When our heart is fully illuminated, we experience Lord Ramachandra within ourselves and our love for Him awakens

The Hindu festival of Dassehra celebrates the victory of the noble Rama over the evil Ravana, and it leads to Diwali, which celebrates Rama’s victorious return to his home in Ayodhya. Diwali is a “festival of hope, even in apparently hopeless conditions - it is a time of transformation from darkness to light - a transformation of heart, from greed to generosity, from envy to appreciation and ultimately, from suffering to joy”.

The history of Dipavali is based on Rama, the 7th avatar of Lord Vishnu, who descended to earth to show us an example on how we can live and grow through the most difficult challenges of life. Lord Ram faced many hardships in exile, but yet he always maintained integrity and morality. This world is designed in such a way that trials, tribulations and pain we experience give birth to opportunities to grow. Religions have no meaning without good characters. Good characters mean to live with integrity. Integrity means that we embrace sacred universal ideals - compassion, morality and a will to serve, to transform selfishness into selflessness and to maintain our ideals even when confronted with great obstacles.

This has to be ensured even in the face of temptation, that if I give up this ideal I could gain so much or the fear that if I don’t give up my sacred ideas of compassion and morality then I may lose so much. But what is it that we are really looking for in this world? Everyone seeks fulfillment. Things - power, position, prestige, property, wealth — can give a certain amount of fulfillment to the physical body and to the mind but they cannot give fulfillment to the heart.

We should build our life on the foundation of what is really meaningful, and that is within us - the power to love and the power to recognize love. We believe that the origin of that inner tendency is the eternal soul’s loving relationship with God. And that love, between the soul and God, when we connect with it, manifests as compassion for every living being. It’s important that we take some time in our life to step back from all the distractions and duties and just meditate and pray.

When we speak about Diwali and darkness, we can remember that the real beauty of life is in seeing the potential of light in any situation. Our mission in life as human beings is to kill the demons within our hearts. Ravana represents arrogance and lust – “I am the controller and I am the enjoyer”. Kumbhakarna, Indrajit, Viradha, and the asuras represent arrogance, who we must slay in our hearts.

Sometimes very difficult and serious problems coming into our life are necessary to help us to fulfill our higher purpose. One, who is fixed to the truth, will see every situation as an opportunity to progress, even when faced with such extremes as being banished to the forest for 14 years and losing everything. Rama understood that this is the opportunity to fulfill his mission. So, yes when reversals come in our lives, they will help us to fulfill our mission, provided we keep our goal set and fixed.

Krishna tells in Bhagavad-Gita that by hearing glories of the Lord and by serving and remembering Him we are laid on the path of devotion. When our heart is fully illuminated then we can experience Ramachandra within ourselves and our love for Him awakens. That love comes with unconditional compassion for every living being. Ramarajya is thus established within us. In this age of Kali, the chanting of His holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare” is truly the way to lead people on the path to devotion.

Karmas play an important role. As you sow, so shall you reap. Accordingly, when we act, there will be another reaction. The laws of karma are like the laws of gravity, what goes up must come down. Lord Ram and Lord Krishna are like the sun and maya is akin to darkness. Where there is sun, there cannot be darkness. That is what Diwali really represents ‘to light up our hearts not just by some physical fire but with the lights of God’s grace’. When our heart is fully illuminated, we experience Lord Ramachandra within ourselves and our love for Him awakens. In that love comes through unconditional compassion to every living being. The most powerful and important mantra is “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”.

(The author is a spiritual guru at the International Society for Krishna Consciousness)