Answer: This quote is attributed to Swami Vivekananda, who emphasized on the right spirit as a tool to not only empower oneself in material and spiritual sense, but also for social and national development. The spirit is a part that is not physical and that consists of a person’s character and feelings. It is the thinking, motivating, and feeling part of a person that gets reflected in the attitude with which an action is being performed. If soul is once trained, it has the potential to transform people’s lives, society, and the country for the better as the following examples show:

• Right spirit as source of self-confidence: During the colonial rule, people were low on confidence and lacked the belief to change their present situation of slavery, poverty and deprivation. An ignited spirit inspired the masses to lift themselves up from their current state and gave birth to the national freedom struggle.
• Creates a moral society and leads to social upliftment: The right spirit strengthens the character of a person and prevents social degradations such as broken homes, immorality, violence, crime, etc. in modern society and focuses upon human relationships, and makes life meaningful and worth living.
• Right spirit as a source of justice: When laws and policies are made by the people in the right spirit, they don’t only follow the procedures but also follow the principles of natural justice; thus, improving the quality of life for all, especially the disadvantaged people.
• Better administration and service delivery: Administrators guided by the right spirit would naturally abide by the rules and regulations and thus ensure that rights and entitlements are enjoyed by the intended people. This would also reduce temptation and corruption. Once the feeling of compassion and a sense of equality and justice becomes the guiding factors of economic decisions, the socio-economic inequalities will also get reduced.
• Resolving national, international conflicts: The motivating factor of assertion and power projection are attributed to the rise of conflicts at national and international levels that can be avoided all together or resolved if a sense of brotherhood and welfare of all is the principle governing one’s actions.
• Better care for the environment: When people and society are guided by the right spirit and care for not only each other but for the future generations, long pending issues of climate negotiations, consumption patterns would transform for better.

Right spirit can be cultivated by the right education that builds the right character, right personality and gives tools to bring meaningful changes in one’s and other’s life. It has to be coupled with mindful analysis of self’s thoughts, feelings, and actions.