Essence of Sweetness, Brightness during Festival
Sanjeev Kumar Sharma
sanjeev.sharma31@yahoo.com
Diwali is a festival of grand celebrations in India. On this day people remain busy in enjoying and rejoicing the festivities of varied forms. Diwali was first celebrated in Ayodhya thousands of years back as a festival to welcome the return of Lord Rama from 14 years of exile, a long period during which Rama killed the demon king Ravana along with other demons to usher the mankind towards an era of fearlessness, peace and civilized existence.
Before celebrating Diwali just question yourself, when Lord Rama was welcomed thousands of years back on his return from a long exile, why we celebrate Diwali even today?
For proper answer we should first of all know that Lord Rama was the only historic person who established high morals of life and relations. His life taught us how a son should obey his parents—Lord Rama obeyed his father and left for forest to spend 14 years there, he ate berries tasted by a Dalit lady, his life taught us how a brother should behave with brothers, how a husband should care his wife, how a disciple should work for his mentor, how a king should satisfy his subjects and how to explore all the peaceful ways with enemies and how to treat the subjects of defeated territory after killing their ruler.
It was these high morals of Lord Rama which elevated him to the level of ‘Maryada Purushotam’ (one who is best among men as far as high morals, principles and ethics are concerned). So a person who is best among the men as far as principles and ethics are concerned and the one who did nothing wrong in life becomes suitable for the title of some Godly figure or Avtaar (incarnation).
Today when almost all the relations are stooping to new lows, there is a great need to inculcate the high morals of Lord Rama in ourselves.
We have seen that in the guise of Diwali celebrations, some people gamble, drink and do all the degraded activities but they should know that Diwali is meant to celebrate the return of ‘Maryada Purushotam’ whose moral character gave a new direction to our culture.
The real celebration of Diwali and the truthful adoration of Lord Rama can only be done by following his footsteps. How many of us today in real sense obey their parents like Lord Rama did and how many of us today live with brothers like Rama lived? Honestly speaking, to become Lord Rama is not everyone’s cup of tea and that is why only one Rama has been born on this earth so far and his return from the long exile is worthy to be celebrated across the world as the biggest festival on earth.
Even if it appears impossible, we should at least try to walk on the footsteps of Lord Rama and we should celebrate the Diwali by allowing the return of Maryada Purushotam (a morally elated and ethically upright person) in ourselves to attain the actual motive and purpose of life.
Truly, the return of the character of Maryada Purushotam in ourselves will really be something to enjoy enthusiastically and for that we should burst fire crackers to symbolise the enthusiasm and celebration.
On Diwali people distribute sweets and other beautiful gifts among relatives, friends and other loved ones. They also decorate houses and work places with lights to remove darkness from every nook and corner, they worship Lakshmi—the Goddess of Wealth so that no place remains for poverty and deprivation and they also do very many things to mark the celebrations in their own way.
All this gives yet another beautiful meaning to Diwali celebrations which can be understood if we look closely at all the activities associated with the festival. Many things here appear symbolic showing that the festival of Diwali marks the start of an era of lights, enlightenment, brightness, sweetness, celebrations, excitement, end of a long exile, end of demons inside us like greed, lust, enmity, dishonesty, corruption etc to start all the positive and good things in life making the life a journey of high morals and uprightness.
Diwali is also a festival of divinity and spirituality where the brightness means that days of darkness are over. The brightness also reflects knowledge and darkness refers to the era of ignorance and dullness. So this day motivates all of us to kill the darkness and lit a lamp of knowledge to progress in life and to move a few steps on the path of spirituality.
After lighting homes, the very next thing done on the Diwali is distribution of sweets among relatives, friends and other loved ones which reflects that spreading sweetness in life makes the life better and improves our relations with others by ending all the bitterness or enmity.
Many people hug each other on this day and end all the misunderstandings and fallouts of the ugly past and this aspect of Diwali has a great relevance in the present world where bitterness has infected the minds and conflicts have become a daily routine in every corner of the world and much bloodshed has taken place due to it.
Worshipping Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth during Diwali is nothing but an encouragement or motivation to work hard so that poverty ends and the life moves to comfort and easiness with blessings from the Goddess of Wealth.
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