As one of the blogger friends has mentioned in the comments of the previous post, this time around the wish was not a simple new year. Some wished a great English New Year, Some a great Christian New Year, and some a prosperous Gregorain New Year. In fact, in my previous post, I myself was wondering why we do not name it as the Christian New Year.
However, at this point of time, 2017 years After Christ, I think we should not be so fussy. The Gregorian calendar has now become the international standard for dating (no pun intended). So be it.
In fact, unless we are specifically reminded that celebrating the Gregorain new year is endemic to our cultural values, we will not start thinking seriously that it has the potential to uproot us from our native culture and religion.
Now imagine what would happen if every country, every region, every religion, and every sect rigorously started using its own version of calendar rejecting all other versions. In India itself we would have more than hundred types of calendars. If you boarded the train at Bareilly on 07.02. 2032, you would wake up in Bangalore after two days on 05.04.2130.
And imagine how difficult the life of the air traffic controllers and the pilots would be. Even Google and Microsoft will have a hard time to construct special algorithms to match your religious and cultural sensibilities and sense of time.
At the same time the same generosity should be extended to many other practices. Reservations have been expressed about the International Day of Yoga. A couple of years back clerics in Egypt issued edicts against yoga terming it as un-islamic. Even though yoga is more widely practiced in the Christain majority countries of the west than the country of its origin, Churches have expressed their disapproval.
Maybe, to avoid confrontation with the church, some yogic practitioners came up with a theory that yoga originated in the West. But I don’t think even such a theory will pacify the people who think yoga is a type of a subtle invasion to uproot people from their cultural and religious roots.
People who object to yoga on religious grounds should read the primary treatise on yoga: Patanjali’s yogasutras. To be a yogi you do not need first of all to believe in any particular concept of God, or heaven, or origin of the universe.
Mad Charvak says that this is the very reason religious leaders are afraid of yoga. Religions are driven by faith. When people follow reason and experimentation based on cause and effect there are chances that they will see through the various schemes they propagate in the name of religious faith.
Last year I did not want to wish my loved ones A Happy New Year. Let me assure you it was not for any religious reason. I was alarmed going through what some leading thinkers over the ages had said about happiness.
This year let me wish everyone to start the new year on a poetic note. To help your poetic journey, my anthology of poems – teach me to dream– will be available for free download from 3rd to 5th Jan 2018.
PEBBLES AND WAVES 
On the contrary, I am of the firm conviction that January 01 should be made a National Holiday. For one, it is the most painful day to carry your wrung out body, thanks to the revelries, to the workplace.
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I knew that many blogger friends must be still recovering from the hangover of the 31st night. Hence i released this post on 2nd. š
For Bengaluru private companies many of whom work for US bosses, 1st Jan was a holiday. PSUs and Govt organisations may catch up with the trend in future. But then it will lose the status of being the unofficial thanks giving day. š
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Informative !!!!
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Thanks
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I simply laugh whenever anyone objects to Yoga on religious grounds. You know why? My first Yoga teacher was a Muslim by faith š
You may also consider Sri Aurobindo’s quote which goes something like – “Yoga is tree, religions are branches”. It is perhaps in his book “Essays Divine and Human”.
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I first became intetested in yoga and mysticism because of the Aurobindo Study Circle in our School Hostel.
I also have a number of Christian and Muslim friends who are yoga teachers. It is only those hardliners who oppose yoga.
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I echo your sentiments in regard to the New Year as well as about Yoga. People should be tolerant towards the beliefs of others while being able to imbibe what is good for them irrespective of its origins.
I have taken to reading poetry in the recent past. Will be back to download that ebook
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Thanks for your interest in the book.
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As every country in the world now uses this same calendar, but many of them are not happy with the idea of having their calendars defined by Christianity, so they call it CE (Common Era) instead of AD (After death of Christ); while for BC (Before Christ), they prefer using BCE (Before Common Era).
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Of course people call it by different names. But good that they are not insisting on different calendars. āŗ
Thanks for stopping by
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Thank you so much.
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The idea of standardized measurements is definitely to make our lives easy. For me, happy new year is just a happy new year, and I am glad that I was not brought up in a way that would make me see it as any other. Also, that does not stop me from celebrating Poila Boisakh, which is the Bengali New Year. So yes, happy new year to you and your family. My best wishes š
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Wishing you a great year ahead
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Being gracious is a lost art. Wishing you a new year full of grace and graciousness.
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Thanks
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Very logical writing, i second your though in the case of Yoga but about the calendar i have some questions those always knock me…why the Gregorian calendar is followed by every country? why not any other calendar? how did it been possible that Gregorian calendar is used by everyone?
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It is the same way as English has become an international language of communication.
Possibly due to European colonialisation.
Thanks Jyotirmoy for stopping by.
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That’s excellent reasoning Sir. One mere calender is not going to take our whole sanskriti down, but fanatics still crib about celebrating the New Year this way. Well then, don’t, but don’t make a fuss over it is what I say.
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Yes. Certain things, whatever might have been their origin, are now matters of convenience. We should accept them graciously. Sometimes it makes sense to make ourselves stronger in stead of blaming others for attempting to pollute our culture.
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Great
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