On last Wednesday, I started a 21-Day Yoga Challenge for the Youth as one way to get our modern youth to experience the power of spiritual practices in transforming their lives. A total 12 people participated in this challenge and it would be interesting to see how many are able to live up to this simple spiritual tapas (penance).
Engaging the youth has been filling my inner space since last year, if you understand that youth forms 50% of global population and they represent a huge possibility for humanity, you will feel my urgency to reach out to this group who is facing a major crisis.
I remembered in one webinar titled “NEW GEN” which was conducted by Paramahamsa Nithyananda (fondly known as Swamiji) in 2012 where he shared about the stark reality faced by the youth today. Even his opening statement was a straight wake-up call!
“Generation has to happen from next generation by either spiritual transformation or by just destroying ourselves, the next generation will be NEW GEN. Either you transform as transformed individual and you should be New Gen, if not, there will be a global suicide and next generation will be new generation. Next Generation has to be New Generation.”
The planet earth is currently filled with so much collective negativity such as negative capitalism, the wall-street lifestyle; negative consumerism, a consumeristic society that is constantly exploiting and abusing the natural resources of planet earth. Our society is empowering the youth but without growing their intelligence. Huge infrastructure and warfare investment in the name of defence to destroy planet earth is done beyond limits. The amount of addictions youth are facing is alarming. For example, this Internet-age online addiction is becoming a major problem of the youth today. Online addiction is uncontrollable and a damaging obsession, which can destroy relationships and fulfilment in life. Never ever planet earth was in this crisis.
It is only through spiritual transformation that we can truly empower the youth. Spiritual practice like Aghori tapas is the only way to conquer addiction. Aghori tapas means straight going against the issue, continuously working and breaking the centeredness is Aghoratwa. Youth should come out of addiction, it directly affects their consciousness and spiritual identity. Only by awakening the spiritual identity can they get out of addiction. Modern youth should be given the spiritual understanding and spiritual transformation to get out of the addictions.
Another important spiritual quality I learned from my master’s body language and his life is INTENSITY. He said that “Anything great you want to achieve, you have to achieve when you are young. I define Youth as 25-40 y.o, that is the age range if you want to create anything you want. Have INTENSITY in everything you do, whether it is building a yogic body, building a Vedic mind and building the life pattern without physical or mental diseases or self-conflicting patterns! Let the life be built when you are young. At 35, I had done more than what I had planned. We can only experience contentment and fulfilment when everything is done with intensity.” In this 21-Day Yoga challenge, it is my sincere hope that through this challenge, their intensity can be ignited again into a fire of change.
For me, my real life only started when I turned 40, I missed my entire youth chasing after the wrong things in life till a Master happened in my life. With his compassion and grace, he turned back my biological clock by making me a yogi and becoming forever young. Youthfulness is a state of mind I live now, I am beyond my actual age. This is a possibility with a Yogic body, Vedic mind and Enlightened living! So it is never too late to start your real life!
My sincere call to all the youth out there! The conscious decision to be the NEW GEN lies in your hands. Take up any spiritual training and live like an Aghori with intense courage to face your own greatest enemy! Start becoming a powerful force on planet earth! Namaste. 🙂