GOODBYE 2009, WELCOME 2010

CELEBRATIONS AROUND THE WORLD
GIVE HEARTY WELCOME TO NEW YEAR 2010

NEW YORK (CNN) - People around the world have celebrated the turn of the decade and welcomed in the year 2010. Spectacular fireworks displays were seen in cities including Auckland in New Zealand and Sydney, Australia. London and Paris and other European cities also enjoyed displays, while in Brazil, people watched fireworks from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. Hundreds of thousands of people packed into New York's Times Square were showered with confetti at midnight. As the US celebrated, security was tight in New York's Times Square, with partygoers banned from taking rucksacks or large bags into the area. A massive fireworks display, attended by an estimated 1.5 million people, took place in Sydney, Australia. The Japanese capital, Tokyo, greeted the new year in traditional style, with bells rung in temples at midnight. Thousands of people in Beijing gathered in a shopping centre to mark the change of the Lunar New Year. And in Hong Kong, about half a million revellers crowded the harbour front to watch fireworks set off from the top of city skyscrapers. Some two million people crowded onto Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro to dance to DJs and music acts and watch fireworks sent up over the sea. In the Philippines, new year celebrations were marred as hundreds of people were injured by firecrackers and celebratory gunfire. Despite heavy snowfall, more than 120,000 Russians were on Red Square in Moscow to see fireworks. In Spain, which took over the rotating EU presidency at midnight, thousands of people who had gathered in the capital, Madrid, saw images of the EU flag light up the central Sol square. Others around the world chose to mark the occasion by attending churches and temples to pray for the coming year. At the Vatican, the Pope came to St Peter's Basilica to lead a year-end service. In the French capital, Paris, the Eiffel Tower was illuminated by a pulsating, multi-colour display, described by city officials as "a giant Christmas tree with tinsel". London's spectacular firework display - which began on the final chimes of Big Ben - centred on the London Eye wheel on the banks of the River Thames. In Venice, revellers rang in 2010 with wet feet because of a high tide at midnight.

"The year that is ending has been difficult for everybody. No continent, no country, no sector has been spared," French President Sarkozy said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the start of the new decade won't herald immediate relief from the global economic ills. At midnight in Rio de Janeiro, about 2 million people gathered along the 2.5-mile Copacabana beach to watch a huge fireworks display and listen to dozens of music acts and DJs.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Our year begins with the appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Before He appears a number of His associates also appear, such as Advaita Acarya and Nityananda Prabhu. Mahaprabhu is not an incarnation, He is Krishna Himself. The difference is that He is tinged with magnanimity or audarya whereas Vrindavana Krishna is not. Lord Nityananda is the most merciful and Lord Caitanya is the most generous through His distribution of the Holy Name of Krishna. Anyone can join the sankirtan movement of Lord Caitanya, but it is not as generous in Krishna lila. Through our faith, sraddha, we get close to our guardians, not by knowledge. And the most important faith is faith in the words of guru. We are not of the group that tries to outdo our guru, to do one better than our guru. Sraddha and Saranagati (surrender) are all that are required to make advancement in Krishna consciousness.

Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasingha Mahārāja :
“Nityananda Trayodasi” (Govindaji Gardens, 2005)
http://www.devavision.org/gosai/audio.html