As the sun moves northward, from December 21^st, the days become longer—bringing more light, warmth and brightness. Just as in the entire day the physical and psychic atmosphere of the early morning is the most conducive for study and meditation, so also this time of the year is best suited to make resolves. H.P.Blavatsky writes:

Sun is the giver of life physical and metaphysical. During the northward movement of the sun there is renewal and refreshment of life energy. Astral body in man and astral light in nature is the vehicle of the life energy. Every thought and feeling leaves an impression on the astral light. Good thoughts and ideation impressed on the astral are attracted to us and support us—by the law of consubstantiality—whenever we make a resolve to be good. Thus, the astral acts as an unobstructed pipe or a sieve. This support is greater during this period due to renewal of life energy.

What are we going to wish for ourselves and for others? H.P.B. advises that all of us must vow to make, not only our own lives but also the lives of others around, not just beautiful but divine. As the Buddha says; "Neither for himself nor for others will the wise man crave sons or wealth or position." No doubt, there is only a microscopic minority that wishes and struggles for spiritual life. But all the same, our New Year greetings must not be limited to wishing our friends and loved ones mere material prosperity, but must include their inner development and spiritual progress.

The first of January was sacred to god Janus and janua means "the gate that openeth the year." January 3 is sacred to Minerva-Athene, the goddess of Wisdom, and also to Isis, "she who generates life." However, "it is January the 4th which ought to be selected by the Theosophists...as their New Year." The 4th of January is sacred to Mercury-Buddha or Thoth-Hermes. It was the day on which the Kumaras lighted up Manas, making man a thinking and choosing being.

God Janus was revered as the "god of beginnings," by the Romans. Janus watched the gate which opened a year. He is the presiding deity over the month of January. He is a double-faced god with one face old and another face young. The old face represents the past and the young represents the future. With the key of garnered knowledge, he opens the New Year and with the staff he moves to higher altitudes.

Each human being is a striving and progressing Janus-like being. The good and the bad in each one of us are wrestling for victory. Man, too, is double-faced. The two faces represent our two natures—higher and lower. We are reminded every New Year that the fight is still going on between the higher and the lower. The old face which looks from the region of past memories and the new which peeps from the region of hope, still has hold over us. We begin the New Year with a hope, looking forward to pleasure and happiness. These hopes are frustrated. Hopes, fears, memories and anticipations keep the human consciousness in a non-integrated state. The suggestion is to forget the emotional experiences attached to the past events that tend to take control of our mind and colour the present and the future. Once we have extracted the lesson from an event, we must let it pass without brooding over it. Our capacity to do good in the present is adversely affected when we dwell over the past, which drags us down from our present level of consciousness. H.P.B. writes:

The face that looks enquiringly and expectantly to the future, represents hope. Hope is a theological virtue, which suggests that if we struggle, we can be better. From wherever we are, there is a way leading to a state of unconditioned happiness. As a first step, we must resolve to be better or be perfect.

The tradition of making New Year resolutions dates back to the Babylonian period, when the most popular resolution made was to return borrowed farm equipment, writes Piali Banerjee (The Times of India, January 2004). The quality of resolutions and the enthusiasm have undergone change over the years. She humorously remarks that our grandparents resolved to read 20 good books a year; our parents, 10 good books a year; we, probably resolve to read five good books a year; the next generation might resolve, "I will finish reading this one book, by the end of the year." Some of us make small and realizable resolutions. Some make earth-shattering resolutions and work proportionately hard to make them come true. Jim Carrey wrote himself a $10 million cheque on a New Year's Day, and promised himself that he would make it come true. He rose to stardom and did earn a lot more than ten million.

In The Friendly Philosopher; Mr. Crosbie writes:

Often, we make resolutions only because it is proper to make them. Hence, we do not really expect to keep them, and seem to give up the struggle after a few days. We forget the need to persist and to sustain the resolution. If we do not act upon our resolution or strive to keep it, then it is as good as not having made the resolution. We need to persist, because when we make a resolve, there is an opposition on the inner planes. In the face of this resistance, we must be vigilant and refrain from taking a liberal attitude. We need to practise Shila virtue, harmony in word and act. A resolve is a promise made to oneself. And Mr. Judge says that the promises he made to himself, he considered to be as important as the promises he made to other people.

When we undertake self-discipline, we first make an ideal plan or Sankalpa and then execute it. Kalpa means, "to form an idea or image." Thus, Sankalpa, is to so thoroughly think and imagine that the thing thought about gets translated into action. Desire and will play an important role. Sangharakshita, in his book, Vision and Transformation, defines Samyak Sankalpa (right resolve or perfect emotion) as Perfect Will or Integral Emotion. It represents harmonization of the whole of the emotional nature with our vision of the true nature of existence, i.e., Perfect Vision. The first step in the Noble Eightfold Path is "Perfect Vision," which represents the phase of initial spiritual insight and experience. However, to achieve any concrete results, this must be followed by "Perfect Emotion," i.e., one needs to transform one's emotional nature in accordance with initial insight and understanding.

In other words, our resolves are not better than mere intellectual formulations, unless backed by intense desire or emotion. When the desire is intense, "will" comes into action. At times, we feel that we had intense desire and yet nothing happened. However, when we say "I wanted to come and see you so badly but I could not," this "wanted to" was not intense enough. Our desire nature is so divided that we ourselves do not know it fully. The Gita describes the state of a man who is fully possessed by desire: "The hungry man loseth sight of every other object but the gratification of his appetite."

Mr. Crosbie points out that we contract the divine power of Spirit within us to the pin-holes of personal desires and selfishness. We are not able to call forth the spiritual will because our ideas are small, mean and selfish. Spiritual will can be developed by true unselfishness, by being prepared to be guided and assisted by our Higher Self and being ready to undergo all the experiences of life—to be ready to drink, up the last bitter dregs, whatever the cup of life contains. Most of all we must be willing to mortify the personal self.

The making of these resolutions at the time of the New Year has a greater relevance. We may begin by making small resolutions like "I will not take a second helping of ice-cream," or "I will cut down on smoking," etc. But every year we have a chance to make more difficult resolves, which lead to purification of our personal nature.

Ultimately where does it lead? Buddhism mentions the Bodhisattva Ideal and Bodhisattva Vow. It means inflexible resolution or determination. It is understood to be something solemn and irrevocable. As Sangharakshita explains, the four Bodhisattva Vows are: (1) May I deliver all beings from difficulties. At our level it means resolving to be sympathetic and helpful. We should be caring for old people, sick people and psychologically disturbed people. (2) May I eradicate all defilements. The defilements cover all negative emotions, psychological conditioning, prejudices, in short, all that binds one to the wheel of life and death. (3) May I master all the Dharmas, i.e., teachings of the Buddha. (4) May I lead all beings to Buddhahood.

May the COMING year be a year of greater spiritual development than any we have lived through! "It depends on ourselves to make it so. This is an actual fact, not a religious sentiment.