New Year and Hopefully New Me
Happy New Year to all the people out there! I hope this year brings more peace and success into our lives.
The new year brings new hopes and new goals to achieve, and it comes along with a lot of expectations. Last weekend while travelling to Vrindavan, something felt changed, different, and hopeful. I and a few of my friends decided to visit the holy place of Vrindavan, also known as the home of Lord Krishna. A place where Lord Krishna spent her childhood and certain years of teenage. Though the place was a bit crowded, the experience was enlightening.
This was my first time visiting Vrindavan ever, and the place felt like a second home. However, in the beginning, we got cheated by a tuk-tuk driver, and even his cheating felt valid after looking at the crowd’s devotion. One of the unique things about the place is that nobody says thank you, welcome, hello, or even Namste; the only word used is Radhe Radhe. For those who don’t know who Radha was, she is widely worshipped as the consort of Lord Krishna and as his love. Every single time you looked at someone or wished them, they responded with ‘Radhe Radhe’. Though this expression has different interpretations, each one of them is uniquely beautiful.
We visited the Iskon temple, situated in Braj Bhoomi (part of Vrindavan). After waiting for almost 30 minutes, we got in. I somehow entered the main hall, and the vibe of that hall was something different. I think that vibe can’t be expressed in words. That vibration that I was feeling was something different. And I found myself in a different world, a world that felt so unreal on this planet, a world far away from my imagined life, a world beyond my senses. And I was sure that each person in that hall would have felt the same way.
If you are wondering what was happening in that hall, Five men around the age of 25 were sitting right in front of Lord Krishna’s idol and were chanting, ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram, Hare Hare.’ They sing and chant this sentence so intensely and so faithfully that it makes everyone present in that room sing along, and many of us dance freely. The impact of their words was so strong that it made you forgive your life beyond that hall and provided us with the peace that everyone craves. For a moment, even I wanted to stay there forever.
This place made me realise how much we are involved in this world, working so hard in the hope that if we achieve our goals we will finally be able to find peace and relax or enjoy that very success, but what happens when we achieve them? We crave more and more, and this never-ending cycle ends with death only. And when I looked back at the people in that hall, I realised that nothing in this world can satisfy human cravings for success. I am not saying to stop everything and let go and settle down in Vrindavan; rather, I am saying that it’s okay if you fail; if you win today, the thing that matters most is the peace of your mind and heart.
Along with a lot of memories and peace, I brought a new method of living my life: ‘Everything will happen as it was supposed to; you’ll get whatever was made for you; just do your karma faithfully and let him decide. Don’t worry, he never cheats, because he is not one of us.
This article is not religious rather it is more spiritual.
Do share your ideas and views in the comment box.
