Loving and Divine Soul,

Let the choicest blessings of God and the masters be upon all of you. I take this opportunity to pray for you as we prepare to celebrate Christmas and welcome in the 2017 New Year. Time flows like a river. The water in the river is sweet. If this water is not used, it ultimately flows back to the ocean and becomes salty. Time is precious and does not wait for anyone. If we do not use it, an opportunity will slip from our hands.

Our beloved Shri Gurudev often said, "Opportunity must not be neglected, for it may never return." But what do we really do every day? Our precious time and talent, our minds and memory, although precious, are we using them for our evolution? This precious time will not come back to us again. It flows back to the timeless spirit or into a state of death.

We choose the quality of our lives and relationships. We have the freedom to use our God-given opportunities to make our lives useful for ourselves and for others. Unfortunately, many of us abuse this treasure. A beautiful verse in Sanskrit describes human nature with a beautiful comparison:

sadgunah gunam icchanti dosham icchanti pamarah
makshikah vranam icchanti madhum icchanti bhramarah

"As flies seek filthy things or pus, and bees search for a source of honey in flowers, people with vices look for faults in others, while noble and good people always see goodness in others."

Let us reflect upon our lives and find out what kind of people we are. Are we good or bad? What are our minds like — flies or bees? Do we try to find faults in others or do we see goodness in all?

The answer will reveal what kind of life we are leading. A faultfinding nature is a great vice and we should eliminate it. It is a virus that can bring a host of miseries into life. Seeing good in others is the door to see God in all. It is possible only when we become good and do good to others.

This year, from 5 January 2017 to 5 January 2018, we will celebrate the 125th anniversary of the birth of our great Gurudev Paramahamsa Yoganandaji who always emphasized that we should be free from finding fault. We should transform our lives with the beginning of this new year.

Let us begin this new year with a new light of love and compassion, with a new understanding of seeing good and doing good. Let this new year be a turning point in our lives. Let us all use our precious time to make ourselves divine and ultimately make this beautiful world a real paradise.

Wishing you all a prosperous and spiritual New Year.

With Love,
Prajnanananda