QnA with Sri Sri

Q: In India we have different new year day being celebrated across different parts of the country. Please tell us about “Ugadi”.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Today is celebrated as New Year day in India; year 2071. 
There was a very pious man, who was a king as well. He lived 2071 years ago. So in India, the years were named after him, from then onwards the years were named after him as Vikram years. So this New Year is Vikram 2071. Before Vikram, the years were named after Lord Krishna; therefore, it is 5,114 years today.
The New Year system is based on the cosmos, it begins when the Sun or the Moon enter the first point of Aries. Today, it is the moon that has entered, then the sun will enter the first point of Aries, which is when we celebrate Vaisakhi, also a New Year day.
So, half of India celebrates with the moon, and the other half celebrates with the sun. There is no uniformity there too; there is freedom for everyone to celebrate what they want. In the states of Punjab, Bengal, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, they celebrate the New Year with the solar calendar, i.e., Vaisakhi. In Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and many other Indian states, they celebrate today, i.e., as per lunar calendar. In The Art of Living, we celebrate every day!
On New Year day, the tradition is to eat a little bit of neem leaves, which is very bitter, and jaggery, which is sweet. It is meant to imply that life is both, bitter and sweet; you have to swallow both, that is the message.
Time gives you both, bitter and sweet experiences. Don’t think it’s only friends who bring sweetness, friends can also bring bitterness. And don’t think enemies always bring bitterness, enemies can also bring some sweetness. So, life is a mixture of all the opposites.
Once upon a time, all over the world, everyone followed the same calendar; the Lunar Calendar. Even today, in Turkey and Iran, people follow the Lunar Calendar; March is the New Year.
King George, of London, wanted the New Year to commence in January because he was born in that month. It was his New Year, no doubt, but he imposed it upon the entire British Kingdom! Now, this happened sometime in the Eighth or Ninth Century, but people would not stop celebrating the New Year in April. So King George called it April Fool’s Day. He said that anyone who celebrates in April are fools, and that is how April 1 came to be known as Fools Day.