New Year goal for all humanity
B.F. SHOWRAYYA
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Love and compassion this year will do a lot of good to our society.
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ROMAN LORE Janus was regarded as the custodian of the universe by Romans
Every year, January marks a new beginning. In continuous stream of time it is not easy to draw a bifurcating line between the `old' and the `new'. And yet we all agree that a while somethings of the past need to be buried and forgotten some other things have to be preserved and promoted.
Obviously, the opening month of the year is very appropriately named `January'. January comes from Janus, one of the principal gods in ancient Roman religion, he is regarded as the custodian of the universe. In prayer, he takes precedence over even Jupiter. The god of doorways, he was also looked upon as "the god of beginning of things," and people sought his blessings when they were about to start a new thing. The most interesting fact about Janus was that he had two faces and was able to look both ways. He's said to have guarded the gates of Rome, being able to look before and behind. Thus January is the time when we size up the past and storm into the future. How January came into the calendar is interesting. The ancient Romans had a ten month calendar, It is said that around 700 B.C., Numa Pompilius added two more months, January and February, at the end of the ten month year, giving each month 30 days. Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. added a day to January and made it the first month of the year. In keeping with the spirit of January, what is it we have to specially ring in and ring out?
While individuals have their own personal choice in the New year resolution(s), are there some things about our country and in fact the entire country can accept or reject?
Looking behind, a week before January began, we had Christmas. In January in India we have the Republic Day and the death anniversary of Mahathma Gandhi. Christmas is globally hailed as the feast of love when Christ Jesus comes into our world as a little human baby . Today's world is being stormed by demoniac forces like terrorism, crime and corruption It is tragic of our times that individuals as well as governments through out the world, both resist and promote these deadly evils and are both their patrons and victims! This infernal situation can not be checked or corrected by mere institutions and laws.
We humans have to look upon others with love and treat them with concern and compassion. Each country will do well to write this command of love as the overall directive principle in its Constitution.
Our Republic Day celebration should be an occasion for all of us in India to pledge ourselves to make of India a country where love dominates with the idea of wiping every tear from every eye. Gandhi's anniversary should make us dedicate ourselves afresh to non-violence or Satyagraha or `soul-force'. Let us strive to make this a year of love for each one of us in India and for the entire humanity.
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