A living entity shall be either in evolving or idling stage i.e. tending to death. Each & every cell of human body undergoes mutation. So is with man. Entire Nature is in flux. Geologists the sources of rivers are not same as at the time of their coming into existence. Each day of the year is new … This fact is enormous implications for us.
To whatever degree one partakes of sessions of fun & frolic or shuns all this during festivities of any description, any grudge or demur against others indulging in merrymaking is unwarranted and likely to unsettle one’s rhythm of life. After all, posing as welcome respite from self-same diurnal routine, such exhilarating moments recharge one with renewed energy.
Apropos of the popular buoyant song of yesteryears, “Tum na gumsum raho, na aahein bharo, baat samjha karo, arre samjha karo.” Life, as Osho said, can be lived truly only if deemed as a celebration. Life is not a burden to be borne somehow with heads down, exuding depressive, negative ripples around. That is not what nature has ordained. The New Year and the various festivities are the welcome events of celebration showing verve for life and whatever new the future holds for us.
Indian festivals linked with seasons: Unlike in the West, Indian festivals are all in tune with planetary movements and climatic variability. The underlying belief is, the ethos and pathos of human beings are interlinked with cosmos of which they are an integral part. Thus, based on lunisolar calendar, Indian festivals mostly revolve round the farming operations of ploughing, seeding or harvesting. The festivals are also intertwined with folk stories and cultural ethos.
Another aspect of festivals is that of unifying people of a community together in a common platform, strengthening cultural traditions and dissolution of differences, something direly needed today. Sharing of ethos & pathos in an informal ambience tends to shed the narrow sectarian interests. The trend of living in isolated shells, at most concerned with spouse and children, is a leading cause of mental problems rising phenomenally. The US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has termed Loneliness as an epidemic to be handled as seriously as diabetes or hypertension.
The problem is particularly grave with our youth who are getting mentally sick by the day as they steer clear of cultural activities. It is now common in cities to earmark an exclusive room for a five-year kid to spend most of his time there. With this lay the seeds of lonesomeness.
Why children are becoming mentally sick: Community celebrations imbue a sense of belonging and promote solidarity, something crucial to live fully. Children not relishing community celebration are more likely to succumb to the lure of the social media, creating their own ivory towers. Non-involvement of children in community gatherings can make children selfish and unsocial. No surprise, children who grow up in such ambience find them checkmated or sorts, and are more likely to consider committing suicide when there is no help nearby. When there is sharing of emotions in earnest, one is better equipped to cope with daily struggles, apprehensions are allayed, stress bursts and one emerges as a confident being.
Sitting, dining or dancing together allows no room for ego or sham. So, if there are no festivals, birthdays, weddings or anniversaries around, occasions to celebrate have to be created for healthy life. Coming together with a shared vision has the advantage of coming into being of what Napoleon Hill referred to as “a collective mind”, the outcome of which is an energy far in excess of the sum total of individual units, as it happens in a battery with multiple cells.
However, our perception of joyous occasions must not remain confined to exchange of written, verbal or e-wishes for prosperity, gifts, new purchases, partying and outings. In line with birth, marriage or other anniversaries, such milestones each year must spell novelty and help people evolve into better, productive beings.
The fact that an average human brain houses 12 billion-plus neurons and each of them are capable to have interactions with 25,000 other neurons implies that man is made to perform beyond taking care of one’s living and comforts; animals of lower order, including lizards, frogs, and cockroaches, do that with as much ease and dexterity, if not better.
Harnessing human potential: Nature has endowed such enormous potential to man, indeed more than the world’s most sophisticated mainframe computer so that he serves the larger purpose in keeping with the design ordained for him. The distinct role expectation from each human being is further borne out by the uniqueness of one’s physical, physiological and mental set up.
However, our perception of joyous occasions must not remain confined to exchange of written, verbal or e-wishes for prosperity, gifts, new purchases, partying and outings. In line with birth, marriage or other anniversaries, such milestones each year must spell novelty and help people evolve into better, productive beings.
The evolutionary instinct of man enables him to transform his being into a superior one. The less we use our physical body parts or our mental faculties, the more they are likely to be rendered inefficient, dysfunctional, redundant and eventually defunct.
We become what we believe: It all begins with thoughts; the thoughts we harbour mould our actions and we tend to become what we seek because we are attracted to only those objects, ideas, persons, situations and institutions that are in line with ours. Raymond Charles Barber said, “Your life becomes the thing you have decided it shall be.” Once we embark on activities that nature wants i.e. compassion for fellow beings including animals, shelling out for others whatever we have in excess of our essential need, and concern for natural resources, we stay uninhibited and happy.
Blank pages of future lie open before us, to be scripted each day provided we stay in conciliatory, receptive mode and believe that each moment is a gift from God, as Edith Lovejoy Pierce advised, “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”
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This article is revised version of the one carried by The Pioneer on 21 February 2016; link of newspaper: https://www.dailypioneer.com/2016/sunday-edition/learning-to-live-anew-every-day.html
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