Diwali (दिवाली) also called Deepawali (दीपावली) is considered to be the most popular festival in India. The word deep (दीप) or diya (दिया) means earthen lamp and avali (अवली) means line. Hence, Deepavali is celebrated by cleaning and painting the house, cooking delicious food and decorating the house with rows of earthen lamps and lights. On the festival of Diwali, people wear new clothes, dress up, invite friends and family and light firecrackers to celebrate the occasion with great pomp and enthusiasm.
As per the Hindu calendar, Deepavali is celebrated on the new moon night (the 15th day) in the month of Kartik. Typically, the festival of Deepawali falls in the month of October or November.
There are many auspicious legends associated with this festival. This festival is celebrated as the appearance day of Shri Mahalakshmi or the wedding anniversary of Shri Mahalakshmi and Lord Vishnu. However, the most popular reason for celebrating this festival is that it marks the return of Lord Shri Ram to Ayodhya after 14 years in exile. There were two very important reasons for the residents of Ayodhya to celebrate this day:
As per the Hindu calendar, Deepavali is celebrated on the new moon night (the 15th day) in the month of Kartik. Typically, the festival of Deepawali falls in the month of October or November.
There are many auspicious legends associated with this festival. This festival is celebrated as the appearance day of Shri Mahalakshmi or the wedding anniversary of Shri Mahalakshmi and Lord Vishnu. However, the most popular reason for celebrating this festival is that it marks the return of Lord Shri Ram to Ayodhya after 14 years in exile. There were two very important reasons for the residents of Ayodhya to celebrate this day:
- the return of Lord Shri Ram to Ayodhya after 14 years
- the victory of truth and righteousness over ego and darkness symbolized by the victory of Lord Ram over Ravan, the egoist and deceitful demon king of Lanka.
Lord Ram with Mother Sita and brother Lakshman returned to Ayodhya on the Day of Diwali.
Some residents of Ayodhya knew Shri Ram to be the supreme divine Lord, while others loved Shri Ram more than their own dear life, despite being completely unaware of His divinity. Due to their immense love for Shri Ram, life seemed to lose its meaning for all the residents of Ayodhya during the 14 years that Shri Ram spent in exile. They had no zest for life and lost all interest in carrying out their household chores, enjoying food and drinks or celebrating festivals. They were like walking-dead. The news of the return of Lord Shri Ram, infused new life in their lifeless forms. With their hearts full of joy, they devoted themselves in cleaning and decorating their houses.
They did not want their Lord Shri Ram to be sad seeing their pitiable, gloomy life, and hence engaged themselves in dressing up in new clothes, adorning themselves with new jewelry and cooking delicious food. The women of the house wanted to welcome their Lord and Master by feeding Him delicious food. The hearts of all the residents of Ayodhya were brimming and dancing with joy. They had no other desire in their hearts, but to please their Lord. The joy that they experienced upon the return of Lord Shri Ram was so overpowering that it made them forget the darkness of their separation from Him. The entire city of Ayodhya was illuminated with the lights of the diyas as were their hearts. From then on, the residents of Ayodhya started celebrating this day every year, to commemorate the return of Lord Shri Ram to Ayodhya.
They did not want their Lord Shri Ram to be sad seeing their pitiable, gloomy life, and hence engaged themselves in dressing up in new clothes, adorning themselves with new jewelry and cooking delicious food. The women of the house wanted to welcome their Lord and Master by feeding Him delicious food. The hearts of all the residents of Ayodhya were brimming and dancing with joy. They had no other desire in their hearts, but to please their Lord. The joy that they experienced upon the return of Lord Shri Ram was so overpowering that it made them forget the darkness of their separation from Him. The entire city of Ayodhya was illuminated with the lights of the diyas as were their hearts. From then on, the residents of Ayodhya started celebrating this day every year, to commemorate the return of Lord Shri Ram to Ayodhya.
Goddess Mahalakshmi secretly appeared and showered gold coins in the homes of all the residents of Ayodhya
Since Treta Yug, this day continues to be celebrated as an emblem of the victory and return of Lord Shri Ram. However, over a period of time, people started offering prayers to the Goddess of wealth Mahalakshmi and the God of wealth Kuber on this day, while also continuing to perform the external rituals of cleaning and decorating their homes, wearing new clothes, adorning themselves with new jewellery and cooking delicious food, but forgot the true reason behind celebrating this festival. There is only one primary objective behind celebrating any Hindu festival - to recognize your true self and move away from the darkness of Maya towards the bliss of God. Light is the symbol of the ultimate truth - God, whereas darkness is the symbol of Maya. We must understand that even after performing all our daily activities and duties, we will forever remain devoid of the benefits of our association with God if we do not direct all our activities unto God.
The real objective behind celebrating any festival is to remember God. Through the festivals, God grants us the golden opportunity to remember Him constantly while conducting all our daily activities. Thus we develop a practice of remembering God while performing all the household chores, so that we can also dedicate all that we do to the lotus feet of the Lord just like the residents of Ayodhya. Hence while celebrating a festival, we must continue to perform all our work, while dedicating our mind to the loving remembrance of the lotus feet of God, so that this practice can help us even during non-festival days.
Our scriptures further reveal that the first night after Shri Ram’s arrival from the forest (the night following Diwali), Goddess Mahalakshmi secretly appeared and showered gold coins in the homes of all the residents of Ayodhya. In the present time, all material beings blinded by greed for wealth, perform prayers to Goddess Mahalakshmi at night to please her so that she can shower us with wealth and prosperity, little realizing that the residents of Ayodhya performed single-minded devotion to the lotus feet of Shri Ram. They were not greedy to acquire the wealth that Goddess Mahalakshmi bestowed on them, nor did that wealth take their mind away from Lord Shri Ram even for a fraction of a second. Material beings have little to no love for God. They reserve all their love for this world. Hence most of us perform prayers and worship the Lord in the hope of attaining material objects. It is to be noted that Goddess Mahalakshmi does not get fooled by our prayers and worship. We shall only attain as much wealth as is destined for us in this lifetime.
The real objective behind celebrating any festival is to remember God. Through the festivals, God grants us the golden opportunity to remember Him constantly while conducting all our daily activities. Thus we develop a practice of remembering God while performing all the household chores, so that we can also dedicate all that we do to the lotus feet of the Lord just like the residents of Ayodhya. Hence while celebrating a festival, we must continue to perform all our work, while dedicating our mind to the loving remembrance of the lotus feet of God, so that this practice can help us even during non-festival days.
Our scriptures further reveal that the first night after Shri Ram’s arrival from the forest (the night following Diwali), Goddess Mahalakshmi secretly appeared and showered gold coins in the homes of all the residents of Ayodhya. In the present time, all material beings blinded by greed for wealth, perform prayers to Goddess Mahalakshmi at night to please her so that she can shower us with wealth and prosperity, little realizing that the residents of Ayodhya performed single-minded devotion to the lotus feet of Shri Ram. They were not greedy to acquire the wealth that Goddess Mahalakshmi bestowed on them, nor did that wealth take their mind away from Lord Shri Ram even for a fraction of a second. Material beings have little to no love for God. They reserve all their love for this world. Hence most of us perform prayers and worship the Lord in the hope of attaining material objects. It is to be noted that Goddess Mahalakshmi does not get fooled by our prayers and worship. We shall only attain as much wealth as is destined for us in this lifetime.
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So, on the day of Diwali, while we should clean up our homes, decorate the altar, dress up the deities and adorn them with new clothes, prepare a variety of delicious foods to offer to the Lord, the most important thing is to celebrate the festival by chanting their divine names while singing the glories of their beauty and loving pastimes with friends and family.
Thus, if you spend the entire day in the remembrance of the Lord, you will start to attain spiritual bliss and divine grace. Your mind will start getting purified and if you make this part of your daily practice, then one day you will realize God and attain His grace. Lord Krishna says in the Shrimad Bhagavata Mahapuran: यत्कर्मभिर्यात्तपसा ज्ञानवैराग्यतश्च यत् ।
योगेनदानधर्मेण श्रेयोभिरितरैरपि ॥ भा. ११.२०.३२ एवं भ.र.सिं.
yatkarmabhiryāttapasā jñānavairāgyataśca yat ।
yogenadānadharmeṇa śreyobhiritarairapi ॥ bhā. 11.20.32 and bha.ra.siṃ.
सर्वं मद्भक्तियोगेन मद्भक्तो लभतेञ्जसा ।
स्वर्गापवर्गं मद्धाम कथंचिद यदि वांछति ॥ भा ११.२०.३३
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The most important thing is to celebrate the festival by chanting their divine names and singing the glories of their beauty, loving pastimes with friends and family.
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sarvaṃ madbhaktiyogena madbhakto labhateñjasā ।
svargāpavargaṃ maddhāma kathaṃcida yadi vāṃchati ॥
svargāpavargaṃ maddhāma kathaṃcida yadi vāṃchati ॥
bhā 11.20.33
“Whatever could be attained by performing rituals, austerity, knowledge, renunciation, yoga, and alms etc. I provide all of those to my devotees without waiting for them to ask”. In other words, he takes care of all the material and spiritual needs of a surrendered soul.
Lord Krishna goes on to say that “all that can be achieved by performing Karm, Gyan and Yog can be achieved just by performing selfless devotion towards Me”:
Lord Krishna goes on to say that “all that can be achieved by performing Karm, Gyan and Yog can be achieved just by performing selfless devotion towards Me”:
कथंचिद यदि वांछति ||
kathaṃcida yadi vāṃchati
kathaṃcida yadi vāṃchati
Gajraj called God to save him from the crocodile.
Once a devotee attains the unlimited and forever new divine bliss, there is no reason for him to have a material desire. In other words when a devotee attains the ocean of everlasting divine bliss, he does not have the time or the desire to wish for other inferior rewards of Karm and Gyan. The devotee is forever engrossed in enjoying the divine pastimes, attributes and the bliss of God’s divine form. Still, if for some unknown reason, a devotee has a material desire like Gajraj had, God grants the devotee’s desire.
The true meaning of Diwali is to add fuel to the lamp of love for God so that it can burn stronger and brighter. Doing so will bring the true benefits of celebrating Diwali.
So don’t follow traditions blindly. You have been given a human form and are endowed with superior intellect and the power to discriminate. Use that to gain true knowledge and diligently put the knowledge that you have gained into practice.
The theoretical knowledge (including following traditions, remembering scriptural quotes etc.) that we gain gets lost when we die. The only thing that goes with us is the practical experience (love for God) that we attain in this lifetime. The point to note here is that you have time until your last breath to transform the theoretical knowledge into practical experience. After that, no-one (neither God, nor Guru, and obviously no material beings) can help you. Also, no one knows the time when we will breathe our last breath. The Mahabharat says:
The true meaning of Diwali is to add fuel to the lamp of love for God so that it can burn stronger and brighter. Doing so will bring the true benefits of celebrating Diwali.
So don’t follow traditions blindly. You have been given a human form and are endowed with superior intellect and the power to discriminate. Use that to gain true knowledge and diligently put the knowledge that you have gained into practice.
The theoretical knowledge (including following traditions, remembering scriptural quotes etc.) that we gain gets lost when we die. The only thing that goes with us is the practical experience (love for God) that we attain in this lifetime. The point to note here is that you have time until your last breath to transform the theoretical knowledge into practical experience. After that, no-one (neither God, nor Guru, and obviously no material beings) can help you. Also, no one knows the time when we will breathe our last breath. The Mahabharat says:
बहिस्सरति निःश्वासे विश्वासः कः प्रवर्तते ॥
bahissarati niḥśvāse viśvāsaḥ kaḥ pravartate ॥
bahissarati niḥśvāse viśvāsaḥ kaḥ pravartate ॥
"After exhaling one breath what guarantee is there that you will inhale again"?
We must assimilate this knowledge while we are still alive or else as Jagadguru Shankaracharya Ji Maharaj said:
We must assimilate this knowledge while we are still alive or else as Jagadguru Shankaracharya Ji Maharaj said:
पुनरपि जननं पुरपि मरणं पुनरपि जननी जठरे शयनम्।
इह संसारे खलु दुस्तारे कृपया पारे पाहि मुरारे ॥
punarapi jananaṃ purapi maraṇaṃ punarapi jananī jaṭhare śayanam।
iha saṃsāre khalu dustāre kṛpayā pāre pāhi murāre ॥
इह संसारे खलु दुस्तारे कृपया पारे पाहि मुरारे ॥
punarapi jananaṃ purapi maraṇaṃ punarapi jananī jaṭhare śayanam।
iha saṃsāre khalu dustāre kṛpayā pāre pāhi murāre ॥
"You are bound to revolve in the cycle of birth and death, undergoing immense pain and sufferings in the womb, lifetime after lifetime. This world is like a vast ocean of sorrow, which can only be crossed by the grace of God." Thus to rise above this cycle of birth and death, one must follow this teaching:
भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं मूढ़मते ॥
bhaja govindaṃ bhaja govindaṃ bhaja govindaṃ mūढ़mate ॥
bhaja govindaṃ bhaja govindaṃ bhaja govindaṃ mūढ़mate ॥
"O foolish mind! remember God constantly to attain bliss".
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मन मंदिर के राजा राम, नैनन तपन बुझा जा राम ।
ब्रज रस माधुरी भाग १
O divine Lord, the master of my heart! Please grace me with your divine vision, so I can quench the thirst of my eyes that have been longing to behold your divine form!
- Jagadguruttam Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj
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