Ugadi - The beginning of New Year

There is a certain significance to Ugadi being the New Year, in terms of what is occurring in the planet and in the human physiology on this day. Ugadi follows the lunisolar calendar, which has a direct connection with the way the human body is made. The Indian calendar is very significant scientifically because it is connected to the movements of the planet.

Chandramana Ugadi is the beginning of a New Year according to the lunisolar calendar followed by Indian people for millennia.As in everything else that comes from the East, even the calendar is in terms of what it does to human consciousness. The tilt of the globe allows the northern hemisphere to receive the highest amount of the Sun's energy during the 21-day period that starts from Ugadi.Though it may be uncomfortable for humans in terms of the temperature soaring, this is the time when the earth's batteries are charged. Ugadi falls on the first day of the waxing moon after the new moon following the equinox, suggesting a new beginning.

In tropical latitudes, traditionally people start this segment of the year with an elaborate application of cooling oils, like castor. Unlike modern calendars, the lunisolar calendar takes into account what is happening to the human being.

Ugadi is not celebrated as the New Year just as part of a belief system - there is a science behind it. The profoundness of what this nation has been is being ignored today simply because other nations have moved ahead of us economically. We will also move ahead economically, but the profoundness that this culture carries cannot be created in a few years' time; this is the outcome of thousands of years of work.

A simple thing you can do to start your New Year is to say "Namaste" or "Namaskar" or "Namaskaram" or "Vanakkam" when you pick up your telephone, not just "Hello" or "Hi". There is a significance to uttering such words in your life - where what you say to God, you say to everyone around you. This is the best way to live.

If you see something as sacred for you and not other things, then you are missing the whole point. Make this New Year a possibility for you to recognize this divinity in every human being.