Diwali or Deepawali is a biggest festival of Indians. 'Deep' means 'diya( a small pot made up of soil)' 'wali' means to light up. Diwali is a sanskrit word which means ' series of lights'. The preparation of the festival last 5 days, the last day falling on the darkest night of Hindu lunisolar month kartika. This festival is mainly celebrated by the followers of Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddha religion, but it is celebrated all around the world irrespective of religious boundaries. India is a multi religious and multi cultural country, all the festivals are celebrated by all religions. This post is dedicated to significance of this festival and lessons it conveys.
People clean their houses, work places, buy new clothes, prepare or buy sweets before the auspicious festival. On the day of festival, people light up the candles, diya, LEDs to remove the darkness in the darkest night of the month. Every diwali night, India looks amazing from the space in night when whole country is decorated with the lights. The evening starts with the worship of gods and goddess, especially Lakshmi ji and Rajma ji. After that children burst crackers & people visit their friends and relatives, distribute sweets & spread happiness in relations. I will not go deep into the history of this festival in this post, rather will focus on the lessons & its significance in our life.
Diwali is celebrated on darkest night. Lights are used to remove the darkness in the surrounding which can be clearly visible with our naked eyes. But what about the darkness inside us? The darkness inside us is nothing but fear, the negative qualities, an imaginary wall of our comfort zone, the big list of expectations from family or friends or relatives, sometimes a selfish nature, etc. The outer darkness can be remove easily by lighting up lights and candles, but to light up inside us it need tremendous efforts. Because it need to have control on our mind and thoughts, instead of allowing uncontrollable thoughts to govern our mind and body. This festival ask us to also remove the darkness inside us. Diwali was firstly celebrated to remember victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance.
According to me, the motive of all festivals is same, irrespective of religions. All festivals teach us a lesson of harmony and peace. Diwali also signify this. The sweets which we distribute are one of the way to bring harmony, peace & happiness in relationships. There are two parts of it: First in the society, second within ourself. Diwali teach us to have coordination in our thoughts and actions, it teach us to be more sweet first to ourself because then only we can be sweet to others. Sweet also symbolise the pure and good thoughts which purify our soul & body. It also help in removing the darkness inside us.
Knowledge is a source of good life style and healthy relationships & solving problems in the world. Most of the time we fight within ourself a lot that we don't understand the problems of others & try to help them. Sympathy & Empathy has a great power, but it remain undiscovered until we believe in them. 'Ravana' was believed to be most wiser person in his time, but he was killed by 'Rama' due to his bad deeds. He ignored the power of knowledge he had and misused it, which could have been used in good way & save his as well as life of other soldiers. In our life also we must understand each & every situation in my words ' seeing both sides of the coin before taking any decision'.
We all are human beings first, after that come all religions, cultures, nationalities, etc. The humanity is the biggest religion in the world. But we forget it when we are into difficult situations. It is believed that one person cannot change world, but if everyone start doing the same, this chain can surely bring love, peace, happiness, prosperity in the world. On this diwali, irrespective of nationality, let's try to light up the world ( both inside and outside us) with happiness and love.
People clean their houses, work places, buy new clothes, prepare or buy sweets before the auspicious festival. On the day of festival, people light up the candles, diya, LEDs to remove the darkness in the darkest night of the month. Every diwali night, India looks amazing from the space in night when whole country is decorated with the lights. The evening starts with the worship of gods and goddess, especially Lakshmi ji and Rajma ji. After that children burst crackers & people visit their friends and relatives, distribute sweets & spread happiness in relations. I will not go deep into the history of this festival in this post, rather will focus on the lessons & its significance in our life.
Diwali is celebrated on darkest night. Lights are used to remove the darkness in the surrounding which can be clearly visible with our naked eyes. But what about the darkness inside us? The darkness inside us is nothing but fear, the negative qualities, an imaginary wall of our comfort zone, the big list of expectations from family or friends or relatives, sometimes a selfish nature, etc. The outer darkness can be remove easily by lighting up lights and candles, but to light up inside us it need tremendous efforts. Because it need to have control on our mind and thoughts, instead of allowing uncontrollable thoughts to govern our mind and body. This festival ask us to also remove the darkness inside us. Diwali was firstly celebrated to remember victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance.
According to me, the motive of all festivals is same, irrespective of religions. All festivals teach us a lesson of harmony and peace. Diwali also signify this. The sweets which we distribute are one of the way to bring harmony, peace & happiness in relationships. There are two parts of it: First in the society, second within ourself. Diwali teach us to have coordination in our thoughts and actions, it teach us to be more sweet first to ourself because then only we can be sweet to others. Sweet also symbolise the pure and good thoughts which purify our soul & body. It also help in removing the darkness inside us.
Knowledge is a source of good life style and healthy relationships & solving problems in the world. Most of the time we fight within ourself a lot that we don't understand the problems of others & try to help them. Sympathy & Empathy has a great power, but it remain undiscovered until we believe in them. 'Ravana' was believed to be most wiser person in his time, but he was killed by 'Rama' due to his bad deeds. He ignored the power of knowledge he had and misused it, which could have been used in good way & save his as well as life of other soldiers. In our life also we must understand each & every situation in my words ' seeing both sides of the coin before taking any decision'.
We all are human beings first, after that come all religions, cultures, nationalities, etc. The humanity is the biggest religion in the world. But we forget it when we are into difficult situations. It is believed that one person cannot change world, but if everyone start doing the same, this chain can surely bring love, peace, happiness, prosperity in the world. On this diwali, irrespective of nationality, let's try to light up the world ( both inside and outside us) with happiness and love.
