Indian New Year - Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, 2066

March 27, 2009

|| Shri Hari ||Ram RamWishing everyone a very happy and prosperous new year.The importance :1. All major Indian festivals eg. Holi, Diwali, Raksha Bandhan, Janmashtmi are all celebrated according to the Vikrami calendar.2. Dates for all auspicious functions are selected according to the Vikrami calendar.3. It is the time when the harvest is ready and the new grains reach the markets.Few of the important events on this date - Chaitra Shukla Pratipada - the first day of the new year :1. Brahmaji started the creation of the universe.2. The crowning ceremony of Lord Rama.3. Founding of the Arya Samaj by Swami Dayanand Saraswati.There are many religious, cultural and historic events which have a connection with this date. The importance of this date is great. It is very unfortunate that we have forgotten the significance of this date as also of the Indian dates and calendar. This day is celebrated in parts of thecountry but lacks the importance that it deserves.Let us all celebrate this day with pomp and enthusiasm and make an attempt to give back the lost and forgotten glory to this date. Let us try and revive the Indian calendar to whatever extent we can. Wish all your relatives, friends, loved ones a very happy new year.Ram Ram

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In this season of rejuvenation and new creation, as our part of the Earth becomes more colorful and green, and Nature sheds the old and welcomes the new, let us invite change in our hearts, in our perceptions of the world, and harvest our own meanings in the center of ourselves. As the season changes and rings in and ushers the New Year, let us try to bring a change in our lives, from conflict to peace, from materialism to selflessness, from anger and violence to love, from darkness to light. May this New Year bless us all with the promise and hope of Love, Light and Peace! (Indian/Hindu) New Year/ Ugadi/Yugadi/Gudi Padwa/Nav Samvatsar (First bright day after the new moon of Chaitra) March 27, 2009 Traditionally too, if September was the 7th month and October the 8th and so on, (as their names suggest), March was the 1st. Greetings also for the auspicious festival of spring Navratri!

Rajiv Narula

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