Spiritual Message for New Year

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The day when our friend, gifted to us by God, the old year, graciously steps

aside giving place to the entry of its successor, the New Year. It is the day

when the old year tells us, " It has been nice being with you. Goodbye now, God

speed you into the New Year. "

 

The old year has been good to us, and, therefore, we may also ask, " How have we

been towards it? " " This is a day for stocktaking. " It is a day for casting a

bird's eye view in retrospect, a day for asking how each month of the year has

been-the plus and minus, wisdom and folly, correctness and error. It is this

process that can help us to grow as good individuals in human society.

 

Our endeavour should be that we are a plus point, an additional enriching

contribution to our contemporary social scene: " By the fact of my being in

society today, what do I bring to society? Am I a factor that due to my good

nature as an individual-soft-spoken, friendly, kindly, smiling, helpful-I put

everyone at ease, make everyone feel happy? Am I ready to do a little good turn

and to bear with the foibles and plus and minus points of others-with great

grace, charity and a charitable disposition-because I know that God made them

so? "

 

All people are not alike; they cannot help being what they are. Thus understand

human foibles-not merely in a psychological way through the intellect, but in a

gracious, cultured, spiritual way. If you try to approach and understand people

in a psychological way, you will only gain knowledge about others; but that

knowledge is not necessarily accompanied by the spiritual qualities of sympathy,

tolerance, understanding, friendliness, helpfulness: " This is an erring brother

or sister; I am prone to such error myself. " If you thus make your assessment in

a psycho-spiritual way-psychologically accompanied by a spiritual bhava,

spiritual attitude-then it is a totally different thing.

 

Thus making yourself an asset to your contemporary scene, you yourself,

individually, go onwards in trying to make yourself an ideal human being which

is one of the indispensable sadhanas of the spiritual life. We may progress in

concentration and meditation, in japa, in prayerfulness, God-remembrance and

devotion, in the depth of our philosophical understanding, but we must also see

clearly that simultaneously with these positive and progressive things happening

to us, that our continuous human culture must accompany them, keep pace with

them, must also move forward into a greater and greater state of perfection,

wholeness and idealism. We cannot afford to forget that, as we evolve in our

spiritual dimension, we have to also simultaneously evolve upon our human

dimension.

 

Spirituality must make us into good persons. Spirituality must make us ideal

human individuals. Spirituality must help to make us benefactors of our own

society. Spirituality must make us a centre of blessedness to others, a centre

of help to others, a centre of harmony, a centre of everything that contributes

to human welfare-individually and collectively.

 

This is what the great teacher of the Middle East meant when He answered the

question, " What is the greatest of all commandments? " He said, " You know what

the greatest of all commandments is-a total giving of yourself in absolute love

and devotion to the Divine, a total giving of yourself in dedication to the

Divine. " But the most important part came at the end, as the conclusion. He

added a rider: " You shall love your neighbour as yourself. "

 

To each human individual, himself or herself is the most important person in the

world. Each one lives with this axiomatic assumption of which they are not even

aware, because it is not arrived at through any purposeful, conscious process.

It is just there. Prakriti has made it that way-all other things are around one

and one is the centre. And this axiomatic feeling modifies and conditions all

things for that person-everything that the person does, sees, relates oneself

to. It modifies everything, the whole of a person's life in all its details.

Therefore, it is said: " You know this is so. You are most important to yourself.

More than anyone else, you are very considerate of yourself. The importance of

yourself to yourself is prime. Therefore, even so, let it be towards your

neighbour. "

 

Who is your neighbour with whom you should have this special kind of attitude,

behaviour, relationship? The answer is the whole world. Any person, at any given

point in time at any place is your neighbour. And to generalise, everyone in

this world, living in your own times, is your neighbour.

 

Therefore, to love your neighbour as yourself means to love all, to love

everyone, to love every human individual whether in India or Japan or America or

Australia or Argentina, anywhere. Anyone who is residing on planet Earth the

same time as you are is your neighbour. Distance counts for nothing. Time and

space have no relevance. Proximity in space has no relevance to spiritual

neighbourhood, spiritual kinship, spiritual fraternity.

 

The spiritual vision knows something even one step further. There is not even an

other to be your neighbour. It sees that your neighbour is no other than your

own Self. Therefore, feel yourself in all beings that exist and behave towards

them as you would behave towards yourself-giving special preference, forgiving

little things, tolerating foibles-the little twists and turns-not minding them,

forgiving them. Have a non-differential attitude towards all as though they are

no other than yourself.

 

Such a being, who is thus able to transform oneself into all others and to

regard others in the same light as one regards oneself, who, in all conditions,

treats others in the same manner as one treats oneself, such a person qualifies

for immortality and liberation according to the great world teacher, Lord

Krishna.

 

Thus, simultaneously with your concentration and meditation, with your advancing

knowledge of Vedanta, with your progressive devotion and prayer, with your

selfless activities, a constant, unceasing, progressive evolution of your human

individual nature has to accompany and keep pace with it. You should never feel

that it is something different-I need not bother about it. This is not the right

attitude; human evolution should accompany spirituality.

 

It is that evolution of your human individual nature that makes for successful,

fruitful and effective spirituality, for it is a great support of your spiritual

progress, of your yoga life. Progressing ever into being an ideal human

individual-kind, compassionate, tolerant, good, just and fair, a principled

being, a good neighbour, a friend of all, one who identifies with all-such a

person you must be. This is part of Yoga. This is part of Vedanta. This is part

of spiritual life. This is part of sadhana.

 

Therefore, if your spiritual life and sadhana should be complete and whole, then

see clearly the need to make your own personal life and personality things of

beauty. You should make your own personal life and personality undergo a

progressively evolutionary process, keeping pace with your Yoga, Vedanta,

sadhana, meditation techniques and your spiritual life as a whole.

 

This is the teachings of great ones. " If you cannot love your brother whom you

have seen, how can you love God whom you have never seen? " You cannot be

selective in your forgiveness, in your kindness, in your tolerance. You cannot

be selective. The best way to exercise these virtues is to choose the worst

stinker; then it becomes very easy to become a good friend, brother and

neighbour to those who are less so. If you can extend this charitable nature to

an impossible person, then you will know that it is possible to extend it

towards everyone, because you have tested yourself with the worst one and found

it possible.

 

May God bless you! May you commence your stocktaking and prepare yourself to say

goodbye to the old year and do all that is needful to make a perfect entry into

the New Year. Be grateful for all that has helped you to reach where you are at

this point in time, and in light of your knowledge of the past year, make your

entry into the New Year a foresighted and creative one.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2010

 

Regards

Kumar

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C. P. KUMAR

Scientist 'F'

National Institute of Hydrology

Jal Vigyan Bhawan

Roorkee - 247667 (Uttarakhand)

INDIA

 

Web Page : http://www.angelfire.com/nh/cpkumar/

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Unfold the Goddess Within:

Shambhavi/

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