Each new year – a chance for spiritual transformation

It is probably a wise idea to think that we are renewed each year; through a new chance of becoming our most evolved self where we have removed the husk of the weaker actions of the past year

By Surya Vishwa

The word spirit is derived from the Greek (and Latin) word to mean breath/spirit (prana). A human is a machine powered by breath. Once the breath departs from the body the machine stops. The final breath (spirit/energy/power) departs. Some spiritual/religious traditions believe that the energy that so departs will find its way to another life source – human or animal or be trapped or released to different realms as per the actions that has either purified or contaminated the last completed life cycle. 

Especially the Hindus and the Buddhists hold steadfast the belief that the life cycle continues beyond death and that this body is but a temporary abode of an energy consciousness that may have memory of many life cycles. Jesus in the Christian tradition held that it is harder for a rich person to reach heaven than a camel passing through an eye of a needle. Hereby the term rich we could interpret beyond a material status, to mean rather a person attached to riches. There can be persons in present times and throughout history who are and have been rich but used the concept of richness creation and abundance for sharing and wellbeing of the self and the wider community or society.

Although the concept of heaven is held within strict dogmatic parameters in religions such as Christianity, it is possible that sages such as Christ saw the difficulty of absolute liberation of man from all petty ties he is saddled with throughout life and that these hold him well beyond life and death. Although scholars and theologians of various traditions often are tempted to split hairs on the theoretical differences between the different concepts of heaven/liberation, the differences are probably more linguistic than anything else. There is the Hindu concept of Moksha, the Buddhist concept of Nirvana, the Christian concept of heaven/paradise, the Islamic concept of Jannah/paradise (just to state a few such related definitions in the currently popular religions).

Man has eternally searched for a truth that transcends mundane existence. Throughout his sojourn in this life on this ancient earth (which is said to be over four billion years old) the human being has indulged in the search for a higher meaning – that which is beyond himself; a meaning that could be beyond life and death or joy and sorrow. According to different geographical locations of this expanse which is earth where different humans live according to different traditions largely decreed by nature (the traditions of people of the desert may be different to the people of verdant land and this natural world phenomena may influence many things from diet to temperament to belief.

Where beliefs go man’s search overall has encompassed that which may be in varying degrees associated with mother earth, with wisdom, with the philosophical, the supernatural, with myth, the mystical, with the superstitious, with the cultural, the psychological, the theological and with fact as with fable. Belief therefore is a combination of all of these but beyond all belief are two basic realities – 1. We are born. 2. We will die. What we are concerned about as humans, generally materialistically, is what is between life and death. 

All of greed and corruption and oppression of one set of humans by another the world over in various forms of superiority complexes and at times using religious itself as the tool, is because what is held with such attachment is the material and not the spiritual – that which connects us to the breath – to prana and which should make us wiser, empathetic and compassionate beings. Why we are not could be because we are caught in the illusion of the fancies of this life and various levels of power it gives is as per our karma. But in this great wheel of life, we all get a fresh journey each year just as we probably get a fresh journey between death and life. 

It is probably a wise idea to think that we are renewed each year; through a new chance of becoming our most evolved self where we have removed the husk of the weaker actions of the past year. 

Thus, in this new year let us be conscious of our prana – our breath – our life force and the fact that it is temporary. The fact that it is temporary should drive us to store in our karmic bank accounts (which consists of both good and bad actions) more of a good credit balance. This can only come with our awareness and increased consciousness as well as with unconditional love. Love is a concept that is often associated with the romantic or the obsessive or the frivolous – we have the commercial Valentine’s Day to prove it. However, all the sages of all scriptures and religious traditions functioned as a deep source of love in their effort towards social reformation. 

Jesus spoke about the burden of taxation imposed on ordinary people and on the ostracising of lepers. The Buddha who introduced the awareness-based science of the mind for eternal peace also importantly focused on the deplorable social practice of acute caste discrimination that existed at the time in the society he lived in. Prophet Muhammad attempted to create a just and righteous society which is the reason for some seemingly stringent rules combined with the then existing traditions of justice but what seems to be largely forgotten is that he preached mercy. All the sages and saints from these and other religious and spiritual traditions including the aboriginal nature based spiritual beliefs spoke (and lived) a life of a deep love for both humans as well as all of life that inhabit the planet.

The many Hindu origin sages, the Fakirs, the Sufi saints, the Buddhist monks, the Christian mystics and other diverse secular universe consciousness related teachers have all tried to impart a deep sense of love in us. It is our interpretation that has meshed it up in narrow cages and made it difficult for this love to flourish as pure and natural as a forest.

Hence let us wish for ourselves a new year of progress – both materially and spiritually. We can increase the understanding that the materialistic is temporary and what is karmic – especially the action that is beyond worldly gain – is what transcends into the spiritual – into the realm of pinkamas – into nirvana – moksha, heaven and even while on earth makes life beautiful, happy and content. 

While spirituality is sometimes associated with isolation or seclusion and total silence, all of which could greatly enhance mind and heart clarity to see all things as they are, the average human being cannot afford this. He or she has family or community duties/responsibilities and many sages across the ages belonging to different cultures across this earth have taught and shown through their own life that all it takes is correct awareness to remain in the world and aspire to inner and outer peace which primarily exists in the mind. 

All actions we do in life, all thoughts, all aspirations – in the multi-fold roles of life; whether as a businessperson, householder, teacher, politician, labourer, media practitioner, farmer, scientist, theologian – whatever our ‘identity’ they are all in essence spiritual roles – they are roles connected with prana – linked to the filigree of breath through which humans are internally and externally connected; to themselves and each other. Throughout the ages wars and crimes have been committed in the name of identity but great peaceful civilisations and great actions of wisdom, love and compassion have also been carried out through different human identities, played out through culture or religion.

We have heard of concepts such as original sin; while it could rationally be argued that the duality of bad and good exists in each human being and hence in the world (we can bring in the question of the role that genetics and/or pre-life karmic inheritance and the influence of life circumstances), we may have to remind ourselves of our original purity/goodness. It is said that we become what we think often, i.e., what we energise constantly. Hence if we consistently think that we are sinners then probably we end up giving more conscious and unconscious energy to that quality. Across this world, we hear of terrible crimes and actions. What is true is that across this world there is also probably an equal proportion of ‘unreported’ immense good. But such ‘good news’ may not sell newspapers!

Hence as in this fresh start that we face yet again; (whatever our biological age we face this start every year) until our prana departs from us. It is therefore a chance to refresh and rejuvenate our humanity; learn from our mistakes of the last year and hone inner silence, to cleanse better the connection with ourselves and with the outer world. 

(The writer is a student of comparative spirituality and strives at inner stillness.)