October 17, 2009:
Today is Deepawali, or Diwali for short. The Festival of Lights – a major holiday and celebration for Hindus; the night when Ram returned to his kingdom in Ayodhya after slaying Ravana; the night when the Goddess Lakshmi visits each home to bless it with wealth and abundance; the victory of good over evil; the start of a new year for many Hindus; the lighting of lamps to show the way. Deepawali literally means a row of lights. The city is lit up as almost every house and building is adorned with oil lamps, wax candles or electric bulbs - twinkling, glowing, flashing, dancing, hanging, undulating. Lights along verandahs and rooftops; ribbons of lights cascading down building facades like a waterfall; strings of lights running along the railings of balconies or spiralling around pillars like living, glowing, flowering creepers; lights on trees and around courtyards; lights along thatched roofs and down glittering walls of steel and glass highrises. Families rich and poor are celebrating Diwali. The fire crackers go off in the skies and the celebrations have begun.
Here is a piece written by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar that appeared in today’s edition of The Times of India:
For an oil lamp to burn, the wick has to be in the oil, yet out of the oil. If the wick is drowned in oil, it cannot bring light. Life is like the wick of the lamp; you have to be in the world yet remain untouched by it. If you are drowned in the materialism of the world you cannot bring joy or knowledge into your life. By being in the world and yet not drowning in the worldly aspect of it, we can be the light of joy and knowledge. Lamps are lit on this day not just to decorate homes but also to communicate this profound truth. Every human being has some good qualities. Every lamp that you light is symbolic of this.
Light the lamp of love in your heart; the lamp of abundance in your home; the lamp of compassion to serve others; the lamp of knowledge to dispel the darkness of ignorance, and the lamp of gratitude for the abundance that the Divine has bestowed on us. Light dispels darkness and when the darkness of ignorance within you is dispelled through the light of wisdom, goodness prevails.