New Year Blessings

Over five decades ago, on the first day of year 1959, Bhagawan had written to a devotee, upon reaching Madras (now Chennai)...

"We arrived at Madras just now, at 12 noon. In all places, every thing was so wonderfully joyous. The happiness of all is my happiness. What else do I need than that? May all have greater and greater devotion, knowledge and renunciation, long life, health and happiness and may all deserve more and more the Grace of the Lord!

With mutual friendship and affection, be engaged in Bhajan, Puja, Meditation and the Study of the Glories of the Lord! Utilise the little time available in thoughts of the Lord, without wasting it in idle talk. Time, once lost, can never be reclaimed! The time that is yet to come cannot be claimed, as certainly yours! So, to transform each moment into joy, make this moment, while it is still with you, holy and pure. Give up all yesterdays and tomorrows and the days after; do now, this very day, the task that is worth while. This is My New Year Blessings to you all."

As we are ringing out the ‘old’ embracing the ‘new’ we cannot help but recapitulate what a fantastic year the ‘last’ has been! The passing year has been the year of celebrations, year of Festival of Joy, marking the 85th Year of His Divine Advent!

For eighty five long years, our Beloved Lord has been with us...walking, talking and steering us through our own ‘kurukshetra’ (field of action), finally to take us to the most desired land of ‘Dharmakshetra’. What have we achieved? How successful have we been in living His messages? After 85 years of His glorious earthly saga, now, when we are entering into a new year, man can pause for a while posing and asking himself: Whether he has been living His message?

The above letter that was written over five decades ago spells out His love and compassion for His highest creation. He spoke about precious time and its proper utilisation and the importance of living in the Now, as worthy beings. If we have not been, if our answer is not affirmative, then Now is the time, for as He had said, The time that is yet to come cannot be claimed, as certainly ours. We need to strive now, walking His talk, moment after moment, step following step towards God, to enter into the dateless realm of ‘eternity!’

There is a pleasure in the dateless days,

In walls with no calendars, table tops, diary free.

No clocks on shelves, no watches on the wrist,

Nothing to chop Eternity into bits

And tell us we are getting old.

All living things.

And even rocks do disintegrate

And stars and planets fade to dust

And dust, to swirls of Force

And Force to Love and Love to God!

We all trek back to God, from whom we strayed.

Let others call this, New Year Day. Let them!

I treat each moment as a little step

To God, with God, in God.

(Sai Spiritual Showers, Vol.2, Issue 76)