Jottings - Slice of life - 429 (Diwali - a festival of hope, joy and optimism)

The light this Diwali will bring is special. Never before in recent memory have we struggled so much with darkness and uncertainty, as we have this year. A shroud of anxiety has gripped the world, and it is fair to say, for millions of people the year 2020 has been a dark period. It is nine months since an epidemic chose to surreptitiously seep into our lives, and change the very way we live and work. And now, as we near the end of this chronological year, we hope, the tide will change soon, and all of us will emerge transformed and wise in many ways than before. The Holiday season in the West begins soon, and in India, Diwali marks the end of a long list of religious festivals that punctuate the calendar. A million lamps will be lighted this weekend across the nation, in every village and every city, and their collective luminosity will brighten the skies, the earth, the hearts of countless people, and more importantly, we hope the light will extinguish the penumbra of darkness, restlessness, and anxiety that has encircled the world. This is our hope and prayer for this year’s Diwali.

 

Mercia Eliade, the great Romanian historian of religion, in his fascinating book “The sacred and the profane” distinguishes two kinds of time: the temporal and the sacred.  Temporal time is irreversible, it is the chronological journey of our daily lives with its aches, pains, hopes, and joys; on the other hand, sacred time is reversible, one can stop the clock and dip ourselves into the timelessness of our cultural symbols, lose ourselves in the mythical tales of our Gods and Goddesses, or enact the profound symbols and ontologically pregnant rituals. Whether it is the Christmas of the Christian tradition, or the Ramadan of the Muslims, or the Yom Kippur of the Jews, or the Navroz of the Persians, or the Diwali of the Indians —  festivals recreate myths, resurrect traditional symbols and relive the primordial acts of the Gods. A rationalist mind may dismiss such notions as superstitious or primitive; but for those who understand and believe in the intent and value of these myths, the celebration of religious events provide a break in temporal time, and allows an individual to consciously relive the acts of creation personified by the Gods, and realign themselves to the moral order that stems from these myths. 

 

Of all the religious festivities that grace the Indian subcontinent, none parallels the sheer joy, exuberance, and the palpable sense of bonhomie that Diwali brings to the hearts of millions of Indians. The origins of this five-day cultural extravaganza are not clear. Though numerous early spiritual texts have references to this day of celebration, they are often shrouded in the local interpretations prevalent during that time. To some, it marks the day when the virtuous Rama, the hero of Valmiki’s epic poem Ramayana, returned to Ayodya after he was treacherously banished to the forest for fourteen years; to some Diwali is a celebration of the annihilation of demon Narakasura by the romantic, naughty, mystical and chivalrous Lord Krishna of the Vaishnava tradition; to some others - Diwali represents the apotheosis of victory over evil in the form of Mother Kali -  the Goddess who consummates the wheel of creation and destruction in her arresting image;  to the Jains - Diwali connotes the austere passing of their supreme master Mahavira from his mortal frame into enlightenment; and to the Sikhs, the day signifies the return of Guru Hargobhind, the sixth Nanak, to Amritsar from his imprisonment in the jails of Gwalior.  These are but a few reasons for the celebration. There are many more, equally enticing, ancient, and full of diverse meaning, as the land of India itself.

 

The word Diwali is derived from the Sanskrit root “Deepavali” which literally means “rows of lamps”. In southern India, the festival is still known as Deepavali, and not in its modified name of Diwali. However, except for the name, everything else about the festival has a national flavor to it. Like a subtle thread running through a necklace of pearls, it is the striking similarities in the celebration of Diwali that exemplifies the unified cultural stream that underlies the diversity of India. Lamps line the terraces and front porches of every home; families, friends, and even strangers let go of their inhibitions or festering grievances to mingle freely with each other; gifts and sweets are exchanged bountifully with unconditional love and hope; a sense of rejuvenation and contagious happiness spread all around; the very air reverberates with the sound, crackle, and hiss of firecrackers painting the dark skies of the lunar month with splashes of color and fountains of enchanting brightness; brand new clothes and fashionable attire will be on display, and above all, there is this strong energy field that envelopes the nation, binding it as one people, one ancient civilization, embracing and absorbing everyone in its capacious fold.

 

In its ritual observance, the five days of Diwali are like many other religious days -  intense moments of prayer and propitiation of different Gods. The third day, however, is the crescendo of the celebrations: Goddess Lakshmi, the bestower of wealth is called forth, and it is to her all sacrifices are addressed. After all, without material well-being, nothing else is possible. India is probably the only civilization that audaciously worships wealth in the form of a Goddess. Every Hindu home will have a picture or an idol of the Godmother Lakshmi, to whom prayers are meticulously offered. Indian tradition believes that wealth cannot be acquired by personal industry only, it needs the blessings of powers beyond oneself. There is definitely a grain of truth in it. Anyway, behind all these outward manifestations of devotion, there lies the esoteric understanding that Diwali is an occasion to scrape the inner self of the accumulated rust of hurt, pride, and cynicism gathered over time; and a soothing balm to tired psyche buried under the constant pressures of stress-filled work-a-day lives. Diwali, in essence, commemorates the renewal of the spirit, and the ability to face life afresh each day with vitality and unbridled optimism. What else do we need?

 

Wishing all the readers a peaceful and joyful Diwali filled with hope and vision.