ON THE night of December 31, at the stroke of midnight, the world will be awake to ring in yet another New Year — 2005 while for the monks and members of the Ramakrishna Mission, January 1 holds a special significance. They celebrate this day as `Kalpataru Day', to commemorate an awe-inspiring moment in the life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. On this day, in 1886, the Master entered into divine ecstasy and touching several disciples, pronounced the words, `Ye be illumined'! Instantly, those he blessed experienced profound bliss. And one of Master's disciples, Ramachandra Dutta named January 1 as `Kalpataru Day'.
I know that Mother will eventually find the
remedy for me; however, I was wondering,
if perhaps one of the visitors in Mother's
Courtyard may be able to help me
with the answer to the following question:
If The Holy Mother's, Swamiji's and Sri Ramakrishna's
Birthdays are reckoned by the lunar calendar,
why is Kalpataru Day always celebrated on
January 1st, following the Julian Calendar?
Confusion and Delusion
"And yet, if there is no delusion, this game cannot continue. Thakur used to say, ‘Just as the mother keeps the children happy with toys so that she can attend to her household work, similarly the Mother of the universe keeps us busy in our delusion. Otherwise, the world would stop. He who has had enough of this game calls upon the Mother crying and She lifts him in Her arms. Then Her play is over.
"If you do not want to remain deluded, pray, ‘Mother, don’t bewitch me by Your world-enchanting Maya.’ All happens by Her will."
Vedanta tells us that Time is relative. We experience constantly, as when we are enjoying ourselves we feel "time passes quickly." When we are bored we find time can "stand still". Objectively, we see this in the use of calendar systems, about 40 of which are presently in use throughout the world today, primarily for determining the dates of religious celebrations within the various.
The present day Gregorian Calendar was established by Pope Gregory in 1582. It replaced the Julian Calendar, which was in use by the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus' Birth, established by Julius Ceasar in 45 BCE. (Prior to this, yearly calendar making within the Empire was exploited, with months being added or deleted in order to keep favored politicians in office.)
Orthodox Christianity still uses the Julian Calendar to determine its observance of Christian holy days. (I'm invited to Christmas service this Friday.)
Kalpataru Day took place on New Year's Day according to the Gregorian calendar, which is in general use throughout the world. Followers of Vedanta according to the Ramakkrishna tradition feel that Sri Ramakrishna's blessings bestowed on this day transforms New Year's Day into a special day with Holy significance.
That Swami Vivekananda chose July 4th to leave the body gives this American holiday holy significance too. He had written a peom "To the Fourth of July", so knew the historical meaning of the day.
