Youth urged to follow path shown by Vivekananda

HYDERABAD: Dr Gurunath Reddy, eminent gastroenterologist and founder of Continental Hospitals, on Wednesday advised the youth to inculcate simple virtues like faith, belief, trust, ethics and goodness, which will be their guiding forces to become the finest citizens who will bring a dramatic change in the country.

He was addressing a packed audience comprising mostly youngsters on the occasion of National Youth Day, commemorating the 161st birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda being celebrated on January 12, at a seminar held at the Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence in Ramakrishna Math on Wednesday.

Speaking about the relevance of Swami Vivekananda’s teachings in contemporary society and the need for the youth to take inspiration from those, Dr Reddy recalled his association with the Ramakrishna Math since he was 13 and said that it greatly influenced his personal life and a successful career in the healthcare sector.

“Swami Vivekananda encouraged the youth to take risks. If you take risks, you may win, or lose. Even if you lose, you can still guide. One should have the ability, strength, confidence, work ethic and never-lose attitude, and every morning one should nurture these feelings when one looks into the mirror,” he said.
Following the path of Vivekananda, Dr Reddy asked the youth to renounce cheating, dishonesty, bad habits, misleading someone on the bad path, envy and jealousy.

Swami Bodhamayananda, director of the Ramakrishna Math, said that political, religious, caste, regional, language, cell phone and cinema identities have been polluting the minds of the youth, and that the need of the hour was for the youth to have their own identity.

“This was not what Swami Vivekananda wanted. He wanted the youth to have the strength of a soldier and meditation of a sage, looking like a king from outside and a monk from inside,” he said.Sharad Vivek Sagar, founder and chief executive officer of Dexterity Global, Pratyusha Sharma, AVP HR, Cognizant, D Narasimha Rao, Co-Founder and chief executive officer, Ekalavya, Mounika Reddy, national-level shooter, Aditya Mehta, paracyclist, and others also spoke.