they are no different from the young people throughout the history of mankind ; they have always sought to change the existing order, whether in their parent's house, in their village, in their town or in their country. The thing that is different in the present modern age is that, because of the advent of international communication, young people are able to know the ideas of other young people in other countries, share ideas and widely publicise new means of expression, or decry, injustices internationally. It is a natural process in nature, for young people to 6 rebel ' against tradition, for without it man would not evolve. By not accepting tradition, young people are only trying to find their place in life, where they can be happy ; a place that is in accordance with their individual nature, and not in opposition to their nature.
Yoga Popular among World Youth
Today a strange thing is happening. Whilst young people have rejected most old ideas, even ideas that were popular only ten years ago, they have flocked in large numbers to the ancient tradition of yoga. The number of people who practise yoga is increasing in all age groups, but young people in particular are attracted to yoga like insects to a lamp. Why is this ? Why have young people throughout the whole world started to adopt yoga as their way of life ? Older people should consider this phenomenon carefully, for every major change that has occurred in the history of mankind, has occurred through youthful dissatisfaction that has continued into adult life where the individual, or individuals, have effected change. So it seems more than a probability, that the interest people show in yoga, will in future infiltrate the whole of society.
In Defence of Modern Youth
It is a common cry among the older generation that young people have too much freedom and use their time pursuing useless things. They show a great interest in all kinds of music which is incomprehensible or even nauseating to older people. They wear strange clothes which seem most strange to their elders. They indulge in drugs which older people object to and condemn. The fact that their critics consume large amounts of alcohol is conveniently forgotten. And so on. Actually it can be said in all sincerity, whether these criticisms are valid or not, that the young people of today are the most ' truth oriented ' group of people that have ever existed. Whatever young people do, good or bad in their fathers' and mothers' eyes, it is in an endeavour, either consciously, or unconsciously, to find or experience the truth. Young people today have, as no other generation have dared to do, removed and discarded taboos, traditions, social restrictions and hypocrisies on an unprecedented scale. The circumstances in the world make it possible. Modern technology and widespread education have given the young people more facilities and the chance to do 6 their thing '. The fact that young people are experimenting with so many different things is actually a positive contribution to mankind and the evolution of mankind. Older people should watch them and learn from them.
Yoga : A Technique for Search of Truth
It is in the search for truth that young people have universally adopted yoga. They have discovered that yoga does not ask them to accept dogmas or stereotyped ideas. It merely suggests techniques and then tells people to find out things for themselves. Yoga gives them a way of life that transcends national boundaries, something that people throughout history and large numbers of people today cannot understand. If I am an Indian, then I must love India more than any other country.
If I am English, then England must be the greatest country and so on. Of course most people never question the sense in this kind of thinking. The young person of today, however, is too wise ; he knows this is not the truth and is just blind dogma and the cause of the futile wars throughout the ages. Yoga has
started to flourish again after thousands of years of sleep, and is flourishing because the wisdom of present day young people demands it. If yoga in any way preached dogma, untruths or anti-fellow-man slogans, young people would not even try it, let alone adopt it as they have.
If it said, this is the only way to live your life and that other systems are completely wrong, young people would not have been attracted to it.
(..To Be Continue)
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
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