Imam Khomeini sought spiritual transformation during Nowruz

The leader of contemporary Muslim world always encouraged people to change their selves not only materialistically but spiritually too.

A historic message by Imam released on Nowruz have been provided and quoted below. 

The following statement was released by Imam Khomeini on March the 12th 1983, and was broadcasted on both television and radio (source: Sahife, vol. 17, page 346):

“In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful 
I implore the Almighty God to make this New Year an auspicious year for all Muslims of the world and the Muslims of Iran. Especially for the strata that is engaged in holy struggle, the families of the martyrs, the families of the disabled and their relatives, the Basij volunteers and for all the armed forces of the military and non-military, the Guards Corps and all of them.

God willing may this year be an auspicious year for the nation of Iran and bring victory in its wake. God willing, victory be destined for the oppressed nations of the world and the Muslims of the world and we and the beloved nation of Iran be grateful and show gratitude for these blessings that the Blessed and Almighty God has granted them.

God has given abundant bounties to the entire universe, which cannot be calculated. We do not have the power to recount all the blessings that the Blessed and Almighty God has given to us but to the extent that we can. The things that the Blessed and Almighty God has granted to our nation are many. Among them is that we were rescued from the cultural and moral deviations and connected us to a higher degree of morality and culture; victory on the warfronts and loftier than that is the victory over the carnal soul that our youth and a broad strata have attained.

I am optimistic that this spiritual victory and this control over the carnal self and this control over the demon of the soul shall be achieved. Today, we are flooded with blessings for which we cannot be thankful except to thank the Blessed and Almighty God in a general manner for having granted us such a nation that is present on all the fronts and in all the arenas. God granted us a favor and saved us, our youth and our women from the cesspool that was prepared for them.

God returned our youth that were on the verge of being lost to Islam and getting out of the hands of the Muslims. He caused them to become so pious that now they volunteer for martyrdom; while fighting on the frontlines, they chant slogans in praise of God; they recite their daily prayers and at nights, they supplicate to God.

We must give thanks for these blessings. Our women however, they had guided a limited number of them on the incorrect path and their numbers were increasing, God granted us a favor and saved us from those things that were crafted by global arrogance and from the hands of their servants.

The Blessed and Almighty God saved us from them; he saved our women so that today our women are immersed in the blessings of God in such a way that perhaps even they themselves are unaware of those great divine blessings that are unlimited. I hope that the Blessed and Almighty God for the sake of Islam grants strength to this nation that is living in innocence with whom all the countries of the world with few exceptions are inimical and may he destroy our enemies and make this day a happy one for all. 

The point that I wanted to mention is that on the feasts, that Islam has favored us with, in all of the feasts, one notices in all of them there are prayers and supplications, there is fasting, there is mention of God. In this feast, too, which is a national feast and is not Islamic but Islam is also not opposed to it, again we notice that in the narratives it mentions that one of the rituals is fasting, one of the rituals of today is to supplicate, to recite prayers.

This teaches us that if a nation wants to follow the right path and wants to safeguard its independence, its freedom, it must on its feasts and other times mention God, remember God and live for God. Even on the day of the feasts, there is the command albeit a non-obligatory command to fasting.

Fasting is prescribed in order that a person cuts himself off from his lusts and devotes himself to the Blessed and Almighty God. This is because for every step forward that we take towards victory; for every step forward that we take for building our country, we must take a few steps for building ourselves; for victory over our carnal self; for victory over the demon within ourselves. 

I pray to the Blessed and Almighty God grants His abundant bounties to this nation, to our beloved youth, to our martyrs and to all our war disabled. May He guide us with His own guidance on the right path. 
May God's peace and mercy be upon you.”