An ID from your God
A particular Psychiatrist feels that religious
identity is becoming more important today among
the Indian youth because they often find their personal identities inadequate. In the olden days the image of the youth was a sort of rebellious, non-believer type, who seldom entered the places of worship. But now this seems to be changing. The psychiatrist feels that competition is one of the main reasons for this change. But for 2 or 3 top rankers others feel they are not winners and believe that their personal identification is not adequate. They take help of an external force to provide them with the necessary energy to be on the track. Therefore, religious
identity comes to their help as identification with peers becomes very easy and they tend to be like sheep in a herd. But in reality, they are not becoming spiritual as spiritualism requires a lot of hard work. The youth are just becoming dogma-oriented which will hamper the development of personal identity.
But according to Swami Shamananda Prabhu, president of one ISKCON temple, Indian youth have a strong sense of spirituality and
undercurrent of faith unlike the youth in the west who have a strong undercurrent of doubt. Technological progress today gives everyone the opportunity to enjoy but it cannot give the time required to enjoy. People, including the youth are leading stressful lives. They are looking for a sense of balance in their lives and hence turn to spiritualism and religion. ISKCON has various programs to reach out to the students and youth where senior monks give lectures on contemporary issues and ask participants to clear their doubts. And when they get their questions answered on this path then there is no looking back.