Hindu Nav Varsh: Indian New Year gives the message of Sanatan

Amidst the increasing influence of the English New Year, national poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar cautions the Indian citizens and writes that this New Year is not acceptable to us, this is not our festival, this is not our custom, this is not our festival. The meaning of these lines was completely clear that the English New Year was not our own, but was imposed on India by the British to destroy Indianness. The discrepancy is that what the British left behind in India, we accepted as our own. The basic reason behind that was that we had forgotten our Indian culture. We were not even aware of our identity. When we talk about independence, it will naturally reflect everything that was the imagination of original India.

Now the first question comes that what was our original India? Are we aware of it? Certainly not, because the India that is visible today was first created by the Mughals as per their own wishes and then the British alienated the Indian society from its culture. Consider what is the essence of India? If we want to know the identity of India then we will have to study the India before the Mughals, that is the real India. Even though today we use English daily routine, it is still true that we never use English daily routine in our festivals. Because all our festivals are cultural and natural. They are decided according to nature itself. That is why from the beginning all the festivals of India have been providing a sense of direction. Take the spring festival only, it has a natural feeling. After spring, autumn and then the joy of newness in nature. This joy gives the feeling of a natural New Year. That is why this is India’s own New Year, not the British one.

In Indian culture, since ancient times, the beginning of the New Year has been considered to be from Shukla Paksha Pratipada of Chaitra month. This date is considered a very holy day in Indian culture. Because on this Pratipada day, Sunday, at sunrise, Brahma started the creation of the universe. That is why it is also called the first day of creation. It is a natural coincidence that now the citizens of India are returning to their origins. People who till yesterday used to make fun of their society celebrating New Year, are moving towards celebrating New Year themselves. Therefore it can be said that India is returning towards its independence. The citizens of India have started to realize that our country was not lagging behind the countries of the world in any matter, rather it was made to lag behind by a conspiracy. Now this conspiracy is also beginning to be understood. Therefore, now a large number of people have started gathering to celebrate India’s own New Year.

The way the crowd is increasing at the Shraddha centers at present, it is a proof that the youth of India is awakening. He is becoming aware of his cultural alienation. The society has started doing comparative study between good and bad with its conscience. There has also been a massive change in the behavior of the society. The intellectuals who earlier used to interpret everything in their own way, today have also started moving towards following the Indian culture. Therefore, the days of confusing the Indian society are long gone.

Today, citizens of many countries of the world are abandoning their materialistic distortions and turning towards Indian culture. From a religious point of view, these scenes have become common in cities existing as areas of faith. Today, foreign citizens are found singing bhajans on the banks of Ganga and many foreign citizens engrossed in devotion to Krishna are also seen in the streets of Braj. There is a clear idea in Indian culture that the mind gets distorted due to religious distortion. If you want to purify the soul then Indian culture is best for that. When foreign people are coming forward to like Indian culture and follow its path, then it is our own. This is our identity. Therefore, let us celebrate our New Year with great pomp and make our life successful.

– Dr. Vandana Sen

The author is an educationist and assistant professor