From the unreal lead us to the real

From the darkness lead us to light

From mortality lead us to immortality

This is the festival of Sri Rama’s return after He
destroyed the evil of Ravana.
Ravana – by birth a Brahmin and by deeds a
Demon- was liberated from his evil form by Sri
Rama who as an individual in exile with the help
of a monkey brigade destroyed the military
forces of a demonic state.
It is symbolic of the power of the divine within
the individual against the forces of oppression
and darkness. It also depicts the organic unity of
humanity with all existence through the bonds of
innate divinity.
Diwali is the occasion to remember this. And
celebrate this.
 This is the festival of victory of Sri Krishna & His
divine consort Satyabama who together destroyed
Narakasura, for the sake of humanity.
Narakasura was born when Divinity (Vishnu)
touched the earth (Bhumi) to establish peace. But
he became a demonic force wanting to control all
the universe.
Hence he was destroyed by Sri Krishna aided by
Satyabama, his own mother who was the
personification of Goddess Earth .

Perhaps there is a lesson here for us all – the children

of Earth who want to control all Earth through
monocultures.
Deepavali is the day to celebrate the fall of demonic
aggressors and triumph of Mother Earth
 This was the day when eons ago Sri Krishna
made the shepherds of India venerate the
natural phenomena and made them understand
how human existence is interdependent with
seeming inanimate nature like the mountains.

He made them understand that humanity is but

part of the web of life which also includes
mountains and streams. When gods of the sky
who want humans to worship them for fear of
punishment and hell fire, tried to punish the
shepherds, Sri Krishna protected the shepherds
by lifting the mountain.

Deepavali is the day Sri Krishna taught humanity

to venerate Nature.
In Hindu mythology which offers an inner map to
deeper reality, this was the day Lakshmi the
Goddess of wealth emerged when forces of good
and evil jointly churned the cosmic ocean.

Thus Lakshmi symbolizes wealth that emerges

before the emergence of spiritual immortality. The
poison that emerged through the churning was
consumed by Siva – thus protecting the Universe.

Any technology of wealth that emerges from the

churning of knowledge can also lead to poisonous
evil like pollution or nuclear holocaust. One needs
divinity to make humanity to overcome such
phenomena.

May wealth for us come without pollution and

destruction through the grace of Lakshmi
Lord Mahavira, the last of the Jain Tirthankaras, attained
Nirvana or Moksha on this day at Pavapuri in 527 BCE,
on Chaturdashi and Amavasya. Lord Mahavira attained
his pari-nirvana at the dawn of the Deepavali day.

Mahavira taught absolute non-

violence not only against
enemies or believers of one’s
own religion or race but
towards all existence – even
towards poisonous animals
and organisms. On Deepavali
let us meditate upon His life
and teachings also.
 In Sikh Dharma third Sikh
Guru, Guru Amar Das made
Deepavali the day Sikhs
would gather together and
get the blessings of Guru.

That was the day when the spiritual power of

Guru Hargovind humbled the tyranny of
Moghul emperor that he was forced to liberate
Guru and through the grace of Guru other 52
Hindu leaders he had imprisoned.

It was also the day on which the

foundation for Hari Mandir Sahib
was laid.
Guru Amar Dhas
In 1737 celebrating Deepavali was
banned by Mughal rulers.
Bhai Mani Singh, a Sikh saint protested
against this. He organized Deepavalai
celebration in Golden Temple for which
he was arrested.
Later he was tortured by cutting each of
his fingers and joints and was forced to
convert. But he refused and became a
martyr for Dharma.
Every Indian should remember this
martyr for Deepavali when he or she
celebrates the festival. We today
celebrate Deepavali because they
sacrificed and suffered tortures.

Indentured Indian laborers in
Africa in 1880s: They fought
for the right to Deepavali
YES!
Deepavali was the pre-cursor to Mahatma Gandhi in
fight against discrimination in South Africa.
Long before Mahatma Gandhi came, Deepavali
became symbolic of fight against racism. Indentured
Indian workers in South Africa fough for almost 50
years (1860 – 1907) for their right to celebrate Diwali.
Authors Ashwin Desai and Goo- lam Vahed reveal this
in their book ‘Inside Indenture’. Desai says:
“Being the 100th year of celebrations, we need to
recognise and pay homage to those indentured
labourers and many other Hindus who sacrificed a
great deal to convince the white colonial authorities
that Hinduism was a religion and that they had a right
to celebrate Diwali”
So Celebrate Depavalii
• The festival of light
• The festival of liberation
• The festival of pluralism
• The festival of sacrifice
• The festival of freedom
•abilitytowin.blogspot.com