Diwali meditation 2 – Dipotsava – Light the home with lamps and the heart with love
Hare Krishna. The most visually appealing aspect of the festival of Diwali is the lighting. Those who celebrate Diwali place beautiful lamps and various lighting arrangements around their houses, inside their houses, on the windows and they create a very attractive sight especially at nights.
Now, what is the significance of this lighting? Universally, light and darkness have been contrasted in human culture. And light is what enables us to move forward in our day to day life, in the journey of our life. Darkness stops us.
So, similarly there is the light of knowledge of wisdom and darkness represents ignorance. And within the Bhakti tradition, love is considered to be the ultimate light. Love for God illumines our heart and forgetfulness of God darkens our heart.
And love for God is invoked by his remembrance, by his presence. So, the more we remember him, the more we sense his indwelling presence in our hearts, the more our hearts become lit with love for him. And thus, the idea of lighting the lamps externally is meant to signify the lighting of our hearts internally with love.
Apart from this philosophical significance, historically the lighting of the lamps was what was done by the residents of Ayodhya in the Ramayan. Ram had been exiled to the forest for 14 long years and those years were agonizing for the residents of Ayodhya. Finally, when they came to know that Ram is returning, Ram came to Nandigram where on the outskirts of Ayodhya, Bharat and many of the leading citizens came out to meet him, to greet him, to bow down to him and to welcome him back into the headquarters of their kingdom.
So, as Ram entered into Ayodhya, headquarters of Kosala, at that time he was welcomed by all the residents illumining their houses with lights. The lights in their houses reflected the light in their hearts. Their hearts had been dark with devastation, with distress because of separation from their beloved Ram and now when Ram returned just as their houses were lit, their hearts were lit and they were welcoming Ram with these lights and similarly for us when we light the lamps, we need to light not just the physical lamp with the physical matchstick but we need to light the spiritual lamp within us.
The spiritual lamp is lit by invoking a mood of devotion, by practicing the time-honored process of Bhakti Yoga, by chanting the names of the Lord, by worshipping him in a mood of prayerful appeal. When we thus connect with the Divine and though that light of the Divine is lit within our hearts, then darkness can never come there. No matter what ups and downs life brings our way, no matter even if dark times come externally but if the heart is lit internally with wisdom, with love then with that inner light we can navigate through the darkest times in our life.
By commemorating the historical return of Ram through the lighting of lights, we on Diwali try to invoke within us an awareness of the inner light and a reminder to light that inner flame within us, the inner flame of wisdom and devotion that will transform our life into an eternal celebration of Divine love. Thank you.