Mark your destiny

Deepavali is a festival of dazzling lights, ecstatic joy and enthusiasm ringing in to fill our lives with happiness every year.

It is a festival symbolising positivity, because the moment we think about this festival approaching, it creates a unique feeling of thrill and delight in everyone's mind - be it the rich or poor, each one makes his/her own plans to celebrate the same with zeal and enthusiasm to the extent of postponing any new purchases till Deepavali.

Even starting of new ventures is kept in abeyance till Deepavali. Thus, everyone awaits the arrival of this festival with great optimism. This festival also brings in the unique joy of lighting lamps and bursting crackers. There is a special enthusiasm to light different varieties of lamps and more than that, religious-minded people go to the temple of Goddess Mahalaxmi to perform special pooja and aarti to invoke her blessings.

As Deepavali falls on the day of Amavasya, which is symbolised by darkness, there is a competition among each house hold to light maximum number of attractive lamps inside and outside the house. While cleaning our house, we should also remember to clean up our minds.

Through self-introspection, we should try to locate and remove once for all the filth that has gathered within us and which we are unable to get rid of even through repeated efforts.

Just as we take the help of various external aids to clean up our house so also we have to take the help of the treasure of knowledge, powers, virtues and experience given to us by the Supreme Almighty. If we feel that we are incompetent, we must befriend those who are capable and empowered and who can help us in achieving our transformation.

There is also a tradition of exchange of gifts, confectioneries, etc, on this occasion. People also greet each other and exchange good wishes, as Deepavali is followed by New Year. Hence, people greet each other so that the New Year brings in a lot of peace, bliss and prosperity in everyone's lives. We have been celebrating this festival earlier also and will be doing so henceforth; however we need to understand the spiritual significance of the festival in order to celebrate it with greater vigour and effect.

If we are not aware of its significance, then we should enquire with learned people and try to imbibe these values practically in our thoughts, words and actions while celebrating Deepavali. With the help of these learned souls, who are ever-ready to help us, we should keep lighted the lamp of knowledge within us and try to enlighten everyone, so that we can become helping hands in this process of world transformation by the Supreme Father. So let's celebrate this Deepavali by making our destiny and helping others also to make it most resolute.