Deepawali (also known as ‘Diwali’) unified my world a few days ago, albeit for a day at least. Many friends and well-wishers from across the planet, belonging to all major religious faiths — Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam (both Sunni and Shia), Jainism and Buddhism — sent me warm, personalised greetings via telephone calls as well as bright and colourful messages through social media. With humility and sincere reciprocity, and in the true spirit of Deepawali, I wish good health and wellness to all those who transcended their human ego or any bias — religious or otherwise — and took time to wish me on that day, and equally to all those who could not.
Light always prevails. Undoubtedly, in each and every situation, a single flame, a single light, instantaneously dispels darkness and illuminates the space. That vindicates what Deepawali, the festival of lights, represents and signifies. However, in common usage, in particular, with reference to Deepawali, the term ‘light’ is not just limited to luminosity; metaphorically, it is also represents ‘knowledge’ and ‘truth’. Figuratively, therefore, Deepawali signifies the victory of ‘knowledge’ over ‘ignorance’ and the ‘good’ over the ‘evil’. In theory, there is no doubt that ‘knowledge’ in its original, absolute and pure form — unaltered, unadulterated, holistic — can be considered to not only represent the ‘light’ and, therefore, also the ‘truth’. But does the ‘truth’ prevail in all situations of life and, importantly, does it deliver justice to the innocent victim in a timely manner? Proverbially, like justice, if the emergence and victory of truth (the ‘good’) is delayed, justice is practically denied. Whether truth eventually prevails or not, the question is what use it has to an innocent victim or the oppressed if it takes lifetimes to illuminate and deliver justice? If lies and deceits, and their perpetrators, take ages to be exposed (and punished) — and sometimes never — after unleashing unimaginable or unforgivable sufferings on innocent beings, what purpose does the delayed prevalence of truth (and the ‘good’) over darkness (the ‘evil’) serve?
In the realm of practicality, therefore, a casual comparison of ‘light’ with untruth (disguised as truth) or delayed and/or suppressed truth may be considered to be absurd. In this world of capitalistic greed and complex absurdity, even the definitions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are vague, subjective and interchangeable; they vary with the changing moral values as set out by the powerful and mighty of the day, the rulers and wealthy capitalists. After all, history is scripted by the victor, and not the vanquished. The winner takes it all. Might, however oppressive may be, is always considered right. Greed takes over the fallible humans. Immoral and inhumane actions are cleverly justified by the conniving. Gullible humans fall in the end, one by one. Justice, where is it?
As for the comparison of ‘light’ with ‘knowledge’, even that is subjective and debatable. The absurdity is caused simply by the nature and definition of the term ‘knowledge’. Notably, the term ‘knowledge’ does not only mean ‘information’; it encompasses much more than that, including the authenticity and any undesired consequences associated with the negligent use, irresponsible misuse or devious abuse of any piece of ‘information’. In this day and age of technology, ‘information’ can be cleverly fabricated and truths can be intentionally falsified before being spread on purpose as wildfire, for evil designs, to cause widespread grief, strife and suffering. A piece of misinformation, a half-truth or a rumour is commonly misinterpreted as ‘information’.
People are divided — by spreading false ‘information’ — to be ruled, exploited and subjugated. Seeds of strife are sown deliberately — through false information — to create new divisions and deepen the existing divisions for harvesting more power and wealth.
So what is Deepawali after all? The answer is likely to be subjective. In my growing years, in the landlocked valley of heavenly Kashmir, Deepawali was celebrated by the Kashmiri Pandit community to essentially mark the return of Lord Ram and Mother Sita to Ayodhya after a 14-year exile period. Lord Ram was (and is) perceived and adored as the Divine model of a most righteous human being, one who never claimed to be God or God’s avatar despite demonstrating — through his consistent noble behaviour and out-of-the-world altruistic actions – to represent the Divinity in completeness. In a subtle way, however, he may have exposed his true identity to the mighty Parshuram (the Vishnu avatar before him) in the court of the saintly king of Mithila, Janak, who was Sita’s father.
Lord Ram, the king of Ayodhya, is known (and even criticised by some critics) to have abdicated his beloved consort (Sita) for just one incident of silly criticism from a commoner. Lord Ram — also known as the Pushottam (the perfect man) — is personified as the most virtuous citizen, an ideal son, ideal brother, ideal student, ideal king and an ideal husband, one who practiced monogamy and did not remarry after abdicating Sita. His humble nature — sans any arrogance of a prince or a king endowed with all Divine powers — makes him arguably as the greatest of all Vishnu avatars. For his nobility, justice and wisdom as a ruler, he must logically be emulated by the modern day rulers and world leaders if they truly intend to serve their people. In doing so, they must listen to the cries of every helpless, hapless or oppressed person; address their grievances; and demonstrate equal love and care for every being — small or big, white or black, poor or rich, downtrodden, feeble and unprivileged, hopeless and the threatened.
In Kashmir, in the 60s and 70s, during my childhood years, Deepawali (also called ‘Deepmaala’ by our mothers and grandmothers in those days), was generally celebrated with a much humble and austere tradition. People would generally cook and share home-made sweet breads, sprinkled on the surface by white poppy seeds (roth and laddu). The house would be safely illuminated by proud candles and humble oil-filled earthen lamps. Fire crackers and sparklers were burnt but mostly in moderation and only for a relatively short period of time. The day was mainly about invoking the spirit of Lord Ram, and not much about Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity.
Kashmiri Pandits traditionally followed Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge. They strongly believed that those who unambiguously and determinedly follow Saraswati are invariably also blessed by Laxmi and eventually bestowed with prosperity. On the contrary, they also believed that those who blindly follow Laxmi end up becoming bereft of Saraswati’s blessing and eventually turn into paupers after they lose wisdom and knowledge. Their traditional beliefs certainly did stand by them at the time of their exodus from Kashmir three decades ago. At that testing time, their education proved to be their sole saviour and the main source of sustenance. It is another thing that, due to a gradual cultural metamorphism over time, their beliefs may have possibly changed after settling down in various parts of India and across the world. For example, the festival of Dhanteras — traditionally celebrated by Hindus in India (and now Kashmir Pandits also) two days before Deepawali — was unknown to most Kashmiri Pandits who lived in Kashmir prior to 1990.
Notably, the term Pandit, as in ‘Kashmiri Pandits’ defines them as ‘learned’ people. Historically, in Kashmir, they strived to mainly pursue knowledge — arts and literature, sciences and mathematics — through their intrinsic nature and formal education, and earned their livelihood mainly through various knowledge-based professions, as dignified members of a white-collared working class community. Most Kashmiri Pandits belonged to the ‘middle’ and ‘lower-middle’ socio-economic classes. Generally, they practiced a God-fearing, spiritual, simpler and austere lifestyle. They wore clothes with earthly-shades, popularly knowing as ‘Sufiana’ shades. The month-long festival of Herath, celebrated with great fervour in the cold of winter, and called ‘Shivratri’ in India, was their prime festival. Spirituality, they practiced Kashmir Shaivism. Their traditional religious practices, beliefs, preferences and outlook towards life and living may have possibly changed over time.
Some people blame religion for strife and suffering. I differ. People forget it is not the religion but the fallible human who must be blamed. If corruptible humans can surreptitiously bend the moral and ethical compasses, to satisfy their little selfish needs, they can also bend any compass with equal ease. In doing so, they can also abuse and misuse their own religion. I say there is nothing wrong with religion — any religion for that matter — as long as its followers don’t misinterpret its teachings and/or infuse themselves and fellow followers with hate and intolerance against other religions and their followers. Blame the humans but, for the sake of peaceful and sustainable coherence of humans on the planet, let us spare individual religious faiths from criticism and blame. No religion was created with wrong motives or to cause harm.
If not many adults follow the teachings of their own parents, teachers or elders, how can they truly follow the teachings of their own religion? No wonder it is easy to worship Lord Ram but it is extremely difficult to emulate him.
Quoting Guru Nanak, a respected friend, Jasmit Singh, aptly suggests: ‘Without oil, how the lamp shall be lit? Guru Nanak poses this question. In a world divided into nations and tribes by human-made boundaries, only when one makes a wick of love in one’s mind and heart, the lamp will be lit. That lamp is us humans.’
This piece sums up my personal thoughts on the subject matter. It is intentioned to stitch the human world together, as a thread and needle, and make the world a more peaceful and coherent place. I apologise if any term or content of this piece unintentionally offends any reader.
May Lord Ram and Goddess Saraswati guide the humanity in negotiating through numerous every-day, delicate, tricky and testing times of our individual and collective lives! May the light of truth and justice prevail!
… Bill Koul [Perth, Western Australia (8 Nov 2021)]
Very well written!!
Commendable!!