Parents

Without our parents, none of us would be here today. Many young people of today’s generation take their parents for granted, for example they often find them embarrassing and controlling. However, they don’t realise how much their parents do for them.

When you fall over as a child, who helps you up stand on your feet again? At this moment, the parent rushes over to help their child, and cares for them affectionately. The child in return shows unconditional love for their parent. However, imagine the same situation with a teenager with their friends, they wouldn’t want their parents fussing over them as they struggle, as they would see this as an embarrassment.

Swami can be seen as a mother figure, a father figure or in any form you want to see him as. He shows unconditional love to everyone whoever they are and cares for them as a parent does for their child. Swami has stated in his speeches the importance of our parents. “Take into consideration the amount of suffering our parents have been through for you to be where you are currently. Therefore you must make them feel proud of your life”. Our parents do so much for us and we don’t even realise how their unconditional love is so significant.

This picture shows the love Swami has for his devotees who he sees as his children

Before you turn your parents away from you, think about what they did and do for you to be who you are. Imagine if your parents weren’t by your side to pick you up from your downfalls, to keep you strong through your struggles and be there when it really matters.

New Year Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions, what are they? Why do people set them? Why do people commit to them? These are all questions that are important when you want to set a New Year’s resolution for yourself or help suggest a resolution for your friends. Picture yourself on January 1^st after making your New Year’s resolution thinking that you’ll start tomorrow or in “a few days”; do you really think that you’ll start in “a few days”? NO! Of course not. That is why you must ask yourself these questions so that you know why you have an aim and to remind yourself of the purpose you have given your resolution (thus finding out if you even want to set yourself a resolution).

When looking at what a resolution is I think we should acknowledge that New Year’s resolutions originated from Romans who made promises to the Roman God Janus (which is where the name of the month January is derived from. With the evolution of these resolutions in Roman times came New Year’s resolutions that knights in the medieval era made out of honour and now, what they are currently known for: making promises to oneself for the New Year.

People’s New Year’s resolutions vary from big to small changes in their life. The importance of setting a New Year’s resolution varies in every individual as some take it as a fresh start to the New Year however some may not think of it as an important factor. Some people argue against this, as they believe that if you want to set a goal you shouldn’t need to wait until New Year’s Day and should just form a part of your daily routine. Professor Richard Wiseman from the University of Hertfordshire stated that only one in 10 of us will reach our goals. This shows that New Year’s resolutions are not taken very seriously in comparison to setting a realistic goal on a normal day.

On the other hand, many would agree that setting new year’s resolution is beneficial as in reality majority of the population don’t set goals in the fear of failure. Therefore, a new year’s resolution is considered as a fun alternative which wouldn’t be seen as a failure if broken.

We wish everyone who are still persevering with their new year’s resolution the best of luck to reach success!

2016 Resolutions

New Year in Sreekrishnapuram

Earlier this year in January, Darshainee and I (two youth wing members) were fortunate enough to spend our New Year with Swami in Swami’s ashram in Sreekrishnapuram, Palakkad. Every year, my family go to India for Christmas and spend a few days with Swami. This year we were able to spend our first new year with Swami. It was both of our first new year away from home. Both of us found it to be a magical experience as well asbeing an opportunity to learn many important messages and lessons from Swami and participate in the several New Year programmes.

My family arrived at Palakkad on the 27^th December 2015, and Darshainee and her family arrived the day before .Shortly before we arrived, Swami had gone to Chennai to aid those who had suffered in the Chennai flood, where more than 300 people had been killed and the city was a state of devastation.

On our first day, we spent the day strolling around the ashram and relaxing with Swami’s dog, Appu. It was exciting to see the preparations taking place for the New Year Celebrations. The next day, we woke up early to go to Naga (snake) temple to attend the Naga Pooja, where Swami enlightened us on the importance of praying to Naga Devas (snake Gods) on a Saturday. During the pooja we were also joined by some little kittens who had also come to watch the Pooja. We were given manjal (turmeric powder) and coconut water as prasadam at the end of the pooja.

Shortly after, we moved to the Saraswathi Mandapam, where Swami gave his beautiful discourse and awaited darshan. Later in the evening, Swami took us to Mayiladumkunndrum, which is a temple that Swami is building in Calicut. It will be the next Palani, one of the six abodes of Lord Murugan. The view from the top of Ashram was astounding and we had lots of fun. Except from the fact, we ended up getting bitten by ants.

Below is Swami’s New Year message:

''We have a strong internal connection with every atom in this universe. The universe, the womb in which we are all placed, which leads us from old to the new (constant change). Due to this we can never say that we are alone in this universe. We are enriched with all the energy that is present in the bodies of our father and mother, from whom we obtained this body. When we turn inwards and perform worship to the divinity within, the inner light manifests. Then we truly realize everything, see everything.

Realizing what has to be realized, and worshipping with sincerity that which has to be realized, our life favours our resolve. When our life is in tune with our resolve, we get to realize that we have the Almighty's grace. It is not that His grace is absent, it cannot be created, it is only to be received/absorbed. We must not be dispassionate towards anything; our thoughts must be illumined such that we are able to see the divine effulgence within everything that exists. With cleansed words and actions, we must transcend from the old to the new.

We always say, 'forget the past!', and we find this very difficult. But we must erase what is to be forgotten and highlight that which has to be remembered. Isn't this process an inseparable part of our life? We must forget the detrimental memories and cherish the truly blissful ones. Reject that which is detrimental and receive that which is beneficial (for life to proceed). Isn't this the reason why this New year has come in search of us? The basis of our life; peace of mind, physical well-being, victory in all walks of life, world peace, love and brotherhood, are all the same. May all be blessed with true knowledge and goodness. Welcome to all children across the globe, to this New Year.

The New Year Celebrations continued until 4am, but everyone was still wide awake. To end the evening celebrations, we were given deepams (lanterns) to mark the New Year.  We hope next year we get blessed with the same experiences and spend another New Year with Swami. 

 

 

 

New Year celebrations underway