I wish the valued readers of this esteemed journal a very happy Deepawali. May your prayers to Mother Goddess lakshmi, the presiding deity of the occasion, personified with sampada (wealth), bear desired fruits. let me add here that the word sampada doesn’t simply mean financial and material wealth. It encompasses physical prowess and wisdom as well. Mind it, acquiring financial and material comfort calls for intelligently carrying on sustained quality efforts. The convergence of these three factors alone would ensure that one meets his/her aspirational urges. Remember, just wishful thinking can’t bear fruits. Also, physical efforts alone would suffice. One would need to pool in all their resources — physical strength, creative vision, and wisdom — to put in one’s qualitative best. Without this, it would not be possible to make right choices, plan its execution well, and put in quality effort.
The paradox, however, is that while following a particular track of life as a matter of routine that one usually gets on to, one becomes complacent over a period of time. Following which, usually one loses the sense of alertness needed to put in all acts together while facing the callings of emerging times, failing which one may fail to achieve desired results. Also, one is caught off guard when faced with challenges, and it becomes difficult to deal with. That calls for reinventing oneself at regular periodic intervals and be well geared up to negotiate the callings of emerging times in all strength.
Indian festivities are strategically timed in our annual calendar to provide one the opportunities for self-actualization at regular periodic intervals as a matter of routine. The festivities are purposely timed at cross junctions of major seasonal changes of nature. And we are all aware that life can’t be spared of the vicissitudes of nature. The sunrise, leaving behind darkness of night, sky triggers an action-filled day ahead. The same pattern is evident in nature’s annular cycle as well, in so far as the changing phase of nature’s energy orchestra is concerned. It may not be out of place to mention here that seasonal changes have to have a bearing on our health status as well as productivity cycle. Accordingly, we need to be well geared up to intelligently negotiate the callings of varying dynamics of nature.
In nature’s scheme of things, Diwali is marked with the darkest night of the year. For, the Sun, the prime source of light in this world, remains in its state of extreme debility, as it remains at the farthest end from this part of the globe on this day. Naturally, solar radiance available to us remains at its lowest ebb. During this phase, when the Sun elopes the Moon, which is otherwise supposed to enlighten the night sky, we are faced with blinding darkness.
But mind it, in Indian perception, darkness is not taken in a negative sense. Rather, it is treated as an essential phase of creation process. Darkness, we are all aware, remains the precursor to the rise of brightening Sun. It provides us with an opportunity on a day-to-day basis, to relax, recharge the vitals, and get ready to perform well when the rising Sun triggers activities the following day in all strength. India’s seers were aware that life forces vital to our dynamic existence remain rooted in the confines of darkness. The seeds of the manifest world as a whole are rooted in the undetectable dark realms of the Primordial-Source. The essence of even a large tree is veiled within the dark region of its seed. The seed again has to be parked inside the earth mass in utter darkness, for it to gain the vitals necessary to germinate and then sprout. The seeds of life get nurtured within the dark confines of mother’s womb.
It is pertinent to note here that nature’s energy orchestra purposefully follows a pattern — moving alternately from its bright to dark phase and then back to its peak — having related bearing on the life cycle during all its phases. Accordingly, the main energy provider the Sun, and its counterpart the Moon that reflects former’s light, periodically join hands to provide fresh dimension to the energy orchestra. So, what looks like the Moon coming under limitation on Diwali day, is there to serve a purpose. We can’t change nature’s course. But given our power of freewill, it is very much within our hands to accordingly reorganise ourselves and intelligently respond to its callings in all strength. The issue continues.
The writer is an astrologer, vastu consultant and spiritual counsellor. Write to him at G-102, Bharat Nagar, New Friends Colony, New Delhi — 110 025 Tel: 91-11-49848475/9818037273 Email: pioneerqueries@bharatastro.com Website: www.bharatastro.com