Lighting the lamp to remove the darkness of all kinds

It has been many days when I wrote something and this has been causing a lot of discomfort to me and it appeared as something was missed by me. Today morning when I share my thoughts there are mixed feelings in my mind. I am happy because of the festive season around and Diwali celebrations which is one of the most important occasions for all Indians. This festival has many meaning depending upon the location of the people and their thoughts. For some it may the occasion to get rid of the darkness and for others it may be an opportunity to worship Goddess Lakshmi. There may be many people who take the opportunity to enjoy the holidays available to them. But the most important lesson which can be learnt from this festival is to rededicate self for the happiness of others. As the candle burns itself for letting the path of others and facilitate them to move forward without any problem the human beings can also do the same. Dussehra is the festival to celebrate the victory of good over evil and Diwali is the occasion to eradicate the dark with the help of light. This has also been interpreted as removing the darkness of ignorance with the light of knowledge. The redundant thoughts should be replaced by new energetic thinking. This is the occasion when we prepare ourselves for the changing whether ahead by cleaning our houses and the offices. Then why should we also not clean and purify our thought process so that we are able to live and let live happily and with healthy body. Thought there are many more stories related to the festival but all lead to one point that we should try to remove darkness of any kind with the help of the light. But the other side of the story is not very encouraging. The festivals in our country have become the source of earning more at the cost of the general public. The real objective behind these celebrations has been overshadowed by the shine of the market. The market has become so powerful that general public finds itself lost and incapable of celebrating and enjoying the festive mood. Everything has been related to money and the media has acted as the catalyst in this. The advertisement has become the trademark of the festivals and the people are driven by the schemes launched for the promotion of different products. The people in the market have blinded due to the greed of earning more at any cost. The reports in media have shaken the belief of the people when they find everything is adulterated be it the sweets, milk or the milk products. Some people have a doubt that these are the multinational companies causing this hype so that the people purchase more of their products like chocolates and dry fruits etc. We do not know what the truth is but this is really scary to all. But this is the byproduct of the open market and everybody is trying to become as rich as possible in the shortest time span and the market is exploiting this and having real Diwali.

The children look forward to such festivals but they are the ones who are also affected by that. The fire crackers are so dangerous for them that these can cause any accident which might prove to be fatal in some cases. They are told that the crackers are not good for the health and the environment but once again the desire of proving self better and greater than others brings in the competition and a lot of money is wasted in burning the fire crackers. This does not help anybody but the market only. For the people of the country two meals food is becoming difficult and we want to forget the same in the artificial shine of the market which is visible on the face of not more than twenty percent people of the country. The old and the sick people are badly affected by the pollution created by the fire crackers. The government spent a lot of money in finding the ways to reduce the pollution of any kind but remain silent on these occasions. I think the sale of the crackers should be completely banned so that nobody is tempted to cause any harm in the name of celebrations. Let this festival be celebrated in the right spirit and should not be the occasion of show off the wealth. The market is important but everything should not be driven by that. The people should not be greeted by the reserve bank of Indian with the statement that the inflation will go up and the interest rate on home loans etc will go further up.  The aam aadmi is finding it difficult to earn enough which is required to match with the inflation rate. The elected representatives should realize that there are not many people whose income has not become three hundred times as has happened in their case.  By mentioning all these things I am not reducing the importance of the festivals but the reality cannot be kept under the carpet for long. Let us learn some lesson from the problems being faced by the other countries which are said to be developed and the people are on the streets because they do not have enough jobs and the resources to survive. The intelligent people learn from the mistakes of the others and do not necessarily do the same what had not been proved good for others. Laxmi 

So Let us try to understand the real message behind the celebrations of Diwali and learn to make ourselves better human beings who can light the life of others who live in the darkness of poverty or ignorance and if we could do that  we shall do a great service to our children as well. In the end I pray the Almighty to help and bless all of us across the nation and the globe to live peacefully and happily. Let all people have Diwali all through the year.