One of the festivals that lights up the Asian sub-continent is Diwali. Traditionally, it is tied to the Epic Victory of Lord Ram over Ravan the Lord of Asuras, and reserved only for the Hindus. But for the underlying prejudices of the festival, the fictional factors, undue deification of the feudal king Ram and demonization of Ravan, the essential meaning of the festival is heartwarming. There have also been attempts to deconstruct the epic Ramayana, the most popular one was Ravanan a kollywood movie by Maniratnam. Jains, on the other hand narrate another (hi)story for the festival. They celebrate it as the day when Lord Mahavira attained his final liberation (mukti/moksa).
With the years, however the festival has grown to be a ‘symbol’ than a memory of an ‘event’. The (hi)story has been sidelined as the celebration turned into a festival of lights celebrating LIGHT, the Divine. The enthusiasm and colourful lamps that filled every house were welcome slogans for the LIGHT to fill their homes and hearts. The festival was adapted by different religions of India. It has now become an ‘every-one’s-affair’ in India. Today, despite the greedy commercialization and glamorous TV shows that has infiltrated the festive-rituals, Diwali never fails to evoke a noble thought about ‘LIGHT, the Divine’. Sadly however, the celebration ends with the ‘spiritual romance’ (glam) failing to take home the virtues of light shunning the ways of darkness. An enLIGHTened person precisely is one who has wisdom to tread this middle path, the narrow door. It’s difficult but not impossible. We have numerous examples back home in India, the list begins from time immemorial. The more striking ones in our present time for example are ‘Shehla Masood (1973-2011)’, ‘Medha Patkar’, ‘Irom Sharmila’. It’s a random list. One may probably find more inspiring people if one looks around his/her locality.
The festival is not done yet. As we hear crackers burst here and there let us remind ourselves that the meaningful celebration of the festival is to embrace the virtues of light. Let this be a different Diwali. Let us become light unto our neighbours.
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