DIWALI- SINGLE LIGHT ENOUGH TO BANISH DARKNESS
Diwali has'nt been hit. You can see the lights from your window as your flight comes in to land at night. They say a single light is all it takes to banish darkness. Why zillions strung together at festive times, the monster blackness beneath the plane glows like a giant bill-board, lots of dots, burning orange on black.
As your plane gets nearer to ground, you notice lots of well-lit windows and doors---all open--- meant to welcome the Goddess of Wealth, who supposedly loves to travel at night on her owl. But is'nt that bird inauspicious ? Not really. How can anything blessed by the Goddess be unlucky ? The owl is not just an economically correct bird. It is ecologically correct as well. Just think of the savings it creates for the farmer by feeding on rats.
As for the festival of lights being celebrated in Maximum city, there is more to Diwali than just praying, for auspicious gain ( shubh labh ): where there is light and right action, can other virtues like health, wealth, daring, and exhilarating happiness lag behind ? For achieving all that, good means are as important as great ends. That may explain why Sri Lakshmi, the presiding goddess of the festival, is also the reigning deity of good goals ( lakshya ) and prosperity in its eight-fold aspects called Astha Lakshmi or 8 incarnations. These other seven are Dhanya Lakshmi, wealth of granaries, that of arms ( Dhariya Lakshmi ) and of royal elephants ( Gaja Lakshmi ), not to forget wealth begotten ( Santana Lakshmi ) and prosperity thru battlefield victory ( Vijaya Lakshmi ) or due to knowledge ( Vidya Lakshmi ). The 8th is the goddess of good fortune ( Dhan Lakshmi ).
Nor does the worship of the Wealth Goddess on the day of Dhanteras preclude the quest for other aspirations. The 4 arms of Mahalakshmi, for example are said to represent the 4 main goals ( human life, namely, desire ( kama ), commerce ( Artha ) and ethics ( Dharma ) Leading to LIBERATION ( Moksha ).
The mother Goddess and her 8 manifestations represent the harmony of charity balanced with acqusition as well as desire tempered with liberation. So go out and have a blast on Diwali.
Let each one of us, pledge that from this Diwali, we shall light one " Diya " each, of liberation and freedom and get rid of this corrupt system, choking us, until the next Diwali, when it arrives with a new Dawn of enlightened India with a New Face.
As your plane gets nearer to ground, you notice lots of well-lit windows and doors---all open--- meant to welcome the Goddess of Wealth, who supposedly loves to travel at night on her owl. But is'nt that bird inauspicious ? Not really. How can anything blessed by the Goddess be unlucky ? The owl is not just an economically correct bird. It is ecologically correct as well. Just think of the savings it creates for the farmer by feeding on rats.
As for the festival of lights being celebrated in Maximum city, there is more to Diwali than just praying, for auspicious gain ( shubh labh ): where there is light and right action, can other virtues like health, wealth, daring, and exhilarating happiness lag behind ? For achieving all that, good means are as important as great ends. That may explain why Sri Lakshmi, the presiding goddess of the festival, is also the reigning deity of good goals ( lakshya ) and prosperity in its eight-fold aspects called Astha Lakshmi or 8 incarnations. These other seven are Dhanya Lakshmi, wealth of granaries, that of arms ( Dhariya Lakshmi ) and of royal elephants ( Gaja Lakshmi ), not to forget wealth begotten ( Santana Lakshmi ) and prosperity thru battlefield victory ( Vijaya Lakshmi ) or due to knowledge ( Vidya Lakshmi ). The 8th is the goddess of good fortune ( Dhan Lakshmi ).
Nor does the worship of the Wealth Goddess on the day of Dhanteras preclude the quest for other aspirations. The 4 arms of Mahalakshmi, for example are said to represent the 4 main goals ( human life, namely, desire ( kama ), commerce ( Artha ) and ethics ( Dharma ) Leading to LIBERATION ( Moksha ).
The mother Goddess and her 8 manifestations represent the harmony of charity balanced with acqusition as well as desire tempered with liberation. So go out and have a blast on Diwali.
Let each one of us, pledge that from this Diwali, we shall light one " Diya " each, of liberation and freedom and get rid of this corrupt system, choking us, until the next Diwali, when it arrives with a new Dawn of enlightened India with a New Face.
posted by vaneet kundra at
Sunday, October 26, 2008
4 Comments:
Diwali is a great festival. When the "diyas" are burnt, I feel very peacefulness inside myself.
Everything is lovely on this day.
Happy Diwali to you too. I hope you wont give up good work till next Diwali. You have already become a half military man, till next diwali, i hope you would be a full military man. Then i dont think, u will need our help. I hope, u would say, " Kar liya ".
All the best.
Dear Mr. Vaneet Kundra,
Lovely thoughts, in this and the preceding blog too. I wish you & your family, and, all the readers of your blogs & their families a vey happy Diwali and a prosperous New Year. May Astha-Laxmi bless you with riches and renewed vigour and strength to fight corruption and to positively influence the like minded masses also to surge forward in this endeavour towards success so that we can live with real freadom, dignity and sel-respect in times to come. God Bless! Jai Hind.
Brigidaier Nalwa & Cdr. Khilari,
Thanks for your comments and HAPPY DIWALI To all the members of your family. May this Diwali, give all of us the reqired strength and vigour, so that all the Diwalis, there after are spent, in freedom and liberation from the " parasites " around us. That will be a TRUE DIWALI.
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