India is called the land of festival and Diwali is the biggest Hindu festivals celebrated countrywide in almost every region, in its own style.
That does not minimize the enthusiasm and the warmth of the celebration that every Hindu feels from inside in those five auspicious days of the Diwali festival. It is celebrated with the same zeal by everyone from children to adults all over India.
Diwali has both religious as well as social significance in one’s life. The word diwali or deepavali means a “deep” or lights arranged “avail” or in a row.
So the custom is to light several lamps in a row in your house and lighten up the spirit of goodness inside you, by shrugging off everything that’s evil. It symbolizes destruction of violence, envy, anger, wickedness, lust and suffering. The darkness of ignorance is eliminated and the light of knowledge is illuminated – that’s the main significance of the festival.
We welcome everything new in form of clothes and jewellery and throw away grudges and grief. The North Indian business class people start their new financial year on the auspicious day of Diwali and open new account books. Crackers are burnt so that the evil can be burnt or driven away from our lives and the surroundings can be purified. Now comes the turn to purify our minds; so we perform various types of Puja to uplift the spiritual thought that exists inside every human being.
Goddess Laxmi is worshipped so that we get wealth, prosperity and peace in life. Lord Ganesha is worshipped to get wisdom and calmness in life. we also worship Lord Rama to be an ideal man like him in life. We worship Ma Kali which signifies the triumph of good over the bad and demolishing anything that’s negative in life.
We wash and clean our homes so that Goddess Laxmi comes to our household, she cannot stand anything dirty. Actually this signifies to clean the impurities of mind so that our soul can get spiritually connected to God. We make diyas, decorate our homes with rangolis which creates an environment of festivity and makes us smile throughout. That keeps us happy and makes us forget all sorrows of life.
During Diwali we meet our family and friends and also participate in social gathering to share sweets among each other. this is done to exchange sweetness and happiness among each other. These gestures are important as which they teach us how to live in a society in a proper way and be a social citizen, which we often forget in our busy schedule. People fast and thus learn how to control the vice of mankind-hunger by devoting their minds completely to the almighty.
Deepavali is not only a festival, it is a great unifying force; not with your friends and family but with your inner self. You can merge yourself with divine force and enjoy the inherent bliss of your soul. May every deepavali that comes to our life, bring more happiness and prosperity in future.