May good things happen to us in the coming New Year. Those who believe in a new resolution, New Year is just the excuse to form new habits and change for the better. Here is a selection of some New Year messages, from some great Indians, that are zara hatke and could add some oomph to our resolutions.
Indians are quite unique to celebrate New Year as per different traditional calendars. Very few of us know that countries which haven't adopted the modern calendar are Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Nepal, Iran and Afghanistan. India, Bangladesh, Israel and Myanmar use other calendars alongside the modern calendar and countries like Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, North Korea and Taiwan use a modified version of the current calendar. Despite the different calendars, it is interesting to note that we tend to make New Year resolutions only with the modern calendar, not our traditional ones.
Regardless of what calendar we use, our New Year resolutions seems like a game we play with ourselves. Many a times this resolve (sankalpa) loses it strength, to which someone rightfully quipped, "A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” Hope it is wrong, but we know why it is true.
To avoid this rut, here is a selection of New Year messages that could give a different perspective to what we do every year. The unique thing about these messages is that they are given by those great people who are the pride of India...I mean those mystics whose life and teachings continue to uplift and inspire millions. Here are those messages of modern day mystics who messages are sometimes cutting, most of the times out of the ordinary, anything but mundane and makes us think outside the square...zara hatke thinking.
Drop all your resolutions...
Someone asked Osho: "if one were to make only one New Year's resolution, what would you suggest?" Osho said: "This and only this can be the New Year's resolution: I resolve never to make any resolutions because all resolutions are restrictions for the future. All resolutions are imprisonments. You decide today for tomorrow? You have destroyed tomorrow. Allow the tomorrow to have its own being. Let it come in its own way! Let it bring its own gifts.
Resolution means you will allow only this and you will not allow that. Resolution means you would like the sun to rise in the west and not in the east. If it rises in the east, you will not open your windows; you will keep your windows open to the west. What is resolution? Resolution is struggle. Resolution is ego. Resolution is saying, "I cannot live spontaneously." And if you cannot live spontaneously, you don't live at all -- you only pretend. So let only one resolution be there: I will never make any resolutions. Drop all resolutions! Let life be a natural spontaneity. The only golden rule is that there are no golden rules." - Osho Bhagwan Rajneesh
Buddha truly experienced a ‘Happy New Year’....
"Happy New Year. You must have heard this in the last week a thousand times and at least a hundred times you must have said it. “Happy New Year! Happy New Year!” In fact, there is no ‘new’ year. ‘Year’ is but a measurement in a continuous stream of time that we have created for our own convenience. Time is the same – labelled as past, present or future – it is a concept. For our convenience, we have created divisions of days, weeks, months, years, centuries and millennia. Whether in the 1st or the 2nd century, 20th or even the 21st century, ‘time’ is ever the same. But all that is floating in time and reaching us is constantly changing. ...
The greeting ‘Happy New Year’ is actually a wish that one and all may discover more happiness for themselves in the coming year, by renewing not the year, but oneself. The year cannot be changed! This is a time for renewal. This is the reason so many people make New Year resolutions. Year after year they do it. “I’ll get up early in the morning.” “I must meditate regularly.”...... Not even for three days are they kept." If the courage to change is absent, no progress is possible. Buddha truly experienced a ‘Happy New Year’ when he became Buddha. One day he decided that he wanted some thing else out of life, and having decided, he worked towards it consistently. Thus Siddhartha blossomed into Sri Buddha" - Shri Swami Chinmayananda
A rich man celebrates each day...
A poor man celebrates the New Year once a year. A rich man celebrates each day. But the richest man celebrates every moment. - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Do not waste time speculating over what would happen in the New Year.
"Do not waste time speculating over what would happen in the New Year. If your actions are good, your future is bound to be good. The future of the nation depends on your actions. God is a witness; He neither protects nor punishes you. Each one is responsible for their pleasure or pain. In this New Year, develop new and sacred feelings and make everybody happy. Do not struggle for money; strive for love. Once you develop love, there will be no scope for evil qualities like anger, jealousy, etc. If your thoughts and actions are good, your future will be good. Then the whole country, nay, the whole world will prosper. Pray for the peace and prosperity of the entire world. Peace can be attained only through the practice of human values" - Shri Satya Sai Baba
Being deeply involved...
“If you are deeply involved with the simplest aspects of your life, you will see every aspect of your life as spectacular” - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
Zara Hatke Happy New Year everyone.
Ram Lingam blogs his insights on India and Indian culture at www.indiasutra.co.nz