Next week, same day, everyone will be enjoying the Christmas celebrations. Christmas carols will be heard in many a household. My favorite being ‘Silent night’. It always stirs me, it awakens the Christmas Spirit within. For me that deep feeling welling within me is Santa Claus. The spirit to love, to give (without strings attached!), to forgive, to share with humankind all over. The feeling that we are all ONE and loved by GOD. Loved by the Supreme Force just the way we are. You and me and the world over.
Just as we have bhajans that help flower the heart centre, fired by the emotion of bhakti. Christmas carols awaken bhakti too. Of course, bhajans are sung year-round. Carols are specific to Christmas. Bhajans or carols, they stir the heart centre. The centre of loving unconditionally, the centre of giving and forgiving.
And does Santa Claus really exist? Of course! Who has seen him? Well, who has seen the various Hindu deities? Why do some have four arms, some eight, some ten? Who has seen them holding all the various things that they do hold, in that specific order? Who inspired the artist’s mind to depict the deities like this or even Santa in white and red with black boots? I know that there are many a valid reason for the deities to be depicted the way they are. But Santa? This is my interpretation. The colors red and white symbolize life(red) and purity(white). A pure life. Just as every breadth is pure, so is the life we live. And we are loved just the way we are. His healthy midriff is a sign of abundance, just like Lord Ganesha’s. An abundance of everything we can think of, because that’s what God has really given us-abundance. His age? Well, that is age when we mellow down, learn to go with the flow, mature. It’s the age when we can set ‘us’ aside and look and love another. I know my parents are handling my kids better than they handled me and my bro. And I know I have learnt a lot from their wise techniques. His black boots? Black is the color of the night, of the cosmos which is intriguing to us. It represents the unknown. It holds all color within it. On the feet, it represents our step into the unknown. How unknown to us is the art of loving? We so need to step within us and dispel the darkness of ignorance. There is need to illumine the FLAME OF LOVE and reflect all about us the colors of love, an attribute of the color white. The snow represents white.
In India, the last four months of the year are called the Chatur(four) Mas(months). It is believed that the last four months of the year should especially be spent in asking and seeking spiritual growth. It is a travel to the depths within, seeking the LIGHT. It should be a discovery of the SELF. In the same spirit, the western world has Christmas. The day Lord Jesus chose to be born to show mankind the WAY. With the New year beginning just days after Christmas, we take with us (I hope) feelings of continued love and understanding.
As it is not possible to have snow all year round, let’s instead carry the spirit of Santa all year round….from the lotus pond(that way, I wont freeze over!)
From The Lotus Pond 