The next New Moon will happen in Taurus, Krittika Nakshatra, at 5.39 pm UTC on Friday 22 May.
Under the current social circumstances, it becomes difficult to maintain a balance.
The balance between work and private life.
The balance between gourmet food and a healthy diet.
The balance between time spent at home and outside.
The balance between bracing oneself and being lax.
The balance between being online and offline.
Most of us are in between those two states, not knowing how to get the proper balance.
In such times, some people may swing towards one extreme.
We can eat and drink whatever/whenever we want to, we can watch TV or browse the Internet all we want. We can slouch down and be lazy.
Or, we can be worried sick about our health and about disinfecting ourselves, being disciplined because we are nervous about staying healthy, being ascetic and fleeing from abundance, going after the fad of what the TV or the Internet preached about increasing one’s immune system, being hard on ourselves, or becoming angry to people who do not follow the rules.
The symbols for this fortnight is “fire” and “cutting knife or scissors”. In order to cook, we need fire and knives. In order to conduct a homa, we need fire and branches chopped with blades. We need scissors to cut our hair. But fire and blades can also be destructive. A fire will destroy homes and forests. A blade can be used to harm people. Where is the right balance?
Moderation is the best thing. Buddhism teaches about the Middle Way. We can get the right balance to live between sensual indulgence and asceticism. If we learn to live somewhere in the middle, it is said that we can learn how to see the Truth that we are seeking.
What is the condition that is not extreme in one way or the other and what is relaxed enough with some discipline? This is something to think about the fortnight until the full moon. Once we can understand the pace we can maintain, we should be able to live without trying too hard, with a relaxed attitude to life and therefore contribute to society. Om Shanti.