Light symbolises knowledge, and darkness, ignorance. The Lord is the ‘Knowledge Principle’ (chaitanya) who is the source, the enlivener and the illuminator of all knowledge. Hence light is worshipped as the Lord Himself. Knowledge removes ignorance just as light removes darkness: —Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda: The Guardians of the Light
Deepawali is the biggest festive season of Bharat and we should certainly celebrate it with cultural fervour. We must have cleaned our house, some may have even coloured it. Shopping spree must go on in the markets physical or electronic. Delicacies, that is our speciality and everyone will enjoy them with regional specificities. You will have family get-togethers and collective enjoyments. While doing so do not forget to carry certain sensitivities about our national duties and light some lamps for the cause .
While celebrating this cultural fest, we should not forget that caste based discriminations and growing social strife is the internal menace that has been adversely affecting us. As the RSS Sarsanghachalak suggested in his Vijayadashmi speech, do not forget to celebrate Deepawali with the larger family members like your service providers whether maids, barbers, car washers, gardeners, vegetable vendors etc. Try out and visit their place or invite them with family as a mark of respect for services they provide you. This is best way to strengthen our social bonds and bridge all sorts of social divisions through emotional integration in practice.
We also need to light a lamp for soldiers who are guarding our borders and allowing us to have a festive season. Their family members miss these brave hearts, so if there is any family, whose son or daughter is serving in armed forces around, do not forget to give them special wishes. Many people in the bordering areas have been facing hardships but still living there as a mark of their duty towards motherland, do not forget to pray for them in your prayers. As we have presented in one of the packages, the Hindu refugees from Pakistan and displaced people from Jammu and Kashmir are living in difficult situations all over the country. Do not miss to contribute your bit for them.
More importantly, our celebration has a cultural and environmental meaning. It is not just about lavish enjoyments but also about spreading the message of finding unity with the nature. Also light a lamp for this cultural heritage of ours and take a pledge to spread the message of same to the next generations.
Through this edition we have also tried to provide a you with a special feast and take you to the journey of literary treasure that is being turned into Cinema. From Kalidas and Shakespeare to new age writers like Chetan Bhagat have provided inspiration to the theatre artists and movie makers. The content and characters expressed in literary words have been converted into motion pictures through the language camera. We are presenting this distinctive package on this unique relationship between literature and cinema. Hope you would enjoy it.
At the same time we have not forgotten to light a lamp for cultural pride by presenting a story on movement to bring our stolen Gods back home, ground reports from border areas of J & K and refugee camp of Hindus from Pakistan, the plight of Hindu community during and after Durga Puja in growing communal frenzy Bengal. We have also tried to pray for providing wisdom to the negativists who deny all this is happening around us and try to play around the divisive issues.
Our tradition of lighting a lamp symbolises a journey from ignorance to knowledge. We have also tried to light the lamps of many stories, ground reports and expert comments on varied subjects. Hope you enjoy this different kind of delicacy. Happy Deepawali!
@PrafullaKetkar
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