Why Hindus rush to temple to
celebrate New Year?
(Discourse by N. R. Srinivasan,
Nashville, T.N., USA. January 2014)
On this eventful day, December 31 and New Year’s Eve, I
recall my first snow driving experience all night long from Albany to
Pittsburgh on New Year’s Eve night of 1984
to have the morning darsan (vision) of
Lord Venkateswara during Abhisheka ceremony conducted for the devotees who throng the temple seeking prosperity and health throughout the
year. I did not realize at that time that January 1, is not a religious sacred
day for Hindus and it was worth taking that much trouble and
risk in life driving through snow storm all night to have the glimpse
of the Abhishekam and seek a personal
favor from God. I was foolish then to
join my crazy friends of engineers and doctors to take such a risk with life
with my nascent experience to drive through Highway all night long through snow
storm. I thanked Lord Venkateswara all through the way for saving my life and
co-passengers and also for the help and excellent service rendered by efficient
snow crew who cleared the snow as fast as they could to help crazy passengers
like us moving at snail’s speed just to pray for personal prosperity in this
land of opportunities where hard work matters. Such a help on such ghostly
night was impossible to think of in India from the government staff. I was glad I could make my trip successful to
witness the Abhishekam ritual and offer
my prayers to seek personal favor from Lord Venkateswara which I needed badly
at that time as I was just settling down with my family hoping to educate my
children in USA. But Lord Venkateswara had his own plans. He just taught me a
lesson for my selfishness seeking personal favor.
My chairman who was a crook and who sought my
services from UNIDO panel of experts soon recovered from losses, built a fortune
with my help, burnt the factory, claimed all inflated losses from insurance,
built a mansion on Lake George and went under chapter 11 and threw me out of
the job in March that year and settled happily retired to build fortune further
from the ill earned money through stock market.
All my prayers probably got diverted to my crooked boss to teach me a
lesson. All I knew about him was that he was a pious catholic who regularly
attended church and who believed in Jesus’s death for the sin of all. However
while he blessed him for a while he led a miserable life living alone as his
not well educated children fought with him and left him to lead a miserable
life. I do not know whether the good
Lord helped him further with his gamble with stock market.
I soon realized Lord Venkateswara
taught me two lessons in life. He was punishing me for my greed to leave India
to seek a sudden fortune when he had given me all the comforts in life in India
with a coveted senior executive job in Tatas. He was also laughing at my
foolish journey to Pittsburgh to seek a personal favor. He had a good look at
my Karmaphala and made my mission complete in USA to educate my children well,
get them married in our own community, settle comfortably in lucrative jobs and
achieve my goal of rising from poor to upper middle class status. I did not
become Bill Gates or Narayan Moorthy though I had the early indication.
Somewhere in the middle I faltered.
I was wondering what made these
affluent engineers and doctors to drive to Pittsburgh on that treacherous
night? It is the blind belief not
knowing that Gregorian New Year’s Day has no significance to Hindus and it was
an ordinary day like any other day for us. You don’t run to temple on January 1
to worship in India but celebrate it as a National Holiday of secular India. It is the assumed eighth day of the birth of
Jesus Christ and the day of his circumcision as a Jew and January 1 was forced
on all humanity by Pope Gregory (a sort of proselytization) making it first of
day Gregorian Calendar to make it ritualistic for all. Hindus believe on auspicious time called
muhurtha for any such special ritual and not any day any time. These first
generation Hindus were driven by the belief that Gregorian New Year is yet
another Yugadi (Chandramana New Year) and Chitra Vishu(Sauramana New Year) when
Samvatsara is meditated upon as Kaala
(Time) or Samvatsara (Year), for Supreme Spirit Brahman is custodian of Time.
Any worship without this thought and with the sole intention of seeking
personal favor will not succeed in the long run though some may be tempted by
momentary gains. I was foolish to join
this materially educated crowd (para vidya) at that time as I was still
immersed in my orthodox bringing up and influence from acquired blind belief from religious
atmosphere.
When I retired I turned my attention to spiritually elevate myself
and now I believe that my prayer should be without any self-motive and
universal in appeal leaving the choice to Him for He knows what is best for me
based on my balance sheet Karmaphala which I have the opportunity to amend by
my own action. My prayer now is:
Viswaani deva savitar duritaani paraasuva / Yad bhadram tanma aasuva // [Oh!
Resplendent Lord Savitar, The cause of the universe! Do destroy all our sins;
grant us that which is ultimately good to us! With this introduction let us
examine why American Hindus rush to temple on New Year’s day to offer special
prayers and ask for personal favors.
It is customary for Hindus to rush to temple
on every January 1 and offer special prayers seeking peace and prosperity from
their chosen deities and it is a natural and traditional Hindu instinct. Hindus
worship the Supreme Being (Brahman in Sanskrit) through their chosen
deities. It is difficult to find
anywhere the mention of the word Brahman in Rigveda. He
is addressed and worshiped as elements of Nature and as natural cyclic
phenomena like Samvatsara or Year or Time (Kaala). Hindus name their week after
the five moving planets, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and the Sun and the
Moon known as grahas in Sanskrit. These are seven out of the nine grahas
worshiped as Navagrahas in temples. We often hear from Upanishads that our
ancient sages meditated upon these derived visible lights of planets and star from
Brahman the Supreme Light, as Brahman alone.
The word Samvatsara (Year) stands
for duration of Time which determines the origin, continuation and
disappearance of the objects in the Universe.
Time is measured by diurnal movement of the Sun and the seasons which
makes the human year. Time is identified with the Sun because we become
cognizant of Time by the change brought about in Nature through the influence
of the Sun and by the demarcation made by his rising and setting. The Sun is
celebrated as Supreme Principle in Vedas and Upanishads as his Vyaahriti (aggregate).
The Sun is not merely the visible glow in the sky, but the divine manifestation
or Person (Purusha) contemplated there in our prayers to Soorya (sun worship).
Therefore He is the same as the Supreme in his transcendent and immanent
aspects. The word Samvatsara is derived from “samyak vasanti sarvabhootaani
asmin iti samvatsarah”—all entities exist in this and so it is Samvatsara.
Taking this meaning Samvatsara is identified with the Sun because it is the Sun
that gives light, clouds, rains, and help creatures to live. So Sun is worshiped on Makara sankranti Day
on January 14 to celebrate the harvest
season in India. To spiritual thinkers it is the dawn of Uttaraayana, the day
on which the Sun starts his Northern journey through the Path of Divines.
Manrtrapushpas are Vedic Mantras.
Supreme Principle called Brahman in Veda is prayed as Samvatsara or Kaala or
Time (Kaalaaya Namah-MNU). Lord
Krishna in Bhagavadgeetaa says that every-thing in the Universe is created by
him with the Time and also destroyed in Time, and so He is Time. Lord Krishna
while describing himself as Supreme
Being to Arjuna in Geetaa says: “Aham eva Akshayah kaalah (10-33).”—I am the
endless Time. Akshaya Kaala, the endless time is also called Akaala Purusha or
Kaala Niranjana. It is the Time form of Supreme Being. Every devout Hindu who attends 16-step Pooja
ritual in temples is well acquainted with the Vedic Mantrapushpa: “Aapo vai Samvatsarasya Aaayatanam”—Water
comes from Samvatsara (Time).
We are familiar with the
following Mantras of Mahaanaaraayana Upanishad: “Nyaasa ityaahur maneeshinoe brahmaanam brahmaa viswah I katamah
swayambhooh prajaapatih samvatsara iti Samvatsaroe asaavaadityoe ya esha
aadityoe purushah sa parameshthee brahmaatma ||
Pundits declare that Saranaagati
(complete surrender at the feet of the Lord called Nyaasa or Prapatti) is the
supreme ever existent means or supreme means of liberation, to attain
Brahman; that Brahman who is the
Universal Spirit, is supremely blissful, is self-born, is the protector of
created beings, is the soul of Time
(Samvatsara) and so forth. The Year is the yonder Sun. That Person (Purusha)
who is in the Sun is Hiranyagarbha: He is Parameshthin (The protector of the
Universe) and Brahmaatman—Supreme Reality that is the innermost Self of all
creatures.
Rigveda says: “Ekam sad viprah bahudha vadanti agnim yamam
maatarisvaanamaahuh” (The One Pundits call by many names as Agni (Fire
God), Yama (God of Death) Maatarisva etc. Another Mantra in Rigveda says: “Tvamagne varunoe jaayace yattvam mitroe
bhavaci yatsamiddhah | tve viswe sahasaasputra devaastvamindroe daasushe
martyaaya|| [For one Supreme there are many names says this mantra
emphatically. The one Fire God (Agni) is called Varuna at the time of birth:
Since he is born during the last lap of night he is called Varuna. When Agni is
friendly and prosperous he is called Mitra. All gods are present in Agni is
evident by the fact all offerings to Gods are made to him. He is present in all
creations. When one goes through a cross section of mantras in Rigveda, it is
evident that nowhere the word Brahman
occurs. All worships are directed towards forces of Nature and to the Time and
Season. Hence Time is also an entity (vyaahriti) on which Brahman is meditated
upon as Samvatsara or Year. Year is part
of Time. Part can be represented by the whole grammatically. Hence Samvatsara (Year) is Brahman.
Mahaanaaraayana Upanishad (MNU)
has the following mantra: “Samvatsaroe
asaavaadityoe ya esha Purushah | bhootaanaam adhipatir brahmanah saayujyam
samaanaatmam aapnoeti” [Samvatsara is verily this Aaditya (Sun).This
Purusha is the overlord of all beings. One who meditates upon Him like this
attains equality with Brahman and attains his very world]. This implies Brahman
is meditated upon as Samvatsara. It includes other types of years also as
mentioned in Vedas. The cycle of sixty years in Hindu
calendar is divided into twelve units of five years (12x5=60). The five groups
of years which make the yuga are called Samvatsara, Parivatsara, Iduvatsara,
Idaavatsara and Idvatsara (Taitaareeya Brahmana III-10-3).
Vedic sages meditated upon
Brahman through the medium of scheduled sacrifices called Pravargya,
Dasapoornamaasa, Chaaturmaasya, Pasubandha and Ahargana. Ahargana yajna devatas
(deities) are mentioned as Samvatsara
and Parivatsara in MNU which is meant to include all other groups of years
also.
Yet another Mantra of MNU says: “Sarve nimesha jagnire vidyutah purushaadadhi| kalaa muhoortaah kaashthaa ahoeraatraascha |
ardhamaasaa maasaa rituvah samvatsaraascha kalpataam|| [From the Purusha of the golden hue all minute
fractions of Time, time taken for winking of an eye (nimesha) were born. All classifications of Time, kalaa,
muhoorta, kashta, ahoeraatra, fortnights, months, seasons, years are formed of
the Nimesha. The nimeshas alone are caused by Brahman and those nimeshas yielded
other divisions of time by multiplication ending in Samvatsara or Yuga. He is therefore called Yugapurusha or
Kaalapurusha (Being of Times). Brahman is therefore meditated upon as Time or
Samvatsara, which is the Vyahriti or attribute of Brahman.
Yugadi is a religious function of
great spiritual significance. On this day every devout Hindu prays to Supreme
Being as Akaala Purusha or Kaala Niranjana or Samvatsara who creates, sustains
and dissolves the universe time after time. This in modern times Hindus have
extended to Gregorian Year also and so rush to temple to celebrate its cyclic
dawn on January 1. Starting period of twelve
months or 356 days in a year vary based on different traditions of
Hindus—Chaandramaana, Sauramaana, Deepaavali etc.
India has accepted Gregorian New
Year as the official New Year and it is a National Holiday, following other
Nations of the world after Independence. It has also adopted Chandramana Yugadi
in March as its Spiritual Hindu New Year. Therefore Gregorian New Year is celebrated
with all pomp and show by all Indians exchanging greetings with each other
while Hindus rush to temples to offer special prayers. Life of a Hindu is so
integrated with religion he cannot think of celebrating anything or any
event without going to a temple. It is
therefore no surprise Hindus rush to temple on January 1, to offer special
worship like Christians who hold their New Year mass in churches on that day. It is therefore interesting to investigate
origin of Gregorian New Year celebration and how it is celebrated with greater
enthusiasm in Hindu American temples almost like any other Hindu festival.
New Year's Day is
observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar and adopted by all Nations
of the world as their official New Year's Day though they celebrate their own
religious New Year's Day independently. The Romans originally
dedicated New Year's Day to Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings for whom the
first month of the year (January) is named. Later, as a date in the Gregorian calendar
of Christendom,
New Year's Day liturgically marked the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ,
and is still observed as such in the Anglican Church and Lutheran
Church. January 1 as New Year's Day is probably the world's most
celebrated public holiday, often observed with fire-works at the stroke of
midnight as the New Year starts in each time zone. January 1 date was
known as Circumcision Style because this was the date of
the Feast of the Circumcision, considered to
be the eighth day of Christ's life, counting from December 25 on which day his
birth is believed to have taken place. This day was christened as the beginning of
the New Year by Pope Gregory as he designed the Liturgical Calendar. It is hence
called Gregorian Calendar after him.
Hinduism with its different
regional cultures celebrates New Year at different times of the year. In Assam,
Bengal, Kerala, Nepal, Orissa, Punjab and Tamil Nadu, households celebrate the
New Year when the Sun enters Aries on
the Hindu calendar. This is normally on 14 April or 15
April, depending on the leap year. Elsewhere in northern/central India,
the Vikram Samvat calendar is followed. According to
that the New Year day is the first day of the Chaitra Month, also known as
Chaitra Shukla Pratipada or Gudi Padwa.
This basically is the first month of the Hindu calendar, the first shukla
paksha (fortnight) and the first day. This normally comes around 23–24 March,
mostly around the Spring Equinox in Gregorian calendar. The New Year is
celebrated by paying respect to elders in the family and by seeking their
blessings as well as by rushing to temples to offer special worship
seeking prosperity and happiness. They also exchange tokens of good wishes for
a healthy and prosperous year ahead.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(DMK)-led Government of Tamil Nadu declared in 2008 that the Tamil New Year
should be celebrated on the first day of Tamil month of Thai (14 January)
coinciding with the harvest festival of Pongal. The 2008
legislation of the previous DMK-led administration has since been annulled by
an act of the Tamil Nadu Assembly in August, 2011. January 14, is a very significant
auspicious day for all Hindus in India called Makara Sankranti. Makara
Sankranti is a major harvest
festival celebrated in various parts of India. Many Indians also
conflate this festival with the Winter
Solstice, and believe that the sun ends its southward journey
(Sanskrit: Dakshinayana) at the Tropic of Capricorn, and starts
moving northward (Sanskrit: Uttarayaana) towards the Tropic
of Cancer, in the month of Pausha on
this day in mid-January.
Makara Sankranti commemorates the beginning of
the harvest season and cessation of the northeast monsoon in South India. The
movement of the Sun from one zodiac sign into another is called Sankranti and
as the Sun moves into the Capricorn zodiac known as Makara in Sanskrit, this
occasion is named as Makara Sankranti in the Indian context. It is one of the
few Hindu Indian festivals which is celebrated on a fixed date of Gregorian
Calendar i.e. 14 January every year (or may
be sometimes on 15 January in leap year). It sounds logical to me that
India could have adopted Makara Sankranti as their New Year's Day for the whole
of India, agreeable to all traditions. My reasoning is as follows: 1. It is the
holiest day in Hindu concept as Bheeshma waited for this day to give up his
ghost to ascend to heaven; 2. It is the only Hindu festival that coincides with
Gregorian Calendar falling on 14th of January every year; 3. It is closest to
January 1, the official New Year Day of all Nations of the world; 4. It
would suit all traditions of Hindus. All astrologers may not agree.
But I believe it had the blessings of astrologers when Tamil Nadu changed its
New Year to that date!
Hindu Americans cannot question
the wisdom of Government of India which has declared Chaitra Sukla Pratipada
for India's official calendar and will not revise its opinion on the basis of
the unilateral decision and logic of DMK Government at one time. As Hindu
Americans we rush to temples on January 1 to celebrate New Year to seek the
favor of Almighty for our prosperity and happiness and conduct special worship.
The temples are fully packed on this day as many Hindus are traditionally sentimental.
We also notice that most of the national holidays in America but for a few are
celebrated as per the convenience (not based on significant or auspicious days)
of the people and generally planned for the weekend to have a long week end
like President's Day, Labor day etc. Even January 1 which is actually a
Christian religious day is a convenient date to celebrate the Birth of
Jesus Christ after eight days of his birth. I wonder why they did not combine
it with January 5 which would have been the 11th day of the birth of
Jesus. In Hinduism naming of a child takes place on or after 11th day of birth.
Perhaps that is why the Christmas tree and lights in America are taken out
on the 11th day, the day significant for naming in ancient traditions as the
child passes through early ten days of anxiety period after birth. I therefore
feel there is nothing wrong in our celebrating New Year's Day on Makara
Sankranti Day, after a fortnight, a day closest to January 1 and significant to
Hindus instead of rushing on January 1, a day most auspicious to Christian
Faith only. Our fortunes and luck will not fluctuate by this postponement date
for seeking prosperity and happiness for the rest of 350 days from the almighty
God since it is not any auspicious day from Hindu stand-point! The logic behind
the religious significance of conducting special Pooja sponsored by temples on
a day holy to Christian Faith is not understandable? Do they consider Jesus as
an Avtar I can’t tell? Of course temples can be kept open for long hours on
such days to facilitate visit by devotees from neighboring towns leaving the
choice to them to conduct any kind of worship of their choice at individual
level but not make it a significant day for Hindu religious worship sponsored
by the temple.
Normally Hindus end their worship
on such occasions with a concluding prayer invoking divine grace for all round
happiness and universal peace:
Kaale varshatu par-jan-yaha
Prithavee sasya-saalinee
Desoyam kshobha-rahitah
Braahmanaah santu nirbhayaah //
May the rains fall at the right
time! May the crop-bearing land be fertile! May the country where I live, be
free of famine! May the spiritual thinkers be fearless to practice their
religion!
Sarve bhavantu sukhinah
Sarve santu niraa-mayah
Sarve bhadraani pasyantu
Maa kaschit dhukhinah bhavet
//
May all beings be happy! May all beings be
free of disease! May people learn to see good things in others! May none suffer!
It is
worth recalling here the Christmas message of Pope Francis this year: “Let us
all share the song of Christmas angels, ‘for every man
or woman….who hopes for a better world, who cares for others’ humbly. Lord of
life protects all who are persecuted in his name. True peace is not a balance
of opposing forces. It is not a lovely façade which conceals conflicts and
divisions; peace calls for daily commitment”. This year’s Christmas message is
one of love and reconciliation.
Western style greeting cards for the New Year
contain the usual messages wishing happiness and prosperity. Today the world
seems to be decaying, degenerating and drifting towards destruction. The earth
is being plundered, heritage is being ignored and culture is being eroded, all
in the name of progress. Vast destruction is caused and enormous pain inflicted
on humanity by natural causes like tsunami, floods and pollution and
man-created internal strife, revolts and revolution. Therefore of late New Year Greeting Cards focus on Peace on Earth. But all such messages
and beyond are contained in Hindu Universal Conclusion Prayers recited above which
is focused on all beings including flora and fauna. Vedas proclaim ‘Vasudaiva kutumbakam’ whole world is one family and therefore
Hindu prayers are for the whole humanity.
REFERENCES:
1) N.S. Anantarangacharya,
Mahanarayana Upanishad, Bengaluru, India.
2) Swami Vimalananda,
Mahaanaaraayana Upanishad, Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai, India.
3) N.S. Anatarangacharya,
Rigvedaratna Samputa, Bengaluru, DVK Murti Publishers, Mysore, India.
4) Srinivasn N.R., Memoirs of My
Life from Narayanapura to Nashville
(autobiography)
APPENDIX
JANUARY 1 AS KALPATARU DIWAS
(E-Mail sent on January 1, 2019)
Please
refer to my yesterday's E-mail on Radhika's prayer that is Jivatma's
yearning to be with Paramatman
to be in perennial joy. I forgot to add that January 1 is Kalpatru Day
for Hindus. You know Lord Jaganntha was worshiped as kalpataru by
sages in Tiruppullani who were engaged in penance. Only at their request
he appeared as archa -murti as Chaturbhja Vishnu.
Let us therefore dedicate this day to kalpataru and call it Kalpataru
Divas as I said before in my discourses that is Spiritual Enlightenment
Day, a day closest to Winter Solstice Day that is Uttarayana. The
auspicious time is 3 p.m.
Observe 1st January as the Day of Sri Ramakrishna’s Self Revelation –
Must not a meaningless New Years day to us.
~Upananda Brahmachari.
Bharat Mata, the only deity awaken to us – Swami Vivekananda.
The celebration of 1st January
as a D-day (New Years Day) under Christian calendar is nothing but a
sign of cultural slavery. The Christians through its English and
Portuguese regime over 200 years put havoc upon our
religion, culture, economy, self-respect and society as a whole. But
still we celebrate 1st January in a very un-meaningful way
which gives us only cultural pollution. Nothing more than that. But it
can be observed in the way celebrating
Kalpataru Diwas, which has a greater and un-doubtful significance upon us
Kalpataru Day also called Kalpataru Diwas or Kalpataru Utsav is an annual religious festival observed by monks of the Ramakrishna
Math monastic order of Hinduism and lay followers of the associated Ramakrishna
Mission, as well as the worldwide Vedanta Societies. These organizations
follow the teachings of Ramakrishna, the 19th century Indian mystic and figure in
the
Hindu Renaissance.
The event commemorates the day on January 1, 1886 when his followers believe that Ramakrishna revealed himself to be an Avatar,
or God incarnate on
earth in the Cossipur Uddyan Vati where Bhagavan Ramakrishna
was sheltered for a peaceful and better arrangements in His last phase
of the treatment of his throat cancer. On this very day a unique miracle
was happened in front of some of His fortunate disciples for the
ultimate affirmation of His Good-hood.
One disciple, Ramachandra Dutta, explained that Ramakrishna had, in effect become Kalpataru (also
called Kalpavriksha), the “wish-fulfilling tree” of Sanskrit literature
and Hindu
mythology. Dutta named the commemoration of this mystical event
“Kalpataru Day” as a result. This event “carried meanings and memories
of cosmic import for the disciples” and also prepared them for
Ramakrishna’s death”, which occurred only a few months later,
on August 16, 1886.
JANUARY 1st: THE DAY OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA’S SELF-REVELATION.
“‘I shall make the whole thing public
before I go,’ the Master has said some time before. On January 1, 1886,
he felt better and came down to the garden for a little stroll. It was
about three o’clock in the afternoon. Some thirty
lay disciples were in the hall or sitting about under the trees. Sri
Ramakrishna said to Girish (Ghosh), ‘Well Girish, what have you seen in
me, that you proclaim me before everybody as an Incarnation of God?’
Girish was not the man to be taken by surprise.
He knelt before the Master and said with folded hands, ‘What can an
insignificant person like myself say about the One whose glory even
sages like Vyasa and Valmiki could not adequately measure?’ The Master
was profoundly moved. He said: ‘What more shall I
say? I bless you all. Be illumined!’* He fell into a spiritual mood.
Hearing these words the devotees, one and all, became overwhelmed with
emotion. They rushed to him and fell at his feet. He touched them all,
and each received an appropriate benediction.
Each of them, at the touch of the Master, experienced ineffable bliss.
Some laughed, some wept, some sat down to meditate, some began to pray.
Some saw light, some had visions of their Chosen Ideals, and some felt
within their bodies the rush of spiritual
power.”
[*Tomader ki ar boli ? Ami tomader sakalke ashirvad kori. Tomader sakaler Chaitanya hok
!]
From the Introduction to THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA,
by Swami Nikhilananda
by Swami Nikhilananda
“Those words of profound blessing,
untouched by the slightest tinge of selfishness, directly entered the
devotees’ hearts where they raised high billows of bliss. They forgot
time and space, forgot the disease of the Master and
forgot their previous determination not to touch him till he recovered,
and had the immediate feeling that sympathizing with their misery, and
heart overflowing with compassion, had come down to them from heaven and
called them affectionately to Him for protection,
like a mother sheltering her children against all ills.”
From SRI RAMAKRISHNA, THE GREAT MASTER
by Swami Saradananda
by Swami Saradananda
Devotees assembled on Kalpataru Diwas (GarbhaMandir Photographs)@Cossipore Uddan Bati on 01-01-2012
Actually Swami Vivekananda believed that
Bhagabvan Ramakrishna Parmhansh came to this world to save Hindu Dharma,
when Hindus had already faced drastically an ethnic cleansing from 60
crore to a meager figure of 20 crore by the
onslaught of barbaric Islam from the beginning of Islamic invasion in
India and 2 crore of Hindus were converted to Christianity as accounted
by Swamiji at the time of writing the Constitution of Belur Sri
Ramakrishna Math in 1897.
Swami Vivekananda actually founded
Ramakrishna Math and Mission with a missionary zeal to protect Hindu
Society through freedom and revolution. Swamiji wanted to convert
Muslims and Christians as patriot and the followers of Bharat
Samskriti (Culture). He wanted a Social Change on the basis of
Bharatiya concept of emancipation. Swamiji perfectly believed that
Bhagaban Ramakrishna was incarnated as a savior of Hindu people from the
onslaught of Islamic barbarism and Christian Conspiracy
of Conversion. Obviously, Bhagaban Ramakrishna was his Master in all
respect. And hence, we should observe 1st January as Kalpataru Day to protect our Dharma and Samskriti and must not celebrate 1st January as our Happy New Year !!
…