Deepavali thirunal

Diwali – Festival of Lights
Diwali celebrates the victory of Good over Evil and Light over Darkness.

The word “Diwali” is a contraction of Deepavali, originating from the Sanskrit word Dīpāvalī (दीपावली) which can be translated to ‘Row of Lights’. Hence the Diwali Festival is also called the ‘Festival of Lights’- and a five-day festival in North-India. In South-India the festival is called “Deepavali”. It has a major religious significance for Hindus, Sikhs and Jains alike – not only in India, but also for Indians living abroad. In the westen calendar, Diwali falls on a day in October or November every year – just after the monsoon season in India. This date also marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year, and many businesses in India starting a new accounting year on the Diwali holiday.

In India, people have completely forgotten
why every year on a particular amawas, no-moon night,
they celebrate Diwali, a festival of lights.
You must have seen people putting all kinds of candles,
lamps, lights in their houses.
This is the night when Mahavira became enlightened.
And this festival is in remembrance of Mahavira
but nobody even thinks of Mahavira.”

Light Up with Your Own Light for This Diwali

Celebration is  ‘religion’. This non-stop  celebration goes on all the time, every day, right through the year. So how do you celebrate much more when you celebrate major festivals?

A whole string of festivals starts this month leading up to Diwali. So how do you add the extra fizz, pump the additional zest and create more zing? You can do it externally by living it up, laughing, hugging, singing, dancing and gifting. Or, you can do it internally by meditating on your inward journey. Here you will experience stillness, silence, peace, freedom, and – a smile of bliss.

This is what I says when he exhorts you to become a light unto yourself. When Gautam Buddha said, appa deepo bhava or “be a light unto yourself” – he was trying to take all the slavery, spiritual and religious, from humanity. When you go inside, it does not matter whether you are rich or poor, young or old, healthy or sick, you have connected to your real being, your consciousness, and you are alone, not lonely.

More importantly, you are not depending on any one else – no guru or god.
By
K. Jagadeesh