The Soul’s Journey of Evolution – 2
Light the Lamp within your Heart
The Festival of Lights – Diwali – is here again and it is time to celebrate. Originally Deepàvali (deepa = lights, avali = row), the word meant ‘a row of lighted lamps’ and it became Diwali as time passed. Signifying the conquest of the good over evil, this festive occasion marks the day of making a new beginning in our lives. We resolve again to give up our wrong ways and live with right values.
Lord Shri Krishna killed the demon Narakasura on this day long ago and then onwards the fourteenth day (chaturdashee) of the dark fortnight of the month àshvayuja is the NARAKA-CHATURDASHI. Celebrations take place the next day, the Happy Day of DIWALI. We worship Goddess Lakshmj on the day of Diwali. Along with loving remembrance of God, we wear new clothes, share delicious sweets and decorate homes and offices, especially with rows of lamps.
Can we light lamps within us too? Can we bring to our hearts the lamp of clear discrimination (viveka), the one of compassionate sensitivity (daya) and the one of right seeing (samyag–darshana)? It is indeed important to drive away the darkness within us in order to live happily and experience harmony.
Know that sattva (purity) is predominant in you, when there is light in all the gates of your body, says the Bhagavad-Geeta (14:11). Thus light represents purity and knowledge. Not mere bookish knowledge but such wisdom that enables us to see things with eyes of kindheartedness and impartiality is the mark of purity. Mere scholarship may not lead us to illumination. Ideas and concepts very often come in the way of clear perception. Thoughts help us at times but on many other occasions it is silence that makes true understanding possible.
For the light within to burn brightly, we need to submit silently to the silent voice within us. The ego’s noise often tends to drown the whisper of our conscience. By invoking the grace of the Lord, we need to subdue our own ego and make way for truth to speak through us. Naraka means hell and it is the misconceived ego alone that creates hell-like experiences for us and therefore we must invoke Shri Krishna to come and destroy this demon.
Shri Ramana Maharshi asks us to control our breath (prana) and verbal thinking (vak) as preparation for true self-inquiry to take place. Such exercises facilitate proper watching, which alone can bring about the inner transformation. It is no easy task. Alert and vigilant daily living paves the way for this arduous journey to inner perfection. The bright side of the matter is that, deep inside, we are the light of all lights. We have the unbelievable power within us to overpower the old, habit-driven egoistic tendencies in our mind (antaSkaraVa). The greatest battle is to be fought in the field within our heart. True Diwali is when all selfishness subsides and the lamp of love shines inside us.
WISH YOU A HAPPY DIWALI.
Swami Chidananda
(Varanasi)
Friday, November 9, 2007