This Diwali saw Amritapuri’s main hall filled with thousands of small flames. Together, they shone as a sea of light radiating love and compassion. With heartfelt expressions on their faces, everyone circled a clay lamp during evening arati to Amma. She then took the traditional flame that was used in prayer to her and blissfully circled it back.
“There are many wars happening around the world today. Let us all sincerely pray for universal peace and harmony,” Amma then said. For three minutes, the gathering chanted in unison Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu – May all beings everywhere be happy and free.
At the same time, Amma waved sparklers in large, gentle circles with a radiant smile on her face. This expression of her motherly love ignited all to imagine a universal family of peace joined through its unity in diversity. A family where each one of us contributes to that global light of happiness in our own small way.
Leading up to this union of hearts, Amma spoke about how every human being has the light of knowledge within. We need to instill the strength and courage to reveal it by focusing on our quest to realise the Universal Self—Paramatman.
“Fire is a symbol of knowledge. Fire first burns its fuel and then extinguishes itself. This represents knowledge burning away ignorance and then disappearing. Agni [fire] is also considered as vaak [the spoken word], as well as pure consciousness,” said Amma.
“When this bodham [awareness of the Self] is awakened, one becomes like a compass that is always pointing to the North Pole. The mind is always directed towards the Paramatman.
“When we light a candle, the flame will always face upwards no matter how you hold the candle. Water which was in a solid state as ice can be converted to steam by its powerful heat.
“The Guru is within everyone. Kalidasa penned his epic Sanskrit poems surrendered as a servant to Kali Devi. She was the Guru and the door opened within his heart.
“When the mind is one-pointed and focussed like this, the spiritual journey becomes as fast as a journey on the expressway.”
Amma continued, “However, currently our words are like a banana stem. They are dampened and producing heat and smoke, but no light.
“Once we bring awareness to our words, it gives both heat and light. The dampened banana stem should become like camphor, disappearing after giving itself to others.”
One of the Ashram children, a boy of just four years, stood and happily recited Verse 34 of the Guru Gita in Sanskrit: om ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā | chakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ ||
Amma gave a brilliant smile listening to his innocent yet profound performance. She then explained the meaning of the verse, “Yes. We need to open our eyes which are blinded by the cataracts of ignorance. For this, we need the collyrium of knowledge.”
In the morning hours in Amritapuri, this year’s festival of lights began with a resplendent puja to Lakshmi Devi. The ancient rites are a tradition for Deepavali and reverberated with prayers of abundance for all of creation.
Dr. Balakrishnan Shankar, Dean of Amrita University’s School of Engineering, Amritapuri Campus, delivered an opening address. He sincerely shared his gratitude to take part in one of India’s most joyous and significant traditions.
“Deepavali is the day when the Divine Mother Mahalakshmi appeared out of the Ocean of Milk as the devas and asuras were churning together for nectar,” he said in sharing the legend.
As the tale goes, it was a rare occurrence when the forces of good and evil formed an alliance to bring about a better world.
“Deepavali represents the destruction of the human ego by the Divine Mother, again giving salvation to all of us,” he continued.
“Tonight is the darkest night before winter, so lights are lit in every house. It is the joy when the darkness is destroyed. It’s a festival of wisdom. It’s a festival of love.”
