"Happy New Year! Whose, by the way"?

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

Adiyane read a lot of mails in the last few days about the New Year

(Tamil and Yugadi). adiyane enjoyed a private one received from a

highly respected family-friend (a very high-ranking official in the

Government of India, New Delhi, whose name adiyane is not able to

divulge) which is being reproduced below for your information and

delight too.

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

>new year distortions-result of long colonialism- an

analysis

>Tue, 16 Apr 2002 23:34:09 +0000

>

>A yugaadi is not a mere 'Telugu New Year's Day' or 'Gudi Padwa' and

>another is not a mere 'Tamil New Year's Day' or a 'Baisaki,' as we

see characterized >by us the English schooled. And the day after

Deepaavali is not the >beginning >of the samvatsara or Gujarati New

Year's Day (but it is a reckoning >used by >merchants, and for the

beginning of Vikrama era), or Baisaki is not >mere >Punjabi New

Year's Day. Such were the 'six blind men and an >elephant'

>distortions introduced by the British, who never understood our

>calendar or

>our traditions, during their colonial rule over India, while we

>forgot and >slept (and we still are practically in deep coma);

whatever little >the 18th >century European writers grasped, they

freely distorted, debased, >and then >taught it to the “heathens” of

India, and we the children of those >“heathens” now put down each

other using their same cliché >methodically >imbibed in our sacred

westernized schools!

>

>Ultimately history may judge all such distortions and

>trivializations as a >great loss in enhancing the spiritual life and

real happiness of >almost 70% >of humanity, unless we sincerely learn

and properly teach India's >hoary >traditions following the

Upanishadic dictum “svaadhyaaya >pravachanaabhyaam na >pramadi

tavyam.”

>

>Moreover, it is astonishing that in our temple calendars and Hindu

>religious >activities shaped by Hindus all over USA and the West, we

call the >Roman/Christian Gregorian new year's day as 'THE New Year's

Day', >Hindu >chaandra yugaadi as 'Telugu New Year's Day' or 'Gudi

Padwa', Hindu >saura >yugaadi as 'Tamil New Year's Day' or 'Baisaki'

-- just as the >British had >taught us. This reflects our deep-rooted

mental slavery to British >colonial >distortions and no familiarity

with, and even some hidden contempt >to, our >real history, shastra-s

and scriptures. We somehow consider >ourselves experts >on such

subjects by reading faulty 18th century European >interpretations and

 

>their carbon copies, almost all of them quite primitive to my humble

 

>grasp, >and pooh-pooh anything natively Hindu!

>

>Some Other New Year's Days and Mix-ups:

>

>Truth is: January 1 is the seasonal Gregorian new year's day

>tradition about >2,000 years old while the others cited above flow

from the >all-encompassing >cosmic new year's day traditions well

over 8,000 years old and still >thriving. The former strokes the ego

(cf. the wild parties); the >latter helps >us touch our inner

divinity. It is the sura-asura tussle within and >without >like day

and night, and it is immaterial or in spite of our >religions. Thanks

>to our slave educational laurels, I am yet to see even a single

>Hindu temple

>calendar in the West that prints this truth!

>

>It is seen in Tamil Nadu that every year on January 1 people visit

>temples, >wish “Happy New Year” to each other and offer puja, but on

saura >yugaadi >day, the celebrations are mostly home-centered, or

even derided as >'brahminical'. During British rule in the then

Madras Presidency, >the alien >rulers imposed January 1 New Year's

Day celebrations on their >government >employees, who were mostly

tradition-bound Hindus, so as to 'teach' >them >Western culture and

thus bury the native culture. Our social leaders >saw >through this

British game of cultural conquest, and advised the >government

employees to use the day to go to temples as a protest! But these

>days very >few in Tamil Nadu or anywhere know why some Indians have

the habit >of going >to temples on January 1st! It started as a

protest against the >imposition of >an alien culture, but now many

among us wonder what all these >'confusing' >Yugaadi-s are since

January 1 is THE new year's day! We have become >frogs in >a new

pond! How much lower can we the English-schooled Indians >reach? We

need

>to rise ourselves up -- uddharaet aatmanaatmaanam.

>

>As noted already, the Gregorian calendar is a seasonal calendar --

>January 1 >of the Gregorian new year's day is based on seasons on

earth, moving >in >reverse about a degree in 70-71 years with respect

to the fixed >nakshatra-s >(due to earth axis precession, ~26,000

years). This renders the >Sun's >position with respect to the

nakshatra-s on every January 1 not the >same, and >moon is just not

considered.

>

>Moreover, January 1 was Roman dictator Julius Caesar's birthday,

>and, in 45 >BC, he decreed it as the new year's day! No one should

object to or >can stop >giving undue prominence to January 1 as THE

only new year's day, but >I feel >it reflects how we humans are still

slaves to some bygone brutish >ego >disconnected from our real inner

divinity.

>

>Islamic calendars are lunar calendars -- strictly based on the

>moon's phases: >New Moon to New Moon is one month, and 12 such

months form a year. >Muhammad >decreed so, and hence the tradition.

We just celebrated Moharum new >year's >day on March 16 (Hijri era

1423) after the first moon. It appears to >be based >on the Vedic

tradition but got disconnected from the full scheme of >time

>tracking.

>

>Chinese and some Jewish calendars use Sun and moon in their

>reckonings but >not the nakshatra divisions, and they are often

described as >'lunisolar' >calendars. Westerners have used this term

'lunisolar' to describe >the Hindu >calendar (called panchangam) --

this is a misrepresentation. Least >of all, >the two yugaadi-s have

little to do with purely lunar and solar >calendars.

 

>Hindu panchangam is not merely 'seasonal', 'lunar' or 'solar' or

>mix-ups but >nakshatra based only. Simply, we can say that the Hindu

calendar, be >in >Kerala or Kashmir, Gujarat or Manipur, is not

seasonal, not solar, >not lunar, >and not lunisolar! Yet it is

totally based on natural cycles, and >hence truly >secular, and is

astronomically correct -- it is based on the >nakshatra >divisions,

since they alone are relatively 'fixed' references in the >sky.

>Even our modern astronomers use the fixed stars to figure out

>precise time >cycles and celestial events.

>

>Beauty of our World and Reach of Rishi Wisdom:

>

>The other day I was checking the planetary positions in a NASA

>website. Then >I crosschecked them with a panchangam I have --

matches within a >degree are >amazing. I wonder how those ancient

Pandita-s in India knowing not a >cent of >English

orNewton's/Keplar's Laws developed such scientific and >analytical

>methods without modern science gadgets, supercomputers, and reams of

>software!

>

>The very nakshatra names depict the Cosmic Being's various limbs --

>beauty of >the finest creation and the very beauty of the Veda-s!

Similarly, >the month >names in Hindu calendar (chaitra, vaishaakha,

etc.) connected to the >respective months' paurNami nakshatra zones

say it all -- they are >not tied >to seasons. Hence equations such as

'chaitra and vaishaakha make >vasantha >ritu', etc. are not permanent

-- this specific phrase was quite true >some >1,600 years ago but now

we are off by about 23 days. And in about >400 years, >the real

vasantha ritu will be in the months of phaalguna and >chaitra! This

>suggests that possibly this Hindu scientific tradition got frozen

>1,600 years >ago -- a time labeled as 'India's golden age' by

Westerners! India's >history >does need re-writing from A to Z!

>

>Thus, yugaadi point (i.e., beginning of a samvatsara) is not tied to

 

>seasons. >Instead, seasons “cycle” through the yugaadi point in

24,000 years >due to >earth axis precession (period of one precession

is about 26,000 >years but >earth orbit itself moves due to gravity

of the giant planets and >hence net is >24,000 seasonal years -- so

say the astronomers, and also yes, a >very ancient >Hindu shastra

book long before Lagadha, 1500 BC). Presently vernal >equinox is

>close to Yugaadi. In about 10-12,000 years, fall equinox will move

>close to >it, and so on.

>

>There are 60 consecutive samvatsara names - prabhava through kshaya,

 

>the >upcoming being 'chitrabhaanu', 16th in the 60-samvatsara cycle.

As >noted >above, varsha is the seasonal year, such as from equinox

to the same >equinox >or solstice to the same solstice. From Vedic

times, celebrating the >solstice >days (beginnings of uttara and

dakshiNa ayana-s) and equinoxes >(vasantha and >sharad vishuvam-s)

existed and exists in our society. There is no >evidence >indicating

that this was different from other India based >traditions; they >all

sprang from Veda samhita mantra-s long before Maxmuller's >assigned

time >of 1500-500 BC.

>

>Seasonal, solar, lunar, lunisolar, stellar -- all these real

>considerations >taken together had been India's way of time-keeping

and festive >celebrations >from quite ancient times. In India's

scheme of social life, Sun, >Moon, earth, >stars, life, and

everything around always play their due roles for >reasons >that are

plainly secular as well as deeply spiritual. Yugaadi or new >year's

>day celebrations thus rekindle this oneness among us and our oneness

>with >nature and with It.

>

>In summary, I have presented a scientific basis for Yugaadi

>signaling the >arrival of the secular new year's day as well as

spiritual renewal >-- it is >based on worldly and cosmic cycles in

our breathing and connected >universe as >declared in the Veda-s. The

rest are really not so secular (kind of >pseudo-secular indeed) but

are shaped by human decrees and >religions.

>

>On this New Year's Day called Yugaadi, I wish you all a happy,

>healthy, and >prosperous new year. May our inner divinity spring

forth from us, >and cement >us all into one whole.

*******************************

 

 

 

Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax

http://taxes./