Excerpts from Amma’s address during the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Amritapuri.
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Once again, we find ourselves at this auspicious occasion of welcoming the new year. The arrival of something new always brings happiness. So, with hope, enthusiasm and joy, we welcome the new year.
The year 2024, now bidding us farewell, was marked by conflicts and wars—a reality that needs no elaboration. Tragedies like the landslides in Wayanad (North Kerala), the floods in Spain and other natural disasters across the globe brought immense sorrow.
Amma wishes for a peaceful and prosperous new year that brings happiness to all. In the grand passage of time, each new year marks a significant milestone. Recognising the importance of this day, let us step into the new year with optimism and awareness.
Anything new is always a source of excitement. So, the mind is always eager to acquire new things. However, the novelty and appeal of material possessions and external relationships will eventually fade—today or tomorrow. Soon, the mind begins chasing something else.
It can be said that throughout life, humans are running an eternal race, leaving behind the old to pursue the new. Amidst this race, people seldom find the time or heart to genuinely pay attention to others or to look at them with love and patience. Their sole focus is on running the race and winning. Once we join this race, it becomes very hard to stop. Knowingly or unknowingly, we are all participants.
In this new year, let us keep the flame of compassion alive in our heart. Otherwise, our life itself will become dark.
Amma
We need to realize that the newness and beauty of the inner self will never diminish. If we can experience even a glimpse of the infinite beauty of love, we will not collapse in the face of life’s challenges. Sorrow and boredom will not trouble us. Our life will remain new and fresh always, every day.
Every New Year’s, there is something we must remember. As each year passes, as every moment passes, it is like water dripping from a hole in bucket. In the same way, our lifespan is also dripping away.
Everything that begins must eventually come to an end. This world, too, came into being at some point and will one day reach its natural conclusion. Let us surrender this thought to the will of the supreme Cosmic Power.
However, that natural end will not be in the near future. That said, what we should be most concerned about today is not the world’s natural end, but its unnatural death at the hands of humans. Humanity’s unbridled desires and actions will bring about the destruction of this world long before its natural end. This is a frightening truth we must face.
Many people today live without the slightest discernment regarding what truly holds value in life and what does not. Confusing desires with needs, they find themselves endlessly chasing after fleeting desires.
Like a moth drawn to a flame, flying to its death out of ignorance, we too often fail to understand what is genuinely beneficial for us and what is not. This failure stems from the absence of discernment, which should be rooted in a solid value system. Developing this discernment is essential to differentiate between “needs” and “desires,” as desires are inherently endless and insatiable.
Amma has heard life being compared to a sandwich. While birth and death are the two slices of bread, what we put in the sandwich is entirely up to us. We can fill the sandwich of life with love and selflessness, or with anger and other lower emotions. The most delicious sandwich is one filled with love and selflessness.
Amma believes it would be beneficial if my children incorporated a few suggestions into your daily lives:
- Set aside at least one day a week to observe silence. This practice benefits both your body and mind.
- Carry out your daily routines, such as brushing your teeth, bathing and eating, with mindfulness and awareness.
- Everyone has made mistakes at some point. Take time to reflect on the mistakes you’ve made, sincerely repent for them and pray for grace to prevent repeating them in the future.
- Except for those paralysed by illness, everyone should remain engaged in some activity. Staying active contributes to better mental health.
- Never lose an opportunity to do seva. If there is no opportunity to engage in seva at your workplace, set aside a portion of what you earn and use it to help others selflessly.
- Students should make it a habit to read from the life-stories of Mahātmās for at least half an hour once a week. This will help in their journey to imbibe values and discover one’s True Self.
- Strive to practice moderation and self-control in daily interactions. It is very hard to bring the mind under control. Thus, follow a disciplined routine.
- Practice humility. Humility is the booster rocket that enables the mind to break free from the gravitational pull of all negativities and attachments and soar to great heights.
- Patience is a fundamental quality we must have. Patience comes from paying close attention, and vice versa. They are like two sides of a coin.
- We should not only express gratitude through our words but also through our actions.
We should make the most of the opportunities we have been given to make this human birth truly meaningful. Our lives gain true meaning when we are guided by a higher ideal. Amma wishes that her children, enriched with discernment and compassion, become shining role models for the world. May the new year pave the way towards this vision.
In this new year, let us keep the flame of compassion alive in our heart. Otherwise, our life itself will become dark. Words and actions born of compassion will outlive death itself. We should be able to live the maxim: “One for all, and all for one.”
If there is love and peace within us, it will spread to others as well. Then the atmosphere itself will become filled with joy. May divine grace bless you all with the strength, health and clarity of mind to achieve this.
