Traditionally, Deepavali celebrates the return of Prince Ram to Ayodhya after 14 years in exile. A sea of diyas were lit to welcome him as he ascended the throne. Metaphorically, it applies to whatever is happening to us today. Ram’s kingdom represents a world of eternal peace, love, happiness, and prosperity. When he was banished from there, Ram faced a dark period, full of hardships. He overcame all challenges, defeated Ravan before returning to his kingdom.
We the souls are originally peaceful, ‘loveful’ and happy but have forgotten this truth and are wandering in darkness today, as negative tendencies have taken over us. But once we win over our vices, we return to our original state of virtues. The inner light, the soul then gets illumined.
Thus, Deepavali implies lighting up of the soul. Everything we do during this festive season is symbolic of this; it is also meant to ignite positivity and optimism in our lives.
Cleaning the house: Every nook and corner of the house is cleaned during Deepavali, reminding us to clean our minds of all emotional stains of the past such as hurt, anger, resentment, and stress. For instance, a thought, ‘Why did they do this to me?’ needs to be erased by counselling the mind – ‘It was their samskars, their perspective, their state of mind that day, their mood. It was a karmic account. It is over now.’
Donning new clothes: New household items, new clothes all symbolise that when something is cleaned, newness ushers in automatically. As we clean our minds to release old patterns, we learn new ways of thinking, speaking, and behaving. Old samskars of anger, hurt and criticism are replaced by new ones – those of understanding, compassion, respect, forgiveness, and acceptance.
Exchanging gifts: Ideal gifts to give each other are blessings and good wishes. Not just for the festival but for every day henceforth, let us give everyone a gift voucher that says, ‘From this moment, no matter what you say or do, you will always receive only pure thoughts, pure feelings and blessings from me.’
Savouring sweets: During the festive season, we prepare sweets and first offer them as prasad to God to seek His blessing. These sweets are then served to everyone. Sweets signify sweetening our mouth, which means every word we say should be filled with sweetness, love, and respect. Starting new accounts books: Businessmen reconcile previous accounts and start new books of accounts. It reminds us that we have karmic accounts with each other. No matter how old the issue or how heavy the negative energy may be, we need to close it and begin a new account of acceptance and accommodation.
Lighting diyas: ‘Diya’ refers to ‘giving’ in Hindi. Diyas are made of clay; they represent our body; their wick symbolises the soul to be illumined. It is lit by adding ghee of knowledge – ‘I am a soul. Love, peace, and happiness are my original qualities which I give to everyone.’
Worshipping Lakshmi:Goddess of happiness and prosperity, inspires us to raise our hands, too, to give – be ready to offer support and help to those around us, always.
This way, Deepavali inspires us to make new beginnings, so that every day is a celebration.
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