Diwali is not a ‘Hindu’ Festival Let me share my Diwali greetings to you all. Yes, as a festival of lights, Diwali or Deepavali needs to be seen not as a ‘Hindu’ religious festival, but a festival of joy, happiness and victory. It is a festival of victory over darkness. It is a victory over ‘evil’ force. This does not necessarily mean that it should be seen merely as a mythological war between the so-called Aryans and Dravidians like the manner in which some claim. It may have some truth in it or may not. The fact of the matter is that we need to understand that you and I are the light and enlightened human being of the world. This simply means that we need to live as useful citizens as much as possible through our enlightened life. Let me explain with an anecdote which I like the most, experimented well by a glorious rebel—Christ. I am adding a bit of flavour here to get a clear message of what I am trying to convey. We all know that a village or town or city built on a hill or solid rock cannot be out of sight at all. What does it convey? It conveys a small but beautiful message. We hardly light a lamp or candle and put it under a bowl when electricity goes off. What do we do? We put it on its stand. The stand could be of anything. So, the bottom-line is that we light a lamp in such a way that it gives light to everyone in the house. How nice it will be if we all could realise this wonderful enlightening occasion while we light lamps on this beautiful moment. In the same way, let the light-filled quality, value and eminence of our enlightened life stand out before others irrespective of caste, religion, language, region, nation, caste, colour, and race. After all, Diwali is no longer a ‘Hindu’ religious festival like the way some ‘religious’ people interpret it. No, never. The festival of lights can never be narrowed down and restricted to a particular religion. Let’s broaden the scope of every festival with a transmitting, transcending and transforming influence. This is the way I see Diwali and other festivals without attributing any special status and flavour to any particular festival. Cynical approach to festivals only leads to religious conflicts, which in turn helps communalism grow and yield its bitter fruits. This is a very harmful and dangerous threat to a composite culture in a multi-cultural society.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 06:03:39 +0000
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