What’s to Celebrate This Month?

February is a short month but has a lot to celebrate. Besides the birthdays of two of our greatest presidents, we had the Lunar Chinese New Year to celebrate a few days ago. It’s the year of the Tiger. One of our students, Nancy (Purna) Chang, celebrated by making Chinese dumplings with her youngest granddaughter (9 years old, not the one pictured here). About her granddaughter, she said: “She worked hard at something she’s never done, and persisted through the whole thing. I was so impressed by her attitude and stamina! Meanwhile, I was chopping lots of vegetables, cleaning and chopping shrimp, and so on, to make the filling. Anyhow, it was fun, and the results were good! A typical family activity at new Year time.”

Purna adds these words of encouragement for all of us: “I hope the Tiger year brings us a much saner and loving world in which people are more respectful and kind to each other, and to the environment we all share. And Laughter, as we all need the joy of humor, often!” Let us help bring those wishes to fruition. Yoga certainly helps bring those qualities to us. We have to start with ourselves. The changes to our sanity and hearts will touch the hearts of our loved ones and help change the world around us.

February is also Black History Month. The theme for this year’s Black History Month is health and wellness. It has become all too clear during this pandemic, that Blacks (as well as Latinos and other minorities) have been on the short end of the health and wellness stick. Blacks in particular have suffered far too disproportionately from COVID-19 — more than any other group. Ironically, a black immunologist, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett,  lead a team that developed the COVID-19 vaccine. African-Americans have contributed many medical and scientific innovations to the nation’s health and wellness.

For our fundraiser of the month, we invite you to join us in support of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund (LDF). LDF’s mission is to achieve racial justice, equality and an inclusive society. Today, voting rights and other advances made last century are slowly being stripped away in many parts of the nation. So this is an opportune time to support LDF. For more information about LDF and how you can contribute scroll down. But scroll right back! I haven’t gotten to one of the most popular and fun holidays: Valentine’s Day.

Coincidentally, Valentine’s Day, which is associated with the heart, lands right in the heart of the month: the 14th.
Legend has it that Valentine’s Day honors Saint Valentine of Rome, who was imprisoned and martyred for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. According to one tradition, Saint Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer. An 18th century embellishment to the legend claims he wrote the jailer’s daughter a letter signed “Your Valentine” as a farewell before his execution.

But that’s history, or myth. What can Valentine’s Day mean to us today? It can be a time to rekindle the flame of love and, like the Olympic torch, to pass it on. Love is transformative. When you are in love, you see the beauty in everyone, including in you. You become more loving.

I read a wonderful book years ago entitled Wisdom of the Heart: Inspiration for a Life Worth Living by Alan Cohen. It’s a collection of parables, stories, poems and quotations arranged into 52 topics so that you can contemplate on one per week. The story that I liked most tells of a mysterious stranger who showed up at the door of a rundown monastery operated by several old monks who had become “spiritually parched.” Their spiritual flame had burnt out.

The mysterious stranger had a glow about him. So the monks were eager to get to know him and learn of his wisdom and the source of that glow. The next morning at breakfast, the stranger announced that he had a dream in which one of the monks in the monastery was revealed to be the Messiah.

The monks were taken aback and amazed. They had given up on the Messiah, but now they learned that the Messiah was already living amongst them. They asked the stranger which one of them is the Messiah. The stranger replied that he could not reveal the answer.

That day, the mysterious man just as mysteriously disappeared from the monastery. The monks were stunned. Left to themselves again, they continued to wonder who amongst them is the Messiah.

During the months that followed, they began opening their eyes and hearts to one another for the first time. They treated one another with greater respect and love, as if any one of them could be the Messiah. The story continues:

“Then, over a period of time, something miraculous began to happen. For the first time in many years, joy and appreciation began to fill the halls of the monastery. A feeling of eager anticipation enlivened the monks’ prayers, meals, and conversations. As a result, people who visited the monastery felt uplifted, and the number of visitors increased…”

Using Purna’s words about the year of the Tiger, the monastery became a “more sane and loving place, where people are more respectful and kind to each other…” The monks probably laughed more often, too.

You can celebrate this special day and the whole month and more just like the monks celebrated all their special days thereafter. May we all see the Messiah in one and another! As Swami Nirmalananda teaches, see the One (Shiva) being you and being all beings. Let love fill your heart and overflow into the hearts of others. Let it fill the halls in your home. Let all those around you be your Messiah … and your Valentine!