These are small things but due to these, Diwali was a big festival. Diwali was then a wait of the year. Then after Diwali, Ram of Diwali, Was like Ram. Now there is a show of arrogance in Ayodhya in the name of Ram. Its example is that look, we lit so many lakhs of lamps. And look, Look, we made a record in the Guinness Book. The question is whether on the night of Diwali, are we spreading the light of Ramji’s dignity or the darkness of ego? Do we welcome Goddess Lakshmi with light or with the darkness spreading in our hearts and minds?
There were no lights then, there were earthen lamps. Then the sweets that came online were not chocolates or pastries, they had the taste of home. At that time, there were no ready-made puja items, there was Bair-Kheel-Patasha, Santha, Halwa, Namkeen. At that time, firecrackers were indigenous and there was no concern about pollution or ban. At that time all the people of the house used to come together, it was a common thing in the neighbourhood. He was full of both social and personal enthusiasm. At that time it was a joint family and not a nuclear family. At that time the festival was a natural joy and not a show off. At that time, Ganesha and Lakshmi were made of clay, not silver idols. In the puja, there were fifty-eight-eighth coins and not silver and gold coins. Then worship was done with faith in the heart and not worship for the sake of worship. At that time, Lakshmiji was invoked by the maternal power, Grihalakshmi, for the happiness and prosperity of the house and not through greed and blind hunger, she was worshiped through the Pandits. At that time everyone’s minds were united and did not get scattered or strayed. At that time there were no disputes whether puja should be done on Thursday or Friday. One worships Diwali during the black new moon day of Thursday and the other during the new moon day of Friday morning and afternoon.
Then we used to clean the house and mind with our hands. At that time, there was no social media, which could create mess in the day of puja, confusion in the day or the time of auspicious time! In the name of worship, then the heart and mind were not tainted with superstitions and remedies. Everything was pure, original and simple. The minds were bright. The heart was true. Everything was clean. There was no division in the home and neighborhood due to useless talks and politics. Diwali did not have the ego and narrative of global glamor of its festival.
Think about Goddess Mahalakshmi sitting in your heaven of faith and meditation! Would she be happy or angry with today’s Kaliyugi Hindus? Wouldn’t you believe that this is such a time when there is not so much wisdom in mental poverty that prosperity, desire for Sridevi (Lakshmi) is possible through purity of mind, means and dignity and not through show-off and tainted hunger and hypocrisy! The meaning of Diwali is prayer for freedom from darkness. To keep yourself pure and honest in your mind and heart, pray to Goddess Lakshmi for increase in your abilities. Eradication of Amangal (Kali puja in Bengal). Even on this working day, should we worship this illusion in the beginning of Amavasya night or later!
However, now it is a common thing that Hindus create controversy on everything and then argue about true and false. How absurd that instead of sticking to its calendar date (after all, it is already according to astrological calculations, so its holiday must be authentic), the government would have declared another holiday to celebrate Diwali in the name of so-called public sentiment. Is!
And which public sentiment? In Sanatan Dharma, every year, on special days of the year, during its sacred moments, the scriptures and astrology of invocation and worship of special Gods and Goddesses are fixed. There is a tradition of worshiping Lakshmi and Kali on the new moon night during Diwali festival, so that is enough. And the worship is done because, according to Vidyanivas Mishra, this festival is the festival of lamps. Every corner of the house should be cleaned, every corner should be cleaned, a lamp should be lit with one’s own hand and placed in every corner along with a verse, rows of lamps should be spread outside the house from the parapet to the bottom, the door should be opened to have darshan of Sridevi. Let us wait, the intention behind all this is one, to fight the darkness, to fight with the power of human effort, to destroy the external and internal attachments.… It is the day of Kali Pujan in Bengal, because Kali is the god of destruction of evil.
At present, in this house, does the individual, home and family resolve to eradicate darkness from their mind and temple? What is the desire to open the doors of home and mind and have the darshan of Goddess Lakshmi?
Emotions and integrity are important! And in both these aspects there is now pretense, arrogance and selfishness. Now there are demonstrations and money-hungry sponsorships. That’s why there are many differences between the Diwali of the twenty-first century and the Diwali of my childhood. At that time the lamp was made of clay, everything was made within one’s own society and neighbourhood. There was nothing imported or Chinese. Then there was a sense of darkness and light coming face to face. The reality of what was true and what was false was exposed. Diwali did not have such pride, now Diwali is celebrated in the White House also. It is a global festival. It was the worship of the individual and the family. It was a real joint festival of the local washermen, potters, raggers, tailors, prosperous traders and pujapathi pundits. There was no caste based discrimination like today. At that time, there were no class-specific apartments and colonies like today’s. There was a thick mixed population in the localities of towns and cities. And every festival in some way or the other prohibited mutual help and sharing among all castes (this is my experience). Absolutely no pretense and arrogance. If the neighboring moneylender is a rich person then the rest of the people in the street would be jealous of his Diwali, it was not so. When I used to go from Delhi to my city Bhilwara, I would get a lot of firecrackers from Sadar Bazaar and all the street children would burst them together. In my childhood, I too used to get ‘fooljhadi’ and ‘chakri’ from others and whenever someone would burst a kothi or rocket, the children’s troupe would laugh at it.
These are small things but due to these, Diwali was a big festival. There was a wait of a year. There was excitement. In the simple and easy spirit of the festival, they used to paint the festival decorations and clean the house. The purchases were few and cheap but full of satisfaction. Now the same is shopping from Amazon. Social media is a firecracker. There is a twinkling of Chinese lights. And everything else is a show. There is ego of money and power. And this is also an example of ego that look, we lit so many lakhs of lamps. And look, look we have made a record in the Guinness Book. Guinness Book record is a show, a competition for Hindus, to show others what we are! Think, would Maryadapurush Ram have understood the show of lakhs of lamps in Ayodhya as the spread of the light of his dignity or the darkness in the minds of the devotees? Are we celebrating Diwali now in the darkness spreading in our hearts and minds or in the true light of light?