Diwali or Deepavali represents the victory of clarity over ignorance. This festival of lights has a great significance in the lives of humans because light, for us, is not just survival, but it signifies a new beginning. What makes us different from animals is that humans have the ability to think and act. Human intelligence is such that, if not organized properly, it will end up troubling us. After all, there is no rose without a thorn! As our own intelligence is a huge troublemaker, making everything clear and gaining clarity even over minute things have been given utmost importance. Clarity means light and light means Diwali.
Have we ever wondered why vibrant and richly colored crackers burst on this day? Diwali is recognized by some people as the day on which Lord Krishna defeated Narakasura, the demon king. Others believe that it is on this day, Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile in the forests. Now back to our question about crackers. The idea behind bursting crackers is that if we are not living an active and energetic life like a cracker, we must burst a cracker to wake up from the life of inactiveness. If a person is active, 24 hours seems to vanish just in a blow of dust. If the person is living If a person is leading an inertial life, then 24 hours will feel like an aeon. Diwali, is thus the day, when we remove that inertia from our life- the removal of the inertial hell of life, the ‘narak’.
Looking at the traditional Hindu calendars might be astonishing for the young generation that one may ask,”why every single day is marked as a special day?” Yes, our Indian culture was set in a way that everyday was a celebration. But as time passed, Diwali became special because we get holidays. The entire scheme of celebrating Diwali is to make people involved in an unconcerned manner. We find that every person in the family, village or town is busy with something or the other. But do we find anyone tense or serious? That is exactly the secret behind living a happy life! Making decisions is easy, but constructing a decision with clarity is like painting a masterpiece. The lights of Diwali reflect upon this very thought. In this world, many decisions are taken without much planning and thinking and finally becomes the ultimate disaster. The idea behind lighting lamps or traditional diyas for Diwali is to make sure we bring clarity to everything in life.
Clarity is the antidote to complexity and uncertainty. Lucidity brings success and prosperity. Let us be like the light of Diwali, dancing against the wind and illuminating the world.