We celebrate light

Our cultural tradition is not just to celebrate light, but even worship light. The sun, the moon, fire, even the lamp, are symbols of life-giving and life-sustaining blessings of the Lord, therefore they are sacred and worshipped. So why? Won’t they still helplessly give light and life, whether worshipped or not?
The world becomes visible only in light. All life would be destroyed on this planet without the sun and moon. So, we have temples built to worship the sun in all thankfulness. Fire, in any form, kitchen, havan or lamp, is regarded as a symbol of the Lord’s blessings. It cooks our food, warms our hearths, and lights up the darkness.
The Geeta extols the virtues of the path of light, termed “Uttarayan”. Krishna says, “The one who treads this path of light attains my highest abode.” This is a path of self-perfection and man’s yearning for the higher, where he lives selflessly in the service of mankind. Contrasted with this is the ‘Path of Darkness’, called “Dakshinayana”. This path is followed by materialists for sensuous satisfaction, only to garner pain and temporary gain. Darkness is always associated with evil, crime, and animals of prey. The energies emanating from the south are considered harmful, whereas northern energies are considered auspicious. Therefore, Uttarayan, the northern solistice, is celebrated. People indulge in kite flying as symbolic of their desire to aspire to higher realms of joy and liberate themselves from earth-bound shackles.
The word ‘bha’ in Sanskrit means light. In vedantic terminology, it is used as a prefix for knowledge and enlightenment. The name of our beloved country, ‘Bharat’, means, bha=knowledge, and ‘rat’ =to revel in, to be absorbed in. So Bharat means the land of those who revel in knowledge. We Indians are the proud possessors of such a name!
Prarthna Saran President Chinmaya Mission Delhi.
Email: prarthnasaran@ gmail.com