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: Diwali. There are several beautiful lessons and meanings to be taken from this festival of lights. Read on to find out.

The crucial differences between Rama and Ravana

Both Rama and Ravana were kings; both were learned in the scriptures; both were charismatic; both were beautiful. What made Rama God and Ravana a demon? One difference is crucial: Ego! Whereas Bhagwan Rama’s heart overflowed with divinity, love, generosity, humility, and duty, Ravana’s heart was filled with avarice, hatred, and egoism.

It was not ignorance that led to aggression; Ravana was a great Vedic scholar. It was not laziness, ugliness or impotency which led him to aggression. He was powerful, dynamic, and beautiful. His own ego, arrogance and slavery to sensual desires led to his aggression and downfall. His insatiable desires led him to crave more and more power, more and more money, and more and more pleasures to fulfill his every whim. On the other hand, Bhagwan Rama was always humble, dharmic, pure and pious. Further, Bhagwan Rama was a master of his senses, not their slave. Ravana was ruled by kama and artha. Yet Bhagwan Rama teaches the world to choose dharma over artha and to choose moksha over kama.

This year as we celebrate Diwali, let us not only celebrate the joyous return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya and the vanquishing of evil by good, but let us also ask ourselves if Lord Rama has come to our own hearts. Have the forces of good, righteousness and humility conquered the evil forces of desire, arrogance and ego within us?

True lamps to light

Each year we line our homes with brightly lit dias. But we must remember to not only light the lamp in our mandir or the lamp in our home, but to also light the lamps in our own hearts. The dia we light on Diwali should not merely be outside. We must not only light the lamps of oil on our shelves, but we must also light the lamps of truth, piety, purity, divinity and peace in our hearts and in our lives.

As we revel in the holiday of light, let us make sure that the light of dharma, humility and divinity are burning within our hearts as well. Let us celebrate the presence of Lord Rama not only in Ayodhya, but also in our own hearts and our own lives.

A fresh start

On Diwali, many people begin a new checkbook and put last year’s accounts to rest. But, what about our own balance sheets? When was the last time we assessed our minuses and plusses, our strengths and our weaknesses, our good and selfish deeds?

A good businessman always checks his balance sheet: how much he spent, how much he earned. In the same way we must assess the balance sheets of our lives. Look at the last year. Where do we stand? How many people did we hurt? How many did we heal? How many times did we lose our temper? How many times did we give more than we received? Let us truly examine ourselves as carefully as we examine our account books. Then, just as we give our past checkbooks and the first check of our new one to God, let us turn everything over to Him, putting our strengths, our weaknesses, our wins and our losses at His holy feet. And then, let us start afresh, with a new book, unadulterated by old grudges and bitterness.

The true gifts

Diwali is a time when friends and families exchange gifts as symbols of their love and affection. The tradition began when the people of Ayodhya were so ecstatic at the return of their Divine King that they lit deepas and exchanged gifts with each other. The first gifts were given to mark the return of Bhagwan Rama, the return of truth, integrity and divinity.

Today, unfortunately we seem to forget the reason for exchanging gifts. Rather than heralding the presence of God in our lives, the gifts have become simply a way to fill our drawers, closets and homes with unnecessary possessions! We have forgotten to rejoice at God’s presence; we remember only the gifts.

Also, as we fall deeper and deeper into the bottomless pit of material desires, we start to think that a “gift” is something that comes in a box with wrapping paper. We buy our children possessions, deceiving ourselves that we have somehow fulfilled our parental duties towards them. However, our duty is to give them a strong foundation of love, values, truth, culture, tradition and spirituality on which they can build their lives. Our duty is first to bring God back into our homes and our lives. Then and only then should we exchange gifts celebrating His presence. Let us take a vow that in addition to giving material gifts to our children, we will fill our homes with God, love, spirituality, culture and dharma, thereby giving our children the true, everlasting gifts of Diwali.