Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
As we approach the end of 2020, we look at the year that has passed and the experiences it brought us. Like every year, 2020, too, has offered us many gifts; with its thorns, it has made us stronger and more resilient. Each event holds something favourable and something not so favourable to us. The good or favourable part makes us joyful and brings peace and tranquillity to our minds. The undesirable part makes us stronger and helps us realize our greater potential.
Our time on this planet is a gift. When we start considering our time on this planet as a gift, our entire outlook towards life changes. During the lockdown this year, millions from across the globe came together, virtually, to meditate twice each day, feeling peaceful and settled in the midst of chaos.
The year 2020 brought with it the pandemic; millions of people across the globe saw illness, experienced anxiety, fear and the loss of loved ones. So people wonder how to celebrate the New Year when they feel so guilty. “So many people lost their lives, how can we celebrate?”. See, you feel guilty when your celebration is aimed at gratifying yourself. If you are arranging a party just to satisfy yourself and to draw pleasure from it, then you will definitely feel guilty. It is better you don’t do it. But if you intend to uplift those around you – your friends, family, loved ones, neighbours, then don’t delay it! In such a scenario, the celebration itself, even if it is virtual, becomes an act of service. When your celebration becomes your service, you will find there is no guilt. And when service becomes your celebration, then ego dissolves.
So, in the coming year, let us celebrate with the intention of bringing knowledge and happiness to everyone – to the fact that everything is impermanent. What is eternal? It is the spirit, our consciousness - it does not change, it has no birth nor death.
From the ashes of 2020 and the ushering of 2021, we have a great responsibility to uplift the consciousness of the world. A new creation has come in and, with it, a new hope for everyone on the planet. And I am certain that all of us here have the capacity to uplift ourselves, and also those around us. |
