Indian culture is full of festivals and celebrations. They represent the spirit of our society and it’s living spirit. Celebrating the spirit of life, which is joy, is apparent in each of our festival. And each festival has it’s own ritual of celebration. Coming from an atheist approach I personally started appreciating these rituals very recently. My real learning started when I wanted to pass my Indian culture to my children. Suddenly I realized that an important part of my character building was the happy memories of these festivals and celebrations from my childhood.  While not knowing exactly what and why we were celebrating they still wove a very strong fabric of my personality. The family coming together with joy and laughter, yummy foods, new clothes, playing with cousins and moth importantly bringing back the happiness of life in spite of all not so happy aspects we all may be going through otherwise was the foundation on which each of our life was built.

Thus my own quest to understand these rituals and bringing their spirit back in my children’s life started from this.

To me Diwali – original word Deepawali – which means a chain of lights, this illuminates the atmosphere and removes the darkness.

When each one of us join hands sharing our inner light with each other, it is with this line of enlightened individual lights we remove the darkness of ignorance in the society leading all to an evolved eternal flow of joy, love & peace. In dissolving self for the creation of such a society individual immortality is born. All our enlightened masters have shown this to us. We remember them in spite of their short-lived mortal life. In fact it is only because of these very few individuals that the whole ignorant world is sustained.

On the morning of this auspicious festival I pray and wish that may we all be led in realizing our own inner light. My we all connect with each other through our purity. May we lead our society in to an enlightened society of love, joy and peace.