Wisdom from the 24 Gurus for a Mindful New Year

New Year’s Eve seemed oddly quiet.

No plans were scribbled on scraps of paper. No excited whispers floated through the house. No potluck instructions were given out to Tatha and Tathi. And absolutely no sign of children squealing, shouting or planning a party.

Ananya sat curled up on the sofa, her phone glowing softly in her hands.
Sid lay stretched out on the floor, the television murmuring to itself.

Their thumbs moved. Their eyes flickered.
Their faces… were bored.

Tatha noticed. He always did.

He watched for a while – how they scrolled, how they switched screens, how they sighed between videos,as if searching for something that never quite arrived.

Finally, he spoke.

“So,” Tatha said gently, “why don’t you spill some tea on who’s coming over for the New Year party?”

Ananya didn’t look up.
Sid shrugged.

“Umm…” Sid muttered, still staring at his tablet. “Nobody was really interested. So, we didn’t insist either.”

Ananya added,
“Yeah. Everyone’s online anyway. We’ll play some games, video-call each other and then go off to sleep. What else is there to do?”

Tatha leaned back in his chair.

“Hmm,” he said softly. “A whole year gone by…and not a single spark. Not even a moment of reflection or looking forward to the year ahead?”

That made Ananya pause.

“What’s there to look forward to?” she asked. “It’s pretty much the same, right?”

Tatha smiled – the kind of smile that carried the wisdom of many years inside it.

“The kind of excitement I’m talking about,” he said gently “doesn’t come from screens. It comes from being genuinely happy, positive and full of life.”

---

The Man Who Needed Nothing

Tatha stood up and walked to the window. In the distance, a lighthouse glowed quietly against the dark sky.

“Long ago,” Tatha said, “there was someone just like that lighthouse –  steady, unbothered, glowing without asking anyone to notice, yet still guiding people along the way.”

Sid sat up now. Ananya slowly lowered her phone.

“This man,” Tatha continued, “had no phone to scroll, no mirror to check himself in, no crowd to applaud him.”

“Then what did he have?” Ananya asked.

Tatha turned toward them.

“Life,” he said. “Pure, undiluted life.”

His name was Dattatreya.

Tatha told them how Dattatreya walked the world freely – not bored, not restless, not waiting for something to happen.

He didn’t need excitement to feel alive.
He didn’t need validation to feel seen.

“People often wondered,” Tatha said, “how someone with nothing could be so full.”

Sid frowned, “Didn’t he ever get bored?”

Tatha chuckled.

“He was never bored,” he said. “Because he was paying attention.”

---

A Different Kind of New Year

Ananya glanced at her phone again.

The screen felt oddly dull now.

“So… what did he do all day?” she asked.

Tatha’s eyes twinkled.

“He learned,” he said. “But not from books. Not from teachers in classrooms.”

Dattatreya, Tatha explained, believed something very wise:

“If you truly watch the world,the world begins to teach you.”

He learned from the earth beneath his feet. From the wind brushing past him. From animals, birds, rivers and even from people who were unhappy.

“Twenty-four teachers,” Tatha said. “All around him. And not one of them asked for attention – yet each one changed his life.”

Sid’s eyes widened. “Twenty-four?”

Tatha nodded. “And do you know how he remembered them?”

Ananya shook her head. “He let the year remember them for him.”

---

Tatha reached for the calendar hanging by the door.

“He didn’t rush,” Tatha said. “He took two lessons at a time. One for each month. Slowly – like seasons teaching the earth how to change.”

January brought him two teachers. So did February. And March. All the way till December.

Each month, the world whispered something new.

Ananya hugged her knees.
Sid leaned closer.

“So…” they asked in unison, “will you tell us those stories?”

Tatha smiled and drew them both into a warm hug.

“Yes,” he said softly. “Of course, my children.”

Author’s Note:
This story is inspired by a timeless teaching from the Bhagavatam, where the Avadhuta sage, Dattatreya shares how he learned the deepest truths of life from twenty-four teachers found in nature itself. The full context of this teaching unfolds in the stories that follow.