Significance of Diwali

  Diwali the festival of lights is much awaited by every one of us for the obvious reason that it brings light and brightness into our lives which we go on to cherish until the next time we celebrate the same. Diwali has so much of spiritual and religious significance which every one of us should know especially the younger generation which may not know these invaluable details. This story throws light on some such aspects which will benefit many of us in the sense we will gain additional knowledge about the Diwali celebrations and festivals.       

Tanu was busy as usual with all the routine household work etc. She was even more busy due to the arrangements she was making for the upcoming Diwali festival. You might be aware Diwali the festival of lights is celebrated by every Indian every year religiously and in a ceremonial manner. We make a lot of arrangements like cleaning our house as we believe goddess Laxmi blesses the houses that a clean and well-lit. So, now we know why Tanu was busy. Her phone kept ringing amidst this busy schedule and she was surprised to see who the caller was. It was her cousin's sister who rarely spoke to her on the phone except for any important reason. After a while she called her back only to understand that her cousin's daughter had prepared a small note which she would be presenting in a contest that would be held in her school in the coming week. Yes, you guessed it the topic was 'Diwali'. Tanu was a good guide to her cousin sister in these matters as tanu was into teaching English in schools and she was good at elocution and other contests. Her cousin forwarded the matter written on a piece of paper which would be checked by tanu and she promised she would get back to her as she would be free from her work. After finishing her household work tanu called her cousin charu. Charu explained what was the guidance she needed from Tanu. Charu spoke about her daughter's elocution contest at school and the topic about which she would be speaking for a duration of 6 to 7 minutes approximately.                      

  Keeping her cousin's daughter's age in mind (Yashu) the girl was 12 years old.Tanu had to prepare notes accordingly. But, she already had a plan as to what were the points that were to be included which could win accolades on presentation.  Tanu would include points that would refer to the age-old Indian tradition that refers to the ancient texts and scriptures that point out towards gods and goddesses, the triumph of good over evil, the significance of worshipping goddess laxmi and so on. She had to make the note simple and easy to be presented by the young girl.       With a big cup of hot coffee, Tanu picked up plain sheets of paper from her cup board and sat at the study table with her favourite pen in hand.                       Just like any speech or presentation of words the first thing she would do was to write a few lines that is introduction to the topic.                She wrote about the festival Diwali saying that it is the festival of lights symbolising the elimination of darkness in our lives and illuminating our lives with everything good and prosperous.              

  Now she went on to write about the significance of Diwali as per our scriptures and ancient texts. She wrote about Lord Sri Ram and his beloved wife goddess Sita and their coming back to Ayodhya after completing their 14 years of exile and about the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana the demon king. Basically this is the victory of goodness over evil. She even included the point that they returned in the month of October and it was a dark night known as amavasya traditionally. She wrote how all the people of Ayodhya welcomed Lord Rama and goddess Sita by lighting lamps and wicks illuminating the entire place signifying everything auspicious that was going to happen under the rule of Lord Rama.                    

The next point was the birth of goddess Laxmi the goddess of wealth and prosperity. She wrote about the ancient belief or story for that matter as how when the demons and goddesses were churning the earthen pot in the sea of nectar goddess laxmi was born with handful of wealth and power. She added the point that worshipping goddess Laxmi in the evening of the festival day bestows wealth, health, happiness and peace along with abundance and prosperity.        The next story was about Narakasura the demon king who was given a blessing by lord Shiva that no one could win over him or kill him except lord Vishnu and this was done on the same day again symbolizing victory of good over evil.                             The last point she included was about the Pandavas coming back from exile after defeating the Kauravas which is mentioned in the great epic Mahabharata. This day was and is celebrated as Diwali the festival of lights.                       The elocution would be ended by wishing everyone a happy and prosperous dipawali the festival of lights and brightness.