MESSAGE OF LIGHT
The ancients 'saw' truth, incorporated
it in pleasant rituals to ensure its perpetuation and the moderns enjoy the
pleasantry (thus depriving the ritual of its life) and faithfully preserve the
embalmed rite! Diwali is
no exception.
The darkness of the night is dispelled
by the light that is kindled on Diwali. A single lamp may not be powerful enough to illumine a whole street,
even as a single pious action may not bring about illumination of the self. But
it is possible to illumine the whole street with strings of little lamps (Diwali), even as, if all the little acts of
one's life are holy, there is illumination of the self.
The lamps enable us to see objects
hidden in the darkness. The light of the sun enables us to see the world
outside during the daytime, and at night the same light of the sun reflected by
the moon and stars illumines the earth. An inspiring mantra in
the Katha Upanishad declares, "The sun, the moon, the
stars and the flame do not illumine 'that', but it is 'that' which makes them
luminous." What is that? Sight. Light is useless in the absence of
sight.
But, what do we mean by 'sight'? Surely,
the eyes, the retina, the optic nerve, the brain-centre, are not capable of
'seeing'. These are all present in a corpse which does not see. Enquiry
into this is meditation.
- Swami Venkatesananda
