Diwali (or Deepawali) is the biggest and the brightest of all Hindu festivals celebrated by families around the world. It's the festival of lights which literally illumines the country with its brilliance, brightness and dazzles all with its joy
Diwali comes from the Sanskrit word Deepavali which literally means "a row of lights." This auspicious day, known as the "festival of lights," is celebrated by Hindus around the world. It historically symbolizes the victory of good over evil and celebrates light and life on both community and personal levels.
According to Wikipedia,
While Diwali is popularly known as the "festival of lights", the most significant spiritual meaning is "the awareness of the inner light". The celebration of Diwali as the "victory of good over evil", refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality. With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Diwali is the celebration of this Inner Light.
As we begin Diwali season has approached and we are getting ready to celebrate this year's Diwali on November 11th, it brings back some awesome memories with it.
It takes me back into my childhood when we all brothers and sisters used to be so much excited looking forward to Diwali. We used to be busy saving every penny at hand to buy crackers and helping parents clean every corner of the house and streets. We couldn’t sleep for several nights in the preparation and in the anticipation that this is going to be a year better than the next!
Just as we start this year’s Diwali celebration, I think of these 5 simple yet life illuminating messages Diwali brings with it. I share with you these messages as I have no doubt that our lives will be enriched with health, wealth and spiritual abundance when we take these to the heart:
Diwali Message One – Have A Brand New Beginning
Diwali also marks the beginning of a new Hindu New Year. It rejuvenates us with a sense of freshness, a sense of new beginning and a new enthusiasm in expectation of a new beginning.
Diwali brings the message that we all have the power to make every day a Happy New Day. We have the power to make every day of our lives, a masterpiece with new dreams and goals. It asks us to have the passion to live everyday as a new opportunity.
Diwali Message Two – Life Is A Celebration
Diwali festival is the celebration of the triumph of good over evil. It is celebrated in many tradition, but the idea is to remind ourselves that no matter how much difficult things might seem, there always is a light at the end of the tunnel. That is why Diwali is celebrated on one of the darkest of nights of the year when we fill our skies with lights of all colors.
It teaches us that you are bigger than your challenges. You are here for a reason and your life has a purpose. Your life is a celebration and you deserve it!
Diwali Message Three – With Faith You Can Invite Abundance
Diwali is also a festival where Goddess Lakshmi (The Goddess of wealth) is worshiped in Hindu tradition. Diwali is also the day when individuals and businesses practice faith in the ability of God to bless them abundance of wealth.
Diwali brings the message of faith. It teaches us the principle that you can be wealthy, you can have that fortune into your life if you have faith. The feeling of faith is such a powerful force, that has the power to turn our dreams and goals into reality.
Diwali Message Four – Choose To Dispel Darkness And Ignorance
The cleaning of houses, painting walls, decorating every entry with colors and decorating every corner of the house with row of lights etc. are the activities we enthusiastically look forward to doing every year when Diwali comes. I remember working with my dad and other siblings all week in an effort to have the cleanest house possible before the day comes. It was so awesome!
The message Diwali also brings is, to also clean our minds, drop all the baggage from the past and create that freshness within us. We can have a brand new beginning every day if we not just clean our bodies, but also take time to focus on cleaning our minds of the negativity and confusion.
Diwali teaches that we can choose to cleanse our hearts and fill it with love and compassion that will drive away the darkness of hatred and ignorance – every single day of our lives!
Diwali Message Five – Appreciate Your Family Give Thanks
Diwali is the time when brothers and sisters along with the whole family get together in the preparation for the festival. We work together, appreciate each other and one another, play together – forget all the worries and enjoy one another’s company.
Similar to the Thanksgiving festival in the United States, it’s the time of the year when people come home to spend time together as a family. The message of Diwali is to make it a point to appreciate those you care for and who care for you. Thank God for these people in your life and let them know that you care on a regular basis. This is what makes the world go around.
[note background=”#FFFF00″] Wish u and your family a very HAPPY DIWALI and a PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR! May God fulfill all your dreams and bless you with health, wealth and happiness.[/note]Your Turn To Share The Excitement
Now that the festival season starts with Diwali starting now, Thanksgiving around the corner and the holiday season approaching, what special arrangements have you done this year to make it a memorable year end?
Please share your thoughts in the comments. Thank you kindly!
Thank you Kumar!!! It is a very inspiring post about the learning from Diwali festival. Thank you for the wishes. I wish you and your family also a very happy and prosperous Diwali.
Thanks,
Santosh
Thank you Santosh. Happy Diwali to you and your family – one more time!
Sir,
May you be blessed with happiness and well being to last through
the year. May your wisdom illuminate many more lives in the new year. Happy Diwali!
Best Regards,
Manish
Thank you Manish. Enjoy your Diwali!
I cherish memories of my childhood in India, one of which is
the joyous time spent during Diwali – a delightful festival celebrated in late October and early November. Preparations for the festival start weeks before Diwali. Even last year I got chance to celebrate my Diwali with my family at my home town. It was awesome, these memories cherish me all the time.
As Kumar mentioned , Diwali is a festival of lights, where
houses and public buildings are decorated with lights, just like we do for Christmas here. The traditional way is to place tiny oil lamps on windowsills and on paths leading to the house. Electric lights may be used too. We kids were always reminded to be careful to not get our clothes catch fire as we visited other families and friends.
A fun activity in our family was to start constructing paper
lanterns well before Diwali. While we youngsters were busy making these lanterns from scratch – there were no kits, only colored tissue paper, bamboo sticks, twine and glue – the ladies were busy preparing designs for “Rangoli.”
I’m planning to prepare an overwhelming “Rangoli” , decorate candle lights in evening and playing with Diwali crackers.
Wish you prosperous Diwali to Kumar & Family and all of his Readers.
Thank you Ranjan ji. Thanks for sharing your excitement and the memories of Diwali from your childhood.
WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS DEEWALI. MAY THIS DEEWALI BRING SCINTILLATING SUCCESSES AND NEW BADGES TO YOU!!
Thank you, Ankit. Happy Diwali to you too – one more time!
Thank You for the wishes and blessings. I wish you Happy Diwali and New Year. I hope next year will bring prosperity and happiness to you and your family.
Hello Parul,
Thank you very much for your awesome wishes. Enjoy your Diwali with friends and family and cherish the moments!
Regards,
Kumar
Happy diwali and a prosperous new year to you..
Next year’s Diwali is on 23 October 2014.
Regards
Raj
Aha! Looks like you have helped me just get ready for my next year’s post, Raj! Thank you 🙂
May This Diwali be as bright as ever.
May this Diwali bring joy, health and wealth to you.
May the festival of lights brighten up you and your near and dear ones lives.
May this Diwali bring in u the most brightest and choicest happiness and love you have ever Wished for.
May this Diwali bring you the utmost in peace and prosperity.
May lights triumph over darkness.
May peace transcend the earth.
May the spirit of light illuminate the world.
May the light that we celebrate at Diwali show us the way and lead us together on the path of peace and social harmony
“WISH U A VERY HAPPY DIWALI TO YOU AND FAMILY”
Awesome Ranjan Ji! Thank you for those wonderful wishes! Appreciate that!
Hi Kumar,
Many thanks for explaining this beautiful holiday to me. I’ve heard bits and pieces but this is just wonderful.
I especially like Message Four. Cleaning out all negativity and bringing in room for the positive! What a great way to have that positive mindset. Good always prevails!
What a beautiful ceremony, Enjoy,
-Donna
Thank you Donna. Appreciate the appreciation.
However, what is more interesting is, Halloween, Diwali and Thanksgiving somehow fall around the same time and they all have similar rituals, isn’t it? Somehow all around the world, people celebrate similarly around this time frame 🙂
Have. Wonderful weekend!
Kumar,
Thank you for sharing the excitement and true meaning of your beautiful Diwali holiday celebration.
What a relief to feel as if you have a brand new beginning, no matter what has happened to this point, and that life is a celebration, no matter what has been going on. I appreciate your reminder that with faith we can bring abundance and we can dispel ignorance and darkness by cleansing our hearts with love. My work is all about creating love. We need to love and honor our own family as well as the family of humanity and of all living beings.
I am so happy to have found your uplifting and beautiful blog site.
Warmly,
Dr. Erica
Thank you very much Dr. Erica for sharing your thoughts about Diwali and your mission. The pleasure is mine.
I look forward to learning more about your mission and your blog.
Happy Diwali to you too and have a wonderful weekend!
Regards,
Kumar
Greetings Kumar,
I pray thousands of lamps light up your life with endless happiness, richness, health & wealth forever.
Wishing you and your family a very “HAPPY DIWALI”
Another great post.
To Your Success,
Fonda
O wow! Thank you Fonda. It’s so awesome to hear from you!
Appreciate you taking time to share these wonderful wishes.
It’s always wonderful to know that you are doing great and you keep a watch on me 🙂
Regards,
Kumar
Thank you Kumar.
My best wishes for you and your family. May prosperity shine on all.
Raj
Enjoy your Diwali, Raj. Have a wonderful time!
Hello sir.
Wish you too happy diwali and proserous new year, and nice article as always.
Thank you.
Happy Diwali Kumar! You’re awesome man!
Thank you sir 🙂 Appreciate the appreciation!
Hello Kumar,
Though I’m not of the Hindu faith, I must say the connotations of Diwali thrill me to no end…for you (I believe) and Hindu adherents all around the world, I say, happy new year.
May this new year bring you all that you’ve ever desired!
– Terungwa
Hi Terungwa,
I am glad that you enjoyed my writing on Diwali and took time to acknowledge that. Thank you.
Thank you for you wishes and wish you too happy holidays and a new year 🙂
-Kumar
Hello Gauraw,
New Year 2014 is very close so
I wish in this new year 2014 , God gives you 12 months of happiness, 52 weeks of fun, 365 days of success, 8760 hours of good health, 52600 minutes of good luck, 3153600 of joy and that is all. Happy New Year 2014 in Advance
Thank you Neha! You are right. The new year is almost around the corner 🙂 I am going to be with family and friends in India at the time, so my excitement about the new year is just a notch more this time. Thank you for dropping by and I wish you a Happy And Successful New Year 2014 as well!
Now Celebrate New Year 2014. Wish you a Very Happy New year 2014 In Advance!!!!
Thank you so much kumar
Wish you happy New Year from hopscorkenbottle.com team
My Best wishes to you and your lovely family.. May god bless you with good wealth and health
Hello!!! Now its time to celebrate the festival of colours i.e Happy Holi 2014. I love this festival personally. Wish You a very Happy holi in Advance!!!
Right Rohit. Thanks for the reminder!
Your Most welcome Sir!! I am looking for your article about Happy Holi 🙂 🙂
Rohit,
The Holi post is live now. Check out at: https://www.gauraw.com/holi-wishes-life-lessons-festival-colors/
And let me know your thoughts.
Cheers!
Its time for Holi now. There are very few blog which write about festivals. I just love your blog. We are waiting for your articles on Happy Holi 2014
Hi Aman,
It’s coming on my blog. Thank you for setting the expectations and I promise, I am going to post my Holi wishes this Holi 🙂
Regards,
Kumar
Aman,
The Holi post is live now. Check out at: https://www.gauraw.com/holi-wishes-life-lessons-festival-colors/
And let me know your thoughts.
Cheers!
Thanks to you all , and wish you all a very happy diwali 2014 in advance . God bless you all my friends
first of all a very happy and prosperous diwali to you and thanks for sharing your experiences and the beauty of diwali with us. i also have lots of diwali memories with my family and friends and i cant forget those till the end of ma life. diwali is a especial festival for all of us and i also cherish this festival no matters where i am and with whom i am. so ithink everyone should celebrate this festival with love and affection.
Happy Diwali to you also Gauraw Kumar.
Thanks for sharing your excitement and the memories of Diwali from your childhood.
Happy Diwali To You Too.
May you get all the happiness and cheer this Diwali.
Happy Diwali to all of you. Diwali wishes and Diwali Messages have a great importance in our communication. It creates a way to represent us among the crowd along with a way to express our happiness and joy. there is much more to say but till then . Happy Diwali 2014. Celebrate ecofriendly diwali this year
wish you a very happy diwali mr gaurav ..one more nice post by you.keep writing and keep growing…
Happy and Prosperous diwali to all of you.Have a safe and blessed diwali and new year
First of all Happy Diwali to you all in advance .
For me Diwali has a unique importance. the concept of diwali and its rituals are really very interesting. In India where it is considered the most favourite festival, there are many different ceremonies associated with it . The concept of Kali Puja in Diwali is really nice and I ve always tried to understand it well.
Hi Kumar,
I remember your wonderful post on Diwali last year too and it reminded me of the celebrations we always have each year our end. Not to mention that it’s tough to be online during all of these festivities now 🙂
I liked the way you described everything about Diwali and it’s importance. There is SO much happening during these 3-4 days, in fact right after Durga Pooja, people start preparing for Diwali and the shops are full of sales and there is light all over! People don’t stop right there as they start off with fire crackers days before and carry on till days afterwards too – my poor dog has a tough time this time of the year, thanks to that! My dad would be visiting us for a few days for Diwali, so I am surely gone off for a few days now…lol…nothing could be better though 🙂
Wishing you and your family a very Happy and Prosperous (safe too!) Diwali.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Harleena,
I appreciate you coming back. This is one of those posts I will keep renewing and beautifying year after year as it came out really good and ranks well as well 🙂
I know what you are talking about and why your dog is having a hard time 🙂 Afterall, we don’t have firecrackers all around the year and it’s just too much in these months! LOL!
Well, I miss those days as we can’t have that much of fun in such free form here. Too many regulations here….
One of these years I am going to take a Diwali vacation and be in India to renew my Diwali spirit! May be, next year…
Regards,
Kumar
Hi Kumar,
Wish you a very happy Diwali in advance.:)
Its great to know about the importance of this festival. Though I am celebrating it from my childhood but still never thought about its messages.
Its one of the biggest festival in our country and for sure people love it the most.
Thanks for your wishes.
Hope you have a happy week ahead.:)
~Ravi
Hi Kumar ,
Its time for Diwali now. There are very few blog which write about festivals. I just love your blog. We are waiting for your articles on Happy Holi 2015 Great Work Thanks For Sharing me
Regard
Leena
Thank you for Gauraw for your message, you have highlighted important points there..
Enjoy your celebration remembering parents and siblings. And your Hindu culture.
But for me is forbidden to worship Goddess Lakshmi (The Goddess of wealth) Even thou we all need money to survive starvation. But there is jungle out there of deceivers and pushers. Is it not? There is only one fistful of unselfish “gurus” outhere. And all this is wired. Well….
We as Christians ONLY WORSHIP THE LIVING GOD. Jesus said: I am the way, the truth and the light. So if we live in Him cannot dwell in the kingdom of darkness. But one thing I know: they will never be peace on the earth unless his kingdom comes. But in heavens sure there is peace on the valley if you are a believer. God bless! Aida
Hi Kumar,
I am just passing by and see how you are doing. Happy Diwali!!! I love Thanksgiving in the U.S., it’s my favorite holiday because it’s concentrates more on “family gathering” than gifts and presents. Anyway, it’s cool when family gather and celebrate happiness.
Btw, I just want to warn you. I see that Leena Shaw @ funpakmaza.net. Her IP address: 111.88.147.127. She is nothing but a spammer. She COPIES everyone’s comment and makes it her own. Harleena Singh and Adrienne Smith actually blacklisted her already, including mine…I have blacklisted her. We need to stop this spammer. I don’t think that’s her real name either. Anyway, just in case you don’t know…I’m just giving you the ALERT.
Angela
Hi Angela,
Thanks for posting that alert on G+. I immediately came back as I realized I have her comments on my post too. But then, I am not an easy one to fool aroun with 🙂 I had actually not blacklisted her (she is still not blacklisted on my sit). However, since her comment doesn’t add any value, I removed all links from her comments. So, she gets nothing in return. Let her waste her time…
Thank you for the alert and I am sure it will help a lot more people about her.
Regards,
Kumar
Hello Kumar,
May the joy of the season also come to you and your family ten fold. It’s been my sincere pleasure learning about celebrations quite different from mine but yet so close in message and symbolism.
Happy Diwali celebrations!
Always,
Terungwa
Thanks for the wishes. Happy Diwali and prosperous new year 2015 wishes to you..:-)
Hi,
Wish you a Happy New Year & Diwali to all of you!
Regards;
Malala Yousafzai
Thanks for the Diwali thoughts – messages that we can appreciate no matter what time of year it is!
Hello Kumar,
May the joy of the season also come to you and your family ten fold. It’s been my sincere pleasure learning about celebrations quite different from mine but yet so close in message and symbolism.
Happy Diwali celebrations!
Always,
Trungpa
Hello Kumar,
May the joy of the season also come to you and your family ten fold. It’s been my sincere pleasure learning about celebrations quite different from mine but yet so close in message and symbolism.
Happy Diwali celebrations!
Always,
smiley