The Meaning Of Diwali

Once a year millions of people across the world celebrate one of the most sacred holidays of the Hindu
religionDiwali. In India, the festivities are incredibleeverywhere you got there are lights being
displayed. There are floating lanterns on the water, flying lanterns in the sky and classical lamps
throughout the land. Even here in the West there is no shortage of Diwali festivals.

There are people that clean up, get dressed up, cook fancy foods and light their clay lamps to
celebratewhich is wonderful. But over the years, I find that the meaning of Diwali has grown to
become diluted and not even talked about any morefor instance, ask a random Hindu why they
celebrate Diwali and chances are they will not be able to give you a straight answer. The same can be
said about Christmasmany of us light up a tree and share gifts with one another, but not many of us
really understand why.

For example, I recently went to a Diwali show last week and not once was the essence of Diwali even
talked about! Instead it consisted of a beauty pageant, dancing, food and drinks. There was even meat
and alcohol available for purchase. This is not what Diwali is about, but unfortunately many think it is
especially the younger generation. This was my incentive to writing this article.

If we refer to our holy scriptures, there are many meanings behind why we celebrate Diwali, but they all
pretty much represent the same thing. One of the main stories behind the holiday includes the one
about Lord Ramaan incarnation or manifestation of God. He was exiled from his beloved city of
Ayodhya by his own mother for 14 years. Everyone missed him dearly, even his mother realized the
mistake she made as he was considered one of the treasured jewels of the city. The people of his city
were thrown into a depressed state and the kingdoms energy level dropped to an all time low.

After 14 long years, Lord Rama was scheduled to return and the townspeople along with his family knew
this. They lit thousands and thousands of these small clay pots called diyas and placed them all around
the city and waited for their princes arrival. Once Lord Rama, his brother Lakshmana, and his wife Sita
reached the border, the epic celebration commenced.

So what meaning can be pulled from this and all of the other examples? It simply represents the coming
of the Lord into our lives. After we banish the Lord from our lives in exchange for silly sense pleasures
and material gains (his own mother exiled him), we suffer endlessly. But once we welcome Him back
into our hearts, he will surely come.

So why do we light these diyas? What do they symbolize? Diwali is known as the festival of lights, but
what is so significant about light? Divine Light is the metaphysical form of God. That is why light is
cherished in all religions, because it represents God Himself. Where there is light, darkness can never
reign. Try bringing a handful of darkness outside into a sunny day, the poor darkness will never stand a
chance. This is the reason why we light diyas all around our home. But this practice in itself serves no
actual purpose if we forget to light our internal diya which is the one that can ultimately connect us to
that source of Divine Light so that we can meditate upon it and bathe in it. If this is not our experience,
then what is the use of the outward celebration? We must have both.
All of the main religions speak of the Divine Light, yet how many of us ask where this light is? We
assume its somewhere in heaven. On the contrary, it is right here within our physical frameswe are
technically made of it! Experiencing this Divine Light through meditation is where the true meaning of
Diwali is born and this can only be achieved with the blessing and guidance of a true Spiritual Master. He
will fuse the ida, pingala, and shushumna nadis so that our Divine Eye will open and the Divine Light will
be ours to meditate upon.

For the better part of this year I have been busily working on my latest book The Divine Light Within so
that it would be ready to release on this sacred occasion. It is based on the teachings of my Guru and is a
perfect book on spirituality for the beginner, intermediate or advanced reader. I dive deep into the
heart and source of religion and philosophy to gather the information presented in this book. I sorted
through the four main scriptures of the world including The Bible, The Quran, The Bhagavad Gita, and
the Buddhist Sutras in order to show the unity of all religion. This is a must read for any spiritual
aspirant. I will place the link to where it can be purchased from Amazon below. I wish you all a
wonderful Diwali!

Visit http://www.anandoham.org/ for more information about The Meaning Of Diwali

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