A Journalist Reveals Creativity, Sustainability and Spirituality – We reveal the unrevealed.
There are several stories about this day, which I am sharing in short as follows:
On Diwali Amavasya day, Goddess Lakshmi appeared during the churning of the milky ocean. On the same day, Lord Vishnu took the Vamana Avtar and pushed King Bali into the Netherworld. Lord Vishnu also promised the king that He would live with him as Vamana in the Netherworld. On this same day, Lord Ram vanquished the Demon Ravana and entered Ayodhya with Goddess Sita and His entire army. On the same day, King Vikramaditya sat on his throne and proclaimed the establishment of his kingdom. Because of the day’s high sanctity, we celebrate this festival with all the Gods and Goddesses by placing oil lamps, performing poojas, drawing color rangolis, bursting crackers, distributing sweets, making donations, etc.
In the South, some people worship Goddess Lakshmi like they do Varamahalakshmi Pooja. People celebrating Masa Navaratri also consider this as Lakshmi Navaratri. We placed Ashtalakshmi and kumbha for 9 days, at our home. On the tenth and the eleventh days, we performed pooja of Lord Ananta Padmanabha. We dismantled it on Dwadashi. This can be done only if Dwadashi does not fall on Tuesday or Friday. I am sharing the picture of the pooja we had performed at home.
Significance of Diwali: In the olden days, with the advent of winters after monsoons, micro-organisms made their home in the walls and roofs, which have leaked through. Pure limestone paste used to be applied to counteract the attack of the microorganisms. Otherwise, the microorganisms can create havoc on the dwellers’ health. Other microorganisms die in the flame and the smoke of oil lamps.
Today, with the reduction of trees and increase in pollution due to non-renewable fuels and fatal chemicals used in crackers cause dangerous diseases. Besides, oil lamp has been replaced by electric lamps. This is another cause of radiation pollution. It becomes very important that we do something about it. An interesting way to overcome these obstacles is to prepare herbal oil and light lamps with them as many as possible. I will share the preparation of the herbal oil in the next post.
