Darkness dispelled
Diwali is one of the most widely celebrated festivals of India. It is a festival of light and worship of Goddess Laxmi for peace, prosperity and happiness. Goddess Laxmi is the personification of feminine aspect of the omnipotent divinity.
As she represents peace, prosperity and happiness, it is believed that she can be attracted only at places that are clean and well lit.
So this day people light lamps to welcome the goddess to their houses, offices and workplaces and eventually in their lives. Just as darkness is dispelled when diyas (lamps) are lit, human ignorance (darkness) is dispelled when knowledge of pure divinity (light) is lit.
What is this ignorance that needs to be dispelled?
Ignorance about one’s own reality and the reality behind the existence of our world, ignorance about the subjects which entangles senses, ignorance about the causes of the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, ignorance about mental attachments and aversions, ignorance about the dynamics of karma and its results, ignorance about proper attitude and behaviour and ignorance about the perception and existence of God. These and other such ignorances are the main reasons for the pains and pleasures, happiness and suffering, profit and losses in our lives.
The knowledge which has the power to dispel our ignorance is presence of divinity in everything and every being in this universe. Though there is so much variety in the universe and everything looks to be independent and separate from each other, the fact is that everything is made of the divine essence, omnipresent and omnipotent, called God, Allah, Brahman, pure consciousness, energy etc. Everything seen and unseen is a modified form of that formless divinity. Seeing things as things is ignorance and perceiving divinity in things is knowledge.
The more the darkness of ignorance is removed through the light of knowledge, the more one attains peace, happiness and prosperity. It is because one gets nearer to the divine creative forces by identifying it in every aspect of life, which makes the divine forces take charge of the individual and makes all those things happen that are good for him.
We may encounter problems in life even after attainment of pure divine knowledge, but then these problems should be regarded as good for spiritual upliftment. Gods who have manifested in human form, saints and spiritually realised — Lord Rama, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Raman Maharshi, Lord Buddha, Mahaveera, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed — have experienced problems in their lives too. The problems in their lives were for their evolution and for the betterment of human beings in particular and for society in general. Their problems became the stepping stone for the upliftment of the world.
Sri Rameshji Jain is a modern age spiritual guru and founder of Poorna Ananda, a centre for spiritual evolution
and joyful living.
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