Deepawali alias Diwali :The Biggest Festival of Hindus

Wish you a very Happy and Prosperous Diwali…

The word Deepawali is a combination of two samskrit words Deep and Awali.

Deep means a lamp. Awali means row. So Deepawali means a row of lamps.

Diwali is a tranformed word from Deepawali. Diwa or Diya means a lamp in languages derived from Samskrit. (Hindi, Marathi, Gujrati, Bengali etc.)
Hence, as the name suggests, Deepawali or Diwali if festival of light. The roots of Diwali may be traced to ancient ancestors of Hindus (Aryas) from Caucasus mountains (circa 5000BC), those may have been lighting fires at the start of snowy winter to burn till end of winter
Many Puranas (not-so-ancient mythological books in Hinduism circa 200 BC to 1000 AD) mention Diwali as a major festival.

The Diwali festival marks the victory of good over evil, of prosperity over poverty, of light over darkness.

Diwali is celebrated for 5 days.

The first day being “Dhana trayodashi” : 13th lunar day of second half of the hindu calender month “Ashwin”. Trayodashi literally means thirteenth day. Dhana means wealth, money, prosperity. Thus Dhanatrayodashi means the thirteenth day of/for prosperity. This day is celebrated by purchasing new metallic articles like Gold and Silver ornaments, Stainless Steel/Brass/Copper utensils etc. It is considered auspicios to buy metals on this day. A huge crowd thronging the shops dealing in these articles can be seen on this day, especially in the evenings. The sale of Gold and Silver reaches a peak on this day every year.

One more interesting aspect of this day is it is the birthday of Lord Dhanwantari, the physican of the gods, the promulgator of the Ayurveda.

The Second day is “Narak Chaturdashi”, Again Chaturdashi signifying the Fourteenth lunar day of second half of the hindu calender month “Ashwin”. The word “Narak” means nether world or hell. In Hindu mythology, there are two different references to this word – One being Lord Vishnu in the avatar (reincarnation or disguise) of Batu Waman, a small brahmin child, thrusting and sinking the mighty and arrogant king Bali to nether world (Narak). The other reference being, Lord Krishna (another reincarnation of Lord Vishnu) killing “Narakasur”, another demonic king from Pragjyotishpur (southern Nepal) on the same day.Thus this day is marked for the victory of good over demonic forces. This day is celebrated by a scented oil message, a bath with exotic soaps and body scrub powders, wearing new clothes, bursting firecrackers and eating sweets specially prepared at home for this occasion.

The third day is “Laxmi Poojan”. Goddess Laxmi (or Lakshmee) is the goddess of wealth in Hinduism. Poojan is worship. This worship is a very well laid out ritualistic festivity in which a decorated picture of Laxmi and a pot, filled with new currency notes, Gold ornaments, Silver coins and crusted rice or wheat etc., are prayed before. It is believed that the churning of milk- sea by Gods and Demons produced Laxmi and on this day Laxmi wedded Lord Vishnu. Thus, if one worships Laxmi on this day, Laxmi stays with him all his life (meaning he becomes wealthier). This is the most auspicious day for the business community in Hindus. They mark this occasion by worshipping even the ledgers and registers kept for their business. (Ask Mr. Laxmi Niwas Mittal, the steel tycoon )

The fourth day is “Bali Pratipada” or “Padawa”. Pratipada means the first day (or the new moon day of the Hindu calender month “Kartik”.) ‘Bali’ ,remember, the demonic king was sank by batu Vaman to Narak. When he apologised to Vaman and asked for mercy, Lord Vishnu in the guise of Vaman, gave him permission to visit earth once in a year. This is the day when Bali visits earth and he is welcomed by rows of lamps. Hence the name “Bali Pratipada”. On this day, married women wear new sarees and dresses presented by their husbands and rejoice the festivities.A wife adorns her husband with vermilion Tilak on his forehead and garlands around his neck and performs a ritual called “Arati” that involves circulating a lamp around his face.

The fifth day is “Yama Dwitiya” also known as “Bhai Duj”, “Bhau Beej”, “Bhai -Teeka”,”Bhai-Phota” in different parts of India. These names signify that the day belongs to brothers of sisters. The bother-sister relationship is celebrated on two occasions in Hinduism, one is Rakhi or Raksha Bandhan when the sister ties a secred thread around her brother/s’ right-hand wrist requesting to protect her from evil forces. The other is this “Yama – Dwitiya” or “Bhai Duj” on which the sister thanks her brother/s for the protection they have offered.Again, Dwitiya is the samskrit word for second day of the month. Duj, Beej are of the same meaning. Bhai, Bhau means brother. On this day, according to Hindu mythology, the god of death Yama visits her sister Yamuna/Yami when she garlands him, puts a “Tilak” on his forehead and performs “Arati”. Also, after killing demon Narakasura, Lord Krishna returned to her sister Subhadra on the same day. She also welcomed him in the same manner. The tradition of showing affection in the special way still lives on.

The Deepawali as a whole is also a five day celebration in commoration of the victory of Lord Ram (King of Ayodhya and another legendary reincarnation of Lord Vishnu) over the demonic King Ravana (of Lanka). After Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya after his exile for 14 years and a successful campaign against Ravana, the people of Ayodhya and his territory celebrated with lights and lamps. The legend is very much alive even today.

All these mythologial events occured somewhere in BCs and early ADs. Hindus have a historical tradition to remember and celebrate those events in the form of festivals. The tradition to celebrate Deepawali or Diwali itself dates back to circa 300 BC.
The Deepawali ends after great celebrations with lights, crackers, new clothes, meeting prople and wishing them prosporous times ahead and leaves behind a vaccum for lot many days.

Generally, People of other religions were unaware of Hinduism, its traditions, its festivals and its rituals. They were only interested in the Yoga, Ayurveda and meditation as preached by “orange” clad gurus, swamis, babas etc. They were under the impression that Hinduism is just a hotchpotch of strange rituals.

As India and Hindu personalities are emerging as new fore-runners of world trade, there is a lot of interest among other religion people of the world to understand the Hindu. The saying that “You can be born a Hindu, not a converted” seems to be true when one tries to understand the breadth,width and depth of Hinduism which encompasses all aspects of life and all kinds of people. I bow my head in humility to those who have started the great traditions in Hinduism.Even if I think as a stranger, I can see the wisdom, the thought and the practical approach imbibed in this religion. Even if somebody follows these traditions blindly, there is a significant gain for humanity.

Of Report Card and ranks…

Yeah, I told you I am a father to a son of 10 years and a daughter of 2 years. Didn’t I?

Well, my son is studying in fifth class and on the verge of entering the rebellious teens. He is or has been good in his studies so far and I hope he will continue.

He gets 90+% marks in every exam. He was doing fine with his rank too. But in the last exam, he slipped below first 5 ranks in class and stood 9th in some 256 students.The percentage was more or less the same. He was pretty ashamed and hesitated to show his report card to me for almost two days. When the pressure of hiding things became unbearable, he buckled and with a frightened face held his report card in my front.

My reaction was knee jerk. I scolded him and asked him what happened to his promises to me to stand at-least in the first 3 ranks this year. I showed him that he was not the highest in any of the subjects. (The highest marks are mentioned in the report card.) I declared that henceforth no concessions, no amusements and no gifts will be given to him. He has to work really hard to gain my confidence. He must be ashamed of himself to let down his parents. It went on and on for some half an hour.

He wept. And tried to give explanations. I didn’t listen.

Now, I am thinking, was I right? Is the rank that important? Why did I reacted in that manner? Is there any psychological reason?

I am very upset with myself. I was wrong. I should apologise to him.

When I think  of the reasons of my behaviour, I think of many.

I am sorry. I should correct myself.

Nuclear North Korea

I believe in the theory that says “Information leads to chaos, Knowledge leads to order”.

To build a nuclear weapon, one needs only information of the technology. North Korea going nuclear is just an eventuality. They were able to build Nodong, Tapedong then why not a N-bomb? It may be a proliferation, as some may suggest. But the point is, it all is a part of the information explosion in the world.

May be knowledge will lead to order but in this hectic world nobody is really bothered about knowledge. Often information itself is interpreted as knowledge.
And in this case the knowledge that “the world will be totally destroyed in any nuclear war” is simply forgotten by all the parties involved. So, the NPT, CTBT, systematic decrease in nuclear arsenal are all hoax.

As some voices are claiming, the UN itself may be irrelevant.

Why are we denying the fact that any country in the world with adequate resources can develop a nuclear weapon? The basic information to develop it is available on common websites. And of course, nobody would want to be left behind. They will eventually get nuclear weapons: by hook or crook. Even Japan, who has proclaimed to be opposing the N-option will be forced consider it.

This “Me too” attitude is inbuilt in the human genome. Nobody can naturally act against this instinct. And being a nuclear power has become an issue of prestige and self-esteem. Why do people burst fire crackers when their country explodes N-device? Naturally…

The countries denouncing the N-test of N.Korea and threatening to put strict sanctions against it should first look into their conscience first. It is very easy to preach but very hard to practice.

Today N. Korea has gone nuclear, tomorrow Iran will. One day even Vatican city or Madagascar or any nation for that matter may be a nuclear power- each having at-least one nuclear bomb in its kitty.

The United Nations boasts of having a consensus among the 192 member countries towards disarmament but the statements published on its website paints a sorry picture (http://disarmament.un.org/). It seems that this is a dying process. Why only a privileged few should hold the right to have N-weapons and others don’t? What is the logic behind this discrimination? Is the UN a hostage of the N-States (P5)?

Similar is the fate of other WMDs. Biological, Chemical weapons are finding their way into almost every country’s arsenal. This is also a case of propagation of information. Nobody can stop it. Ask any ordinary citizen about the military might of his country and he will boast an inflated list of WMDs and delivery system that his country has.

The clamour on this nation going nuclear, that nation helping it, the other nation giving clandestine support to it is all nonsense. There can not be any policing in a place where all are criminals. Not at all,when the sheriff himself is a murderer.Let us all face the truth.

There is some sense in N. Korea’s statement “Why the fuss over N-tests?”

This is the way any nation thinks of the WMDs. This is the sorry state of affairs.

The UN should debunk their policy of favouritism. They should dump the NPT,CTBT , CWC, BWC, Missiles treaty in its present form and a comprehensive resolution banning all of them including any future technologies for WMD should be formulated. This should not favour any country. Every country should destroy all weapons of mass destruction immediately.

Sounds Ridiculous? Laughable? Idealistic? Childish?

Read this – You and me are already dead : By natural death or by WMD? is purely our choice. And once dead, no information or knowledge can save us and our planet!

This is for your information. Until that time the chaos will prevail.

I will not say “I told you…”

Hello world!

Talking to you is a great pleasure.

If you are reading this thank you very much, there is one person who knows what I said.

You may be interested in who am I?

I am a man who has little information but thinks that he has some knowledge to share with the world. That’s it… So read and think about it. To agree or not is solely your choice.