Diwali – Let spiritual wisdom light the lamp within

Hare Krishna! On the occasion of Deepavali, let us understand what does this festival mean? This is, Deepavali is one of the most visually striking festivals within the current Indian religious calendar.

Because people put lamps outside their houses in hundreds, thousands and everywhere it becomes illuminated. That's why it is called the festival of lights. Now, historically, we see those lights were lit when Lord Ram was returning from exile after spending 14 heart-wrenching years of separation.

The Ayodhya Vasis jubilantly celebrated the arrival, the return of Lord Ram by expressing the devotion of their heart by lighting the lamps. Now, the Ramayan describes that when Lord Ram was exiled by the evil machinations of Kaikeyi, at that time Ayodhya became like a ghost town. People stopped doing their regular activities.

Women stopped cleaning their houses. There was no smoke in the chimneys from their houses. Everything became unkempt, untidy and people just lost the impetus to live.

The only reason to live was that they had the hope that in the future Lord Ram would come back. So, this is definitely a historical reality. Along with that it also represents an inner reality.

Ayodhya is like our heart and Kaikeyi is like our mind. Because of the evil schemes of the mind, we succumb and we exile the Lord from the heart. We exile the Lord from the heart.

And Diwali is a time when we have the opportunity to welcome the Lord in the heart. And that welcoming is not a physical event when we talk about welcoming the Lord in our heart. It is a devotional event.

And that welcoming involves reviving our spiritual vision through philosophical illumination. Just as the lights of the lamps of Diwali provide illumination, similarly the lights of spiritual wisdom provide illumination. The spiritual wisdom that is given in the Vedic literature, in the Ramayana, in the Mahabharata, in the Bhagavad Gita, in the Srimad Bhagavatam, those gems of wisdom, that wisdom acts like a lamp.

And by that lamp, we start seeing the supreme selflessness and glory of the Lord's love for us. We have eyes, but those eyes cannot see the inner world. We cannot see the soul, we ourselves.

Nor can we see the Lord who is present in our hearts. So our inner world is shrouded with profound darkness. But when we take spiritual knowledge from the scriptures, then, with the eyes of knowledge, with the torchlight of knowledge, with the deep, Diwali is the festival, with the deep, our inner landscape becomes illumined.

And therein, we understand intellectually and experientially, the love of the Lord for us. And as we become purified and spiritually advanced, then we can perceive the Lord in our heart. So, the Lord never leaves our heart because he loves us so much that even when we turn away from him, he never leaves us.

But, we can no longer sense his presence when we turn away from him. So, Diwali is a festival when we shouldn't just restrict ourselves to lighting lamps externally. Along with that, we also light internally the lamp of spiritual wisdom by which we understand the love of the Lord for all of us and we welcome him back in our heart as the Lord of our heart.

Then, the happiness of Diwali will not just be restricted to one day on the calendar, but rather it will become a perennial happiness and life will become a perennial festival in the supremely sweet association of our all-loving Supreme Lord, Sri Ramachandra. That is what we can pray for on Diwali by lighting the lamps that may the lamp of wisdom be lit in our heart and may we understand his love for us and feel inspired to reciprocate his love by welcoming him in our heart. Thank you.