winter

First Day of Winter 2013: The Winter Solstice

3500 people attend the Sunrise of the Winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge in Wiltshire England

click on image to enlarge

Today marks the beging of winter, or the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year.

click to enlarge image

“O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress and their disappearance in due course are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.”

In summer we suffer, and in winter we suffer. In the summer, fire brings suffering, and in the winter the same fire is pleasing. Similarly, in the winter, water is suffering, but in the summer it is pleasing. The water and the fire are the same, but sometimes they are pleasing, sometimes they are not….The more we are in the bodily conception, the more we suffer.

Teachings of Lord Kapila, the Son of Devahuti
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter 11, Text 23

mad-āśrayāḥ kathā mṛṣṭāḥ
śṛṇvanti kathayanti ca
tapanti vividhās tāpā
naitān mad-gata-cetasaḥ

Engaged constantly in chanting and hearing about Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the sādhus do not suffer from material miseries because they are always filled with thoughts of My pastimes and activities.