In this month the Deepawali festival will be celebrated from Friday the 4th November to Sunday the 6th November, not only in our country but all over the world, wherever the Hindus are staying. This festival is celebrated by the rich and poor alike with great joy and mirth.
Though the correct name of this festival is “deepawali” it is called as “diwali” by the common people. The principles of philology say that there is a general tendency among the common people to prefer simpler words to words which are difficult to pronounce. In this case also the word “diwali” is more easy t pronounce and therefore it is more current in the speech of the common people. Language is living, growing and thrieving according to the wish of the people, who speak the language. The words and phrases in every language are therefore very often moulded according to their use in the speech of the common people even though they may not be grammatically or scientifically correct. The use of this word “diwali” is a very glaring example of this type.
The very name of this festival indicates that it is a festival of lights (deep). The first day of this festival is known as Narakchaturdashi. In the Puranas the story of Narakasur is narrated at length. This demon had forcibly brought so many young damsels and imprisoned them. Therefore after he was killed the damsels were released and they celebrated that occasion by lighting a good number of lamps in order to express their joy. From that time it became a custom to celebrate this festival by lighting lamps on a mass scale. Originally people used to light the lamps with oil; but now-a-days oil has become so dear that the poor people find it very difficult to use it even for cooking purposes. So the lighting of oil lamps is now done only as a convention and only one or two oil lamps are lighted. In modern days electric illumination has become more common. Thus the spirit of the festival of lighting the lamps (deep) is still maintained in some form of the other.
Lamp is used for driving away darkness. In philosophy darkness is taken as a symbol of ignorance or sin and lighting of a lamp is therefore done at the beginning of som many festivals at the auspicious hands of the chief guest in order to signify the driving away of ignorance. The ancient Aryas used to pray to God “ “ Lead me from darkness to light. In this prayer though the words used are “darkness” and “light”, really speaking they are used for indicating ignorance and knowledge. The quest for knowledge of the ancient Aryas is thus seen even in their daily prayers.
It will be recalled that Shri Sai Baba was also very much fond of lighting oil lamps. In fact this very practice of lighting lamps with the oil collected gratis from the local grocers vexed them and they all decided one day not to give oil to Shri Baba. He had therefore to use his power of Siddhi and burn the lights simply by the use of water. This episode is described in detail in chapter five of the Sai Satcharit. It was after seeing this miracle done by the “mad fakir” that the common people in the Shirdi village came to know about the greatness of this saint and from that time they started recognizing Shri Sai Baba as a saint having supernatural powers. Though apparently the common people thought that Shri Sai Baba was fond of lighting oil lamps, it was really the urge to spread knowledge which Shri Sai Baba indicated by lighting lamps which drove away darkness (ignorance).
The period of the year at which this festival is celebrated, shows very clearly that it had close relation with the development of the human race. From the ancient history of mankind it appears that once upon a time the human race led a nomadic life. The people had only some sheep, which they used to carry with them from place to place, when they wandered here and there in search of food and fadder. After this stage came the stage of settling down in the planes on the banks of rivers, doing agriculture and rearing cattle. The main quota of food in all countries comes from the agriculture. Though industries have come up like anything in this world and the industrialists are ruling and controlling the world markets, still the economy of most countries depends on agriculture and when in a year the crops fail miserably, the economy of that country is in doldrums. On the other hand when the crops are good, we find that people in general are happy and they are in a good mood to celebrate a festivity. The crops in India even now are mostly depending on the monsoon and therefore in the month of Ashwin, which is the last month of the rainy reason, we can more or less form a rough estimate of the crops that we are likely to get from the field in that year. The celebration of the deepawali festival exactly at the end of the month of Ashwin and the beginning of the month of Kartik shows that it had close connection with the agricultural produce and therefore the large section of the community would be in a joyful mood to celebrate a festival. If we look to the festivals celebrated in the states of Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, we will find that they are connected with the harvest in some way or the other. The harvesting season is also a festival in most of the Western countries, America and Australia.
Deepawali has a close connection with the trade of our country. The first day of the month of Kartik, which is usually the third day of this festival, is observed as the new year by the traders and they start their new accounts books from that day. On the last day of the month of Ashwin, which is usually the second day of this festival, the “Laxmi Poojan” (worshipping the goddess of wealth) is done on a grand scale by the merchants when they entertain their friends and relatives.
The last day of the festival, which is known as “bhaubeej” is dedicated to the strengthening of the bonds between the brothers and sisters. On this day usually the sister invites the brother to her house for a feast and the brother in his turn gives a suitable present to his sister on the occasion of this festival. Thus this festival, which is celebrated with all the family members of a household, does not also forget the daughters, who are given in other houses and who might be staying at distant places. Deepwali festival is thus all pervading and it is observed at such a time of the year that all are in a good mood due to the expectation of a good crop which would be enough for the year. All the people, old and young, therefore take interest in it and enjoy the festival; but we Sai devotees cannot get involved only in the worldly affairs to such an extent as to forget Shri Sai at the time of any festival. In this connection only two ovies from the 10th Chapter of Sai Satcharit can be quoted which will guide us. They are
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(Leaving all your cleverness and doubts always remember the name of “Sai” which will remove all your shackles. Do not have any doubt in this respect. These are not my words. They are really the words from the mouth of Shri Sai Baba and therefore do not think that they are meaningless and do not try to weight them). Shri Hemadpat thus guides us in short to remember “Sai” and adds that it is the order of Shri Baba himself. Hence while enjoying the pleasures of the Deepawali festival in this month, which Shri Sai Baba always wanted His devotees to d, we should obey His direction of remembering His name, which is an equally easy thing to do. Shri Sai Baba never advised any one to leave the house and go to the forest. He also never advised his devotees to observe fast and austere penance. He wanted that all the people should enjoy the worldly pleasures, as that is the natural tendency of the people at large, and attain deliverance, while continuing to lead the family life. All Sai devotees will therefore enjoy the pleasures of the Deepawali festival and also remember Shri Sai Baba in the usual manner.