Every 31st of December I come and do what I call time demolishing. One of the names of the great lord of the universe is Akala, one beyond time. For example, in the Sikh religion, the primary name is Akal Purush, the timeless person. So, to me, the celebrations of transitions in time, they are for that part of that vast segment of humanity which still lives in the world of time transitions.

Here [in the ashram] we celebrate all the transitions, festivals­­­­—Diwali, Christmas, New Year and so on. I celebrate them only so that I don’t get branded a party pooper and joy killer. They have no meaning to me. But I am not saying that you should not celebrate; you should celebrate. I join in just because everybody is happy and I want them to feel happy that ‘yes, Swami is here’.

There is no such thing as a year, there is no such thing as a month, there is no such thing as a day and a night. There are either moments or there is eternity. We have taught in the Yoga-sutras the definition of the word moment, kshana. For the minutest atomic particle, the time it takes to traverse the distance of its own size, is the definition of moment. The yogis did not make atomic clocks, but we work by the internal atomic clocks. So to us there is either the kshana or there is eternity.

The words year, month, day, night, they are part of which particular branch of science? Astronomy. So, they are all terms in astronomy. Can anyone tell me if there is any particular astronomical event that happens on 31st December?

The ancient Persian calendars are built according to astronomical events. The Western calendar is the most unscientific. Nothing happens on 1st of January. They had 10 months, then two emperors decided that they were equal to God. So, they inserted the name of Julius and Augustus. So, you got July and August, two months put in between anywhere. In their computer they forgot to renumber the paragraphs. So, the ninth month is still called 7^th, the September. 10th month is still called 8^th, the October. 11th month is still called 9th, the November. The 12th month is still called 10th, the December. Everybody celebrates it, so it’s okay. We go along.

In our traditions, we count only by the astronomical events—in the Indian calendar, Persian calendar, Arabic calendar, Chinese calendar, even the old Phoenician calendar. Even if we were to take these calendars which are much more scientific, even then how scientific are they? What is the measure of year on the satellite of Jupiter called Titan? What is the measure of year on Mars? What is the measure of year on Venus? And on some planet in the star cluster called Alpha Centauri, or rather the Sun called Alpha Centauri, this Sun number one of the Centaurus star cluster. So these are all human imaginations.

A meditator pursues eternity. In that eternity, there are no time divisions. There is no year, there is no month, there is no day and night. Whatever time divisions you celebrate, comes from the verb root to calculate. The Latin root for calculate is calculare. When you try to calculate eternity, you create time. But these are all imaginations because we are unable to grasp the whole eternity all at once.

To celebrate these time divisions, only as indications of the presence of eternity in your life. There is no such thing as human lifespan. From the moment of birth to the moment of death, you call that as one life. That’s not real. Because Atman, the spiritual self, is not divided into these time divisions.

So, when people say, ‘happy birthday Swamiji.’ I want to go hide. I say, ‘what’s a birthday?’

What is a birthday? I don’t know what a birthday is. But people want to celebrate. So, okay, I enjoy. The way a parent plays with the baby’s toys. And to me, all your birthdays and all your Diwalis and all your Christmases and all your New Years, they’re all toys the children are playing with and I don’t want to dampen your enthusiasm.

I hope I have not managed to kill your joy in celebration. I wanted to bring you to the right perspective.

And with that, Happy New Year.