Relevance of Diwali for the Modern Day Civilization

 

How Did the Festival of Diwali Start?

This was the day on which Lord Ram, his wife Goddess Sita, brother Lakshman and his army of warriors returned to Ayodhya after conquering Ravan, the demon king of Lanka. The city of Ayodhya was decorated with lights to welcome Lord Ram and the festival of Diwali, also popularly known as Deepawali, was celebrated for the first time. Since then the festival of Diwali is celebrated every year in Bharat. Even after the passage of thousands of years the passion and fervor with which Diwali is celebrated continues to grow each passing year. In-fact ,as on date, the festival of Diwali is celebrated by the followers of Sanatan tradition in a large number of countries worldwide.  

Ignorance is the Root Cause of All Problems

In the absence of the light of knowledge, the darkness of ignorance is bound to take away the control of life. Therefore it is important to understand why the festival of Diwali is so relevant to the modern day civilization. The root cause of all evils is the self centered mindset focused at indulging in immediate sense gratification and by all means. Most evils are bred and spread on the fertility offered by ignorance and the resultant unbridled urge of surrendering to vices. These vices get adopted in the garb of conformity to social norms without building a deeper understanding regarding the standards of value based personal conduct and behavior. Personal conduct based on values of self restraint and righteousness can be a game changer for the society in general and individuals in particular.

An individual can easily lose track of the desirable by venturing into the path that looks very attractive at the outset but may have invisible pitfalls at the other end. This happens at a pace where understanding of the costs and consequences associated with such a choice is significantly compromised. Proper education can lead to development of responsible individuals. By awakening the sense of self responsibility of an individual to reflect on her /his day to day actions through deep introspection, the importance of prayer and meditation can become an integral part of her / his lifestyle.

An Opportunity for Self Introspection

The festival of Diwali is an opportunity to take a deep dive into your conscience as an individual for analyzing and evaluating your persona in terms of your thought processes, goals, aspirations, affiliations ,actions, habits and  your level of knowledge or ignorance that empowers or belittles you as a human. Only enjoying the party, food, gifts and crackers in not the purpose of celebrating Diwali. Diwali is an opportunity to refresh the ideals demonstrated through the life of Lord Rama. By contemplating on the way he thought, planned, experienced and performed his role in every relationship and situation can throw open the doors to a more meaningful life, mental peace, contentment and bliss that every individual desires to have but she / he has not been educated or trained to achieve.

In its true essence celebrating the festival of Diwali must refresh the underlying message of compassion, commitment, integrity and fortitude for developing your self, to your true potential, as an individual. Diwali celebrations must not just be an occasion to party and enjoy but an opportunity to seriously reflect on your conduct, purpose, meaning and the values that you live for as an individual.

Focus on Reinvigorating Individual as well as Collective Consciousness

The need of the hour is to bring the focus back on building individual as well as collective consciousness for long lasting peace, prosperity and growth. This focus assumes a higher order significance in the context of the vision pertaining to Viksit Bharat. 

This blog shall continue to initiate thought provoking discussions for exploring the rich and often neglected cultural heritage of Bharat. Please do share your thoughts by commenting on this post.