hello everyone today we are going to talk about this chapter titled a call to youth which is Dr sarvapalli radhakrishnan's convocation address at Karnataka University before we discuss the text let us talk a little bit about Dr sarvepalli radhakrishna vice president of India from 1952 to 1962 and he was the second President of India from 1962 to 67. an important thing to note is that he converted the rashtrapati nivas in Shimla to the Indian Institute of advanced study and this shows his dedication towards education which is why he always liked to be known not as a vice president or a president but as a lifelong teacher and because of his commitment to teaching we celebrate his birthday as a teacher's day so let us now see what Dr Radha Krishnan has to say to the students so I told you that this was a convocation address let us first try to understand what is a convocation address and what is it supposed to do graduation is the awarding of a degree to a student by an educational Institution whether it is an MA degree or an MSC degree or masters of Commerce degree or M Phil degree or a PhD degree okay so graduation is the awarding of a degree to a student by an educational institution the ceremony associated with the graduation day is called commencement or convocation so the degrees they are awarded in a ceremony which we call the convocation a convocation address is expected to inspire the students to lead productive and ethical lives by retaining the knowledge and values acquired during the time spent in a university and that is why someone illustrious is invited to speak to the students at the convocation ceremony okay no let us see how the address begins it begins with a comparison between social and political changes that happened in India at a particular point of time with those that happened in Europe the first paragraph of the essay here we read it as an essay we will call it the essay the first paragraph of the essay talks about such a comparison Dr radhakrishnan stresses that many changes occurring over centuries in Europe have occurred in India within a very short time so when he says changes he refers to these things the Renaissance the Reformation the Industrial Revolution and the political revolution he does not explain these these things in detail but we are certain things based on which we will understand what he is trying to say okay is a word which means rebirth Rebirth of what cultural art forms in the 12th century the light of Renaissance kindled in the beautiful Italian town of Florence from Florence Renaissance spread to Rome Venice Milan than other parts of Europe so actually what we call the Renaissance it started as early as 12th century okay now Indian Renaissance it occurred somewhere around the 18th and 19th century when the britishers were ruling us so Indian Renaissance occurred after the emergence of the British forces when a mass religious and social Awakening took place the pioneers of Indian Renaissance where Raja Ram Mohan Roy swamidean and Saraswati ramakrishna paramahansa Swami Vivekananda and aurobindo Ghosh the ills they fought against where the practice of Sati superstitions Dowry system caste system idol worship among others so this is what we call Renaissance a change a positive change brought about by the thinking and action of all these people there what was the Reformation the Reformation alternatively called the Protestant Reformation or the Protestant Revolution or the European Reformation was a major movement from Western Christianity in 16th century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic church and in part to the authority of the Pope so at that time uh you know corruption has had crept into the church and there were people protesting against those Corrupt Practices people said that the scriptures were the sole Authority and not the people who were mediating between the people and God okay so this was the Reformation movement in Europe what about reformation in India all these organizations that were set up you know they played important roles in reforming Hinduism changing Hinduism for the better no criticizing the ills the evil practices that had crept into Hinduism and then making the people aware so which were the organizations organizations like Brahma samaj set up by Raja Ram Mohan Roy Arya Samad set up by Swami day and answer so the ramakrishna mission which we associate with ramakrishna paramahansa okay so these organizations they played important roles in reforming Hinduism okay so that was Reformation what about Industrial Revolution in modern history it is the progress of the society from an agrarian one two one that was based on industry and machine manufacturing so it seemed to be progress but whether it was really progress is questionable okay so this change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry these technological changes began in Britain in the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world what about Industrial Revolution in India the merchandise of the textile industry pioneered the Industrial Revolution in India and at a time England was producing cotton cloth in such great quantities that the domestic Market was saturated and the products had to be sold in foreign markets you see India provided the raw material in the form of cotton and then they were manufactured in British factories and you know those finished products they were sold in Indian markets at very high prices and this affected the Indian economy and the textile industry in India suffered okay so what happened this led to Great resentment among cotton cultivators and Traders they were not satisfied with whatever was happening they were agitated okay so the period witnessed the growth of swadeshi textile mills so then there were some textile mills which were only connected with swadeshi products swadeshi factories came into existence everywhere becoming symbols of Indian Nationalism okay so that was uh Industrial Revolution in India then we have to understand what Dr radhakrishnan meant by political revolution see throughout Europe there have been uh you know political revolutions where uh the person in power was forcibly removed because of some reason and then someone else took over that power okay so some examples some important examples from Europe uh we will just talk about them uh in in brief the Glorious Revolution was a coup that took place from 1688 to 1689 in which Catholic King James II of England was deposed which means removed from Power Force for forcefully and succeeded by his Protestant daughter Mary II and a Dutch husband Prince William III of Orange motivated by both politics and religion the revolution led to the adoption of English Bill of Rights of 1689 and forever changed How England was governed so this was an important revolution in the history of uh England okay then we have French Revolution which was the overthrow of the bourbon monarchy in France and it lasted from 1789 to 99 then we have heard about the Russian Revolution which was the revolution of the Russian Empire in 1917 in which the tsarist regime was overthrown and replaced by the Bolshevik rule under Lenin okay all these changes these political revolutions they were happening around Europe and notice they happened over centuries right so we talked about something that happened in the 17th century something that happened in the 18th century and something that happened in the 20th century right so you know all these changes happened over a long time but in India the most important political movement it happened when the Indian Freedom struggle was going on Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the aim of ending British rule in India ending the British Raj so this movement lasted from 1857 the year of this Mutiny to 1947 the year of Independence okay so all these things we must know in order to understand why Dr Radha Krishnan says that so many changes which happened in Europe over such a long time over centuries Renaissance began in the 12th century Okay so all those changes they happened in India within a very short span of time so Indians they had to Grapple with these changes and they had to understand the situation properly in order to read valuable uh you know in order to spend their valuable time productively and in order to lead good productive lives so then Dr radhakrishnan asks a question do we have complete freedom is our freedom complete he says that we have undoubtedly caught political freedom but we have still not achieved economic and social freedom what does he mean by this he means that there are still poor people who do not have access to basic needs of living so how can there be economic freedom Freedom must include all the people Freedom must be inclusive then in our society there is still discrimination based on based on class and cost okay though we say that the caste system has been uh you know rooted out and it is no more there still there are some places uh which discriminate on the basis of caste okay so we have not achieved complete Freedom political Freedom we certainly have but not economic and social freedom so then what must be done the Indian universities must produce more scientists technicians Engineers doctors agriculturists to enable economic progress so all these students who uh you know complete their studies and they become scientists engineers doctors all these students they somehow contribute to economic progress so it is essential that universities turn out such students but science and technology is not enough for social progress no radhakrishnan makes it clear that just making students professionally strong does not mean that they will contribute to social progress they might contribute to economic progress but economic progress does not ensure social progress okay to explain Radha Krishnan cites the example of developed Nations very rich Nations like America for instance who have achieved tremendous technological progress but their societies are torn by conflicts and enmity marked by insecurities and mental burdens so in such societies though you know there is prosperity people are rich we cannot say that there is peace because peace is a mental state and we find that those societies which are developed they have made you know tremendous progress of others technology is concerned their societies are torn by strife okay now we hear about mass shooting some someone would come with a gun and shoot a lot of people in a particular area why would such a thing happen uh you know if there is prosperity and that Prosperity involves all the people in a particular developed Society okay so we can say that Prosperity does not economic Prosperity does not ensure peace in society so then other qualities need to be developed in our youth apart from their Science and Technology skills okay no Dr radhakrishnan highlights an important aspect of Education you must have wondered why a PhD degree why you know a person with a PhD degree is called a doctor of philosophy you know whether he has he or she has completed his his or her PhD in chemistry or physics or Commerce or uh you know zoology or sociology or English all of these students would be called doctors of philosophy why there is an interesting point to note the word philosophy was derived from the Greek word philosophia which means love of wisdom a person having a PhD degree is wiser than others having experienced knowledge and the ability to apply the knowledge gained to real world problems Radha Krishnan says that it is not enough for the universities to produce knowledgeable and professionally competent individuals they must nurture in the students the quality of compassion kindness okay that feeling for other human beings so this quality of compassion must be nurtured in the students without this quality the society will not have a democratic spirit different religions they emphasize the same idea that we are all parts of the Divine we are all Sparks of the Divine and hence equal irrespective of race Class cast gender and sexuality okay so we are all all parts of that same divine power then we are all equal so all religions actually talk about equality so what is that Democratic Spirit which we will not have in our society if our students do not develop the quality of compassion what is it Democratic Spirit refers to principles of Liberty equality Justice and fraternity which form the basis of the Indian constitution okay so these are ideals which we find in our constitution okay Liberty Freedom equality Justice and fraternity or Brotherhood okay this feeling fellow feeling okay but if these ideals are not followed in our daily living then we cannot possibly develop our Democratic thinking so our society will not be truly Democratic if these ideals are only found within the pages of the Constitution if people do not follow these ideas in there daily living Dr radhakrishnan says that the Indian Society will be truly Democratic when the youth develop their Outlook by a proper study of the humanities including philosophy and religion do you see no religion teaches strife no religion teaches us to fight amongst each other okay it is how we interpret that religion that creates all such problems but inherently no religion is bad and we must study our scriptures because our scriptures they tell us how to lead good lives okay and philosophy we have to understand that philosophy you know in depth thinks about the nature of living why we live how must we live okay all these important questions they are addressed by philosophy how we perceive things okay so apart from philosophy and religion there is also something else which is important and that is literature we will talk about it in a bit but you know Radha Krishna actually demonstrates why he thinks that religious study is also important for students you know not to create you know these differences between human beings but religious study is actually required because religion aims to make an individual aware of his or her role in society of his or her Duty towards other human beings okay that is why religion is important and we must all study our scriptures you know we must not keep them uh till a later time when we will be old and then we will have nothing to do and then we will study our scriptures that is of no use just as the Constitution is of no use if we do not read it now and apply those principles to our daily living similarly no religion is uh you know important or useful unless you we study those scriptures and try to gain the knowledge that the scriptures want to impart to us so that we may lead good lives and we may exist in the society uh harmoniously okay so Dr radhakrishnan talks about foreign which in Sanskrit means the art that you are that okay that here refers to Divinity you as an individual you are equal to Divinity because if you are part of the Divinity the Divinity is in you so actually there is no difference between you and Divinity so this is what we call the advaitha philosophy in Hindus so it is the famous expression of the relationship between individual and the absolute a person who is on the path towards Bodhi or Awakening okay so it is believed that every individual has the potential of being spiritually awakened we all have that element of bodhisattva in us so that makes each of us equal if there is that possibility in each of us then it makes us equal we do not act on that possibility we do not try to make that possibility a reality that is a different matter but each religion believes that every individual has in himself or herself the possibility of being spiritually awakened okay so both these Concepts in towards the ideals of equality and Liberty in society how Liberty you know if we are parts of the absolute then we must not uh be confined to narrow mindsets uh you know or these narrow divisions that we have in our Society based on how much money uh one has or does not have or which caste One belongs to all these you know narrow divisions or these narrow thinkings they should not bind us we must be free we can be free if we realize that we all are parts of the Divine okay so Dr radhakrishnan wants to show that these uh you know qualities of Liberty quality Justice and fraternity these are not just mentioned in the Constitution we will find them in every religion okay and then apart from religion and philosophy we have something else which will teach us how to be good human beings and that is the study of literature literature of any language but literature okay Radha Krishna says that apart from philosophy and religion the youth must indulge in a sincere study of literature not a shallow study okay not uh you know a study in which our attention is not focused okay so we must study literature and we must study it with concentration with sincerity because it is going to tell us something about how to live life he refers to a verse which Compares sansara or the world with a poison tree but the poison tree has two valuable fruits the world is a poison tree but there is some hope the poison tree has two valuable fruits what are they the company of good souls and the enjoyment of great books so we in the company of good people and read great books that is what Dr radhakrishnan proposes or tells the students often it happens that we come across good human beings within the pages of a book when we read about the lives of Great Men so actually we have not met them okay or we there's no chance that we will ever meet them but we can be in their company we can understand what they thought or how they wanted the society to be what they did okay all these things we can learn from the pages of it honey so Radha Krishnan actually wants to tell the students how important reading is he expresses his displeasure with the present day you whose attention span is limited so far as reading books is concerned so during that time it was uh about in the in the 1950s when he was addressing the students at Karnataka University so even at that time the attention span of students was limited because of this constant opportunity to travel okay so if you can travel to different places to see different places why read about them okay so if the reading habit gradually listen and nowadays we know what is killing our reading habit the internet the you know 24 7 availability of the screens the digital screens and so much of information is available at your fingertips okay so you can scroll the screens or just uh you know touch uh a button and then you will uh you know click a link and then everything is at your disposal so why read books when you can find so much of information on the internet line here and there but actually that kills our reading habit and reading is essential for every student okay so Dr Radha Krishnan says that if there is to be a positive change in society the young people must not only be raised as scientists or technologists but also as humanists who have a strong concern for human welfare who lead ethical Lives who know what is right and wrong and who have the strength to follow the right path and who have in them the quality of compassion so Dr radhakrishnan has already told us that compassion is the most important quality that is to be developed in students unless a university sends out compassionate individuals the purpose of education is not served he says that he is saddened to see students wasting their precious time while in a university he becomes very sad when some of the students waste their precious ears in a university he believes that students and teachers are like a family and in a family you cannot have the spirit of a trade Union so we will understand what he wants to say when we know the concept of a trade Union it is an organization that represents the interests of its workers in negotiations about improving work conditions with employers and government a relationship between a teacher and a student is not based on bargaining a trade Union is based on bargaining the workers will bargain this is what we want this is what you must do otherwise we will stop work okay so that kind of a bargaining is never found in the relationship between a teacher and a student it is a very natural relationship the classroom becomes successful when both teacher and students they cooperate with each other and they understand each other's value okay so Dr radhakrishnan now moves towards the end of his address and he highlights this important point that character is Destiny if the youth understand what it means to have a good character then the destiny of the nation will be great their Destiny is their individual Destinies will be great and the collective Destiny of the nation will be great but if they do not understand the value of good character no amount of professional expertise will contribute to the progress of a society as we have already discussed economic Prosperity does not Ensure progress of society humility is an important trait in the youth that must be developed so one is compassion the other is humility being humble and not proud okay so if there is humility young people will only be concerned with what they can do for the nation not with what benefits they receive from the country so they will never ask you know what has India done for me no what can I do for my country they will only be concerned with this if they have humility okay you know otherwise you know they have very good degrees very good academic performances and once they pass from an Indian University they pass the course then they think Oh India has no opportunity for me what can India give me uh cannot even give me enough money the money that I want so I will not live in India I will uh go abroad and I will serve that Nation I will never come back to my country because India does not have anything for me so if the students have this kind of an attitude then they will never be able to contribute to the progress of Indian Society so actually they are able to say this because they do not have humility okay so that is what Dr radhakrishnan wants to stress that students must understand that character is Destiny both their own destiny and the destiny of the nation and they must develop the qualities of compassion this feeling or other human beings around them and of course humility then rather Dr Radha Krishnan ends his address by saying that the youth must be aware of the richness of our culture right from the time of mukhenjo daro in harappa these civilizations they were perfect civilizations and people led very good lives and their uh you know living quarters their neighborhoods they were well structured and then uh their lives they were you know they followed a specific pattern and they understood ethics so you know all of these were there right from the time of moin only because we have lost touch with our own culture we you know today find ourselves stone with Strife we do not know which is the right path to follow what should we do there is a lot of confusion okay so we should learn from our ancient civilizations then Dr radhakrishnan says that the students must understand what that our nation needs certain standards of humanity from them as those standards will Define our internal environment whatever happens within our nation and external Affairs our relationships with other countries of the world okay then Radha Krishnan finally concludes by saying that Mother India wants the lives of her youth to be clean Noble and dedicated to selfless service okay so that is what Mother India wants from the youth from all of you who are students so you must not think that now we are students so we can do anything we like we are free uh to waste our time in uh you know superficial things no your lives are the most important and valuable ones because you are the future of the nation you will decide what the destiny of the nation is going to be and that is why every moment of your student life should be spent you know thinking about your ethical responsibilities your duty towards your society and you know thinking about the various ways in which you can make yourself yourselves useful for your country okay so thank you hope you have gained a lot from this address by the lifelong teacher doctor