A New Year and more of prosperity and peace

Dec 1, 2009, 12.00am IST
SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR.

Each New Year, we wish others happiness and prosperity. What really is the sign of prosperity? There are several - a smile, contentment, freedom, the willingness to share, fearlessness and the trust and confidence that you will get what you need in life.


Welcome the New Year with a genuine smile. As you flip the calendar, keep flipping your mind as well. Don’t fill your future dates with past events. Learn and unlearn from the past, and move on.

You want to be free of greed, hatred, jealousy and all such imperfections. Understand that negative emotions are due to the past. Do not let the past affect your life in the present. If you cannot forgive the past, then your future will be miserable. This New Year make up with someone with whom you are not on good terms. Start life afresh.


In the New Year, wish peace and prosperity for all. Do selfless service. Live your life well. Realise that your priority is to check violence in the world, free of domestic and societal violence. Make a resolution to do more good, help people in need and bring solace to those suffering.

Whenever you are useful to people, merit will never be lost. Any good gesture or action of yours will always come back to you. Today you have the whole world for a family. That’s what you need to feel, that everybody is part of your own family. Take responsibility. Then there is no suffering.

The spiritual dimension of life brings a great sense of belongingness, responsibility, compassion and caring for the whole world, for all life. In its truest form spirituality helps us overcome narrow boundaries of caste, creed, religion and nationality and give you a broader awareness of life everywhere.

Open your eyes and see how much you have been given. Focus on what you have rather than what you don’t have. The more grateful you are, the more will be given to you. Conversely, the more you complain, the more will be taken away from you. This is what Jesus Christ meant when he said, “Those who have will be given more; those who don’t give, and even what they have will be taken away from them.”

With gratitude, reach out and help those who are less endowed. You will get much contentment when you serve selflessly. Then you realise that your problems aren’t so big after all. The biggest reason for mental depression is the constant refrain of the mind that says, “What about me?” This is a sign of lack of prosperity.

Become free like a bird. Open your wings and learn to fly. This is something you have to experience within yourself. If you think you are in bondage, you will remain bound here. Be free. When will you experience freedom? After you die? Become free right now. Sit down and become contented. Spend some time in meditation and satsang. This not only calms your mind, your inner self becomes strong enough to deal with challenges.

When the mind relaxes, the intellect becomes sharp. When the mind is loaded with ambitions and feverish desires, then the intellect loses its keenness. When intellect and observation are not sharp, life does not express itself fully. Ideas don’t flow properly and abilities diminish day by day. With this understanding, you step out of your narrow confines and that will solve many of the problems in your life. When you are centred, there is happiness always. With this calmness, talents arise naturally. Intuition comes, beauty comes, peace comes; Love springs up. Prosperity comes.