Description : This article provides information about why celebrating the New Year on December 31 is not appropriate, along with the spiritually harmful activities that occur in the celebrations.
Celebrations of any kind, be it a birthday, a festival, a New Year etc, have lost their true spirit and meaning. By celebrating any event correctly not only can we experience happiness but can also derive spiritual benefits. Nowadays the trend of celebrating the New Year on December 31 has become common. People plan vacations to various destinations around the world to celebrate the New Year. Event organisers and hotels plan music shows and dances. Hindus have also started participating in such celebrations due to their ignorance of the fact that the Hindu New Year should be celebrated on Chaitra Shukla Pratipadā. The day when the Universe was created and when the Hindu calendar begins.
Are we also indulging in such wrong practices ?
New Year celebrations include people wishing each other at the stroke of midnight. There are public fire-works shows. Parties are held where there is drinking, smoking, drugs, dancing and loud music. Streets become unsafe with thefts, revellers driving rashly in a drunken state and getting into accidents and even indulging in vandalism of public property. Public places get littered with bottles of liquor, cigarettes and other garbage. All such acts also pose a threat to the law and order of a city.
Due to the late night celebrations people sleep through the next day, which is January 1.
Post celebrations some even land into financial problems due to the extravagant spending.
What is the ideal environment for celebrations?
When we celebrate a happy event there should be enthusiasm and positivity in the environment. Celebrating as is done currently may seem to be fun and frolic but spiritually it does a lot more harm than good. Due to the Tama predominant atmosphere at night along with all Tama predominant activities, the tama component in people increases. The problems that people undergo in their daily lives during the subsequent year can be partly attributed to this increase in Tama component.
As per the Hindu religion every auspicious event begins with waking up at dawn, cleansing ourselves with a bath, wearing clean attire and ornaments. By doing this we automatically attract positive vibrations. When New Year is celebrated on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada we are able to imbibe more positivity thus paving the way for a fruitful year ahead.
The aim of celebrating festivals is in fact to obtain spiritual benefits and not merely to enjoy. By indulging in the malpractices as mentioned above there is an adverse impact on us as well as the society. Let us therefore refrain from celebrating New Year on December 31 but celebrate it on the day of the Hindu New Year.