Ugadi - The New Year Beginning
 
There is a certain significance to
Ugadi being the New Year, and not the first of January, in terms of what
is occurring in the planet and in the human physiology and mind on this day.
Ugadi follows the lunisolar calendar, which has a direct connection with the
way the human body is made. The Indian calendar is very significant not just
culturally but scientifically because it connects you with the movements of the
planet.
Chandramana Ugadi is the beginning of
a new year as per the lunisolar calendar largely followed by the Indian people
for many millennia. As in everything else that comes from the East, even
the calendar is in terms of what it does to the human physiology and
consciousness. The tilt of the globe renders the northern hemisphere to receive
the highest amount of the Sun’s energy during the 21-day period that starts
from Ugadi. Though it may be uncomfortable for humans in terms of the
temperature soaring, this is the time when the earth’s batteries are charged.
Ugadi is on the first day of the waxing moon after the first new moon post
equinox, suggesting a new beginning.
In preparation for this hottest period
of the year in tropical latitudes, it is a tradition that people start this
segment of the year with elaborate application of cooling oils like
castor. Unlike the modern calendars of the day, which ignore human
experience in relation to the planetary movement, the lunisolar calendar (chandramana – souramana panchanga)
takes into account the experience and impact that is happening to the human
being and hence, the calendar being adjusted to latitudes.
Ugadi is not celebrated as the New
Year just as part of a belief system or a convenience – there is a science behind
it which enhances human wellbeing in many different ways. The profoundness of
what this nation has been is being rubbished today simply because some other
nations have moved ahead of us economically. We will also soon move ahead
economically, but the profoundness that this culture carries cannot be created
in a few years’ time; this is the outcome of thousands of years of work.
A simple thing you can do to start
your new year is when you pick up your telephone, don’t just say “hello” or
“hi” or something else. Say “Namaste” or “Namaskar” or “Namaskaram” or
“Vanakkam”. There is a significance to uttering such words in your life – where
what you say or do to God, you do to everyone around you. This is the best way
to live.
If something is sacred for you and
something else is not, then you are missing the whole point. Make this New Year
a possibility for you to recognize this divinity in every human being.
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