Resolution 2012

Jan 04, 2012 - Amrit Sadhana

The New Year has begun with celebrations, as usual. Isn’t it funny? We call it the New Year but our methods of celebrating it are old — music, dance, booze, night parties — so much so that when the new sun of the New Year dawns we are not awake to greet it!
I always wonder if a New Year starts at a particular moment. In existence, every moment is fresh and new. It becomes new because we have chosen to anoint it as a turning point. Just a mind game. Certainly, the mind needs such games to wake itself up. If not, it goes on sleeping and turning the pages of the calendar unconsciously.
It is wonderful to greet the new but if you really want to be completely new, you have to drop words like “hope”, “promise”, “dream” or “wish” from your vocabulary, for these are empty words. They are like feel-good treatments that have no root in reality. Osho says, hope is the veil between you and reality. It is the mind that needs hopes and dreams and wishes. It is the mind’s trick to delude you so that you don’t seek the truth.
Another word which should be avoided is “resolutions” for the New Year. Resolutions are imprisonments of future. Who makes new resolutions? It is the mind that resolves, takes vows to do something and is never able to fulfil its promise. A small resolution like waking up at 5.30 am and going for a walk meets with so many distractions. What are the enemies of the new resolution? Lethargy, laziness, unconsciousness, lack of will power, die-hard habits etc.
If you are one of those who makes New Year resolutions but is not able to fulfil them, the best course for you would be to not make make any New Year resolutions. Try to live spontaneously instead. Because life doesn’t move according to your resolutions, it is unpredictable as it is constantly renewing itself. It is a flowing river, not a stagnant pool and, therefore, it springs surprises. And that’s what makes it livable and lovable. All the excitement of life is because of the unknown, the unexpected.
Allow life to spring surprises. Bow down to the new breeze of change. The supple blades of grass can teach you the art of flexibility. If you imbibe spontaneity and flexibility you have learnt the mantra of the new.

Amrit Sadhana is in the management team of Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune

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