On Vivekananda's "Give me 100 energetic young men....."
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA is one of the many historical figures who I bow my head in front of. His teachings resonate to the world as effectively today as they did 100 years ago.
Most probably, you’ve heard of Vivekananda’s famous quote which goes like this:
“Give me 100 energetic young men and I shall transform India.”
When we talk about social change, we generally mean a significant transition from one way of living to the other; the way of living which is more just, sustainable, and honest.
We also tend to think that the change is only possible when 100% of the population supports/wants it. We believe that everyone has to come along and march forward. If this is your thinking then forget about change because social change don’t happen that way.
The struggle is never between the exploiter and exploited; it’s between the exploiter and those who work to stop the exploitation, and there are very few people who dare to lock horns with the ruling class, whom we generally refer to as revolutionaries. The exploiter works to maintain the status quo, the revolutionaries work to disrupt the status quo, and the masses get behind anyone who has more power.
The masses, which are the vast majority, say that they want change but their lives indicate that they have no problem living under an injustice system. The exploiters and the revolutionaries are around 1% of the population each, and they both struggle for power because the masses follow anyone who has power. The real struggle is between them, the masses see their struggle and choose sides depending on who is more powerful.
All that is needed for the change is a tiny percentage of people who are willing to devote their lives to the cause; the vast majority comes when the right time arrives. Just spreading awareness alone won’t help because as long as the masses don’t have anything they can follow, they are okay being under the status quo.
What I’m saying is confirmed by history.
Any positive change came only when a tiny number of people, who had understanding of the world and life, worked toward their goals. There are only a handful of people throughout history who kept liberation above their personal agendas and only those are the ones whose names we remember today. Masses don’t bring change by themselves, they need someone else to follow who is working towards the change.
On the road towards liberation, don’t focus on how many people have joined you, focus on how long you can continue the fight because the masses inevitably come when the right time hits.
You can’t fix everyone on this planet. Those who change themselves by understanding their nature and the nature of the world are very few, while those who just follow the power are vast in numbers. There has to be some force that the masses can follow, otherwise, the exploiter will continue to strengthen itself, and that force is built by those who change themselves.
Even if 1% of the world’s population devote their lives to bring down everything that’s enabling destruction in both the inner and outer world, the change becomes inevitable.
The Great Awakening is a reader-supported publication. A free subscription is of infinite worth to me.
Thank You for reading the entire article. I would love to hear feedback from you.
Talk to me on Twitter: