Diwali Greetings

[Guest guest]

Dear All

 

A VERY HAPPY DIPAWALI.

 

On this occassion I would like to share the reason behind Diwali celeberation.

Pls read the post taken from 'Vedanta Sandesh'

 

Love & OM

Dora

 

 

In Dark about Festival of Light

Swami Atmananda

 

Time changes the basic form & structure of everything, including festivals.

Diwali is a very striking example in this regard. When we see the earlier

scriptures then the objective of this beautiful 'festival of lights' was very

different from what is understood today. In fact it is so different that we can

never imagine the profound change.

 

Ask anyone today of the reason of Diwali celebration and we get answers like,

this being the day when Lord Rama came back to Ayodhya, or this being the day

when Lord Krishna killed the demon Narakasura. During the celebration there is

Lakshmi pujan too. None of this was there earlier. As we know Hinduism existed

much earlier than the dazzling avatar's of Lord Rama or Krishna, and even at

that time this festival was celebrated. While the celebration in the memory of

the return of Lord Rama, which in fact signifies the beginning of the

Rama-Rajya, & great relieving feat of Lord Krishna are worthy of celebration,

yet one need not forget the initial or rather the main reason of the

celebration. Well! hold your breath, you will be surprised to know that earlier

the center stage was occupied by Lord of Death - the Yamaraj. The main hero of

this ancient & beautiful festival of lights is unfortunately no where around

now. I would prefer to call this stark ignorance of ones culture &

traditions and even decadence. Ordinary folks are not really responsible for

all this, but it is the guiding lights who apparently did not do their home work

properly.

 

Lord Yama is not only the God of Death, but is also the king of Pitra-Loka, the

realm where our forefathers are said to go & live after this life. He thus is

not only the caretaker of our ancestors, but is also indirectly responsible for

us to live here. When he comes then man will have to go - no matter who he or

she is. The personality of Lord Yama is very positive & righteous. He is an

embodiment of Brahma-Vidya & Dharma. He does his very difficult, important &

thankless job of ending the innings of a person in this loka with great

dexterity, perfection & dispassion. He never operates on the basis of likes or

dislikes, and is a perfect instrument of God. We know that every master gives

the most difficult job to his best instrument - so he is indeed a chosen one of

God. An embodiment of Karma Yoga. He is the guru of Brahma Vidya in

Kathopanishad, where he gives this ultimate knowledge of the identity of Self &

God to Nachiketas. He is indeed worthy of great worship from all

possible counts.

 

The reason of Diwali celebration, is however, our forefathers. The scriptures

tell us that the Pitra's (the forefathers) come to visit their progeny on earth

during the Sraddha fortnight. This is the time when we express our regards &

gratitude to them in the form of various symbolic rituals. They stay here in

this loka till Diwali, when Lord Yama personally comes here to escort them back

to Pitra Loka. The festival starts from Trayodashi (13th day of the fortnight)

and continues till Amavasya (the new moon day - Diwali). So we decorate & light

our homes in their honor. While on the Diwali day we show Mashal (lighted

torch's) to our revered forefathers & the king of their loka - at the time of

their departure. This is indeed a great tradition, wherein we not only see the

Lord of Death in his right perspective but also keep the awareness & reverence

of our roots. Forgetting such a tradition is indeed tragic. Let this Diwali be

the one with a difference. Give a worthy send-off to your

ancestors & their present king who loves & cares about his people so much that

he personally comes to take them back.

 

 

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