As we enter 2010

Time rolls on, the clock never stops ticking. Time is the measurement. We measure time in hours, days, months and years. We are entering into the year 2010 with new hopes and new resolutions. We are changing every moment. The world is in constant flux. The principle of impermanence is the most vital principle which we experience from the day we are born. Infancy rolls into childhood and then youth and then before we know it, old age is staring us in the face. Death is the final exit for every human being on this planet. It is rightly said that death is inevitable. What happens to human beings after death is a perennial question which has been haunting the minds of people since time immemorial. Is death the end of human life or does something still remain which even death cannot destroy?
The research done by the great saints and Spiritual Masters affirms that our life force does not end with death but continues moving ahead to perfection through different births. Swami Vivekananda said that every soul is destined for perfection and unless and until perfection is achieved the journey of soul will continue. According to spiritual masters, soul is endowed with the body-mind mechanism for achieving perfection and it gets the body appropriate to its propensities and level of consciousness. Human form, therefore, is a golden opportunity given to a soul by the grace of the Almighty by which it can transcend the limitations of body and mind and have an experience of eternal life.
At the start of this new year let us resolve to focus our attention on the upward journey of the soul to its destination of perfection or nirvana which is the end of suffering and attainment of total awareness, equanimity and tranquility. It is our day-to-day experience that life is full of miseries and sorrows. There is not a single person, no matter highly ranked he may be, who has not suffered from miseries and sorrows. Guru Nanak Dev Ji, on the basis of his own experience, proclaimed that the whole world is miserable except for the one whose mind is resting in the Holy Name.
The science of religion deals with the life before, the life here and the life after death. It studies life in its totality. It believes that life is a continuous process which does not end with death. Death is only a transition from one plane to another. Therefore the wise person is one who regulates his life in such a way that he does not only make his life here peaceful but lays the foundation for his future life through meditation and the selfless action of serving his fellow beings. Meditation in its true sense means hooking up the mind to the Holy Name, which is naturally vibrating within the life breath of every living being. But the mystery of the Holy Name, which is the basis of our true existence, is revealed to us when we find the perfect Spiritual Master. The need for such a Master in the course of growth towards higher life is logical, because he is the one who opens up the spiritual dimension lying dormant in man. To explore and understand the mystery of life, every great soul approached the Spiritual Master and followed his guidance to achieve perfection.
We wish you all the very best for the New Year and pray to the Almighty to make us strong in meditation and selfless service which is the saving grace for all of us.
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