Discover the deeper meaning of Diwali through Dr. Pillai’s teachings on Narakasura, human greed, and the promise of a Golden Age.
Celebrating Diwali: Context, Customs, and Spiritual Meaning
“It is Diwali Day. Diwali is the biggest Hindu Holiday equivalent to Christmas. After a quarter of a century, I began to somewhat observe Diwali. By that, I mean I just put on new clothes that somebody brought in because it is customary for all people who celebrate Diwali to wear new clothes on that day. The biggest deal is I just want to recall the context, or the mythology, around the celebration of Diwali.
Narakasura in Diwali Mythology: The Demon of Greed
According to the Diwali mythology, it is the day that Krishna, the High God of the Hindus, killed a demon called Narakasura.
Narakasura, the name itself, is significant because it reminds of human conditioning. Naraka, or Nara, is ‘one pertaining to the Earth plane.’ He was also the son of the Mother Goddess, the Earth Goddess, and the Boar Avatar of Vishnu. There is another version of it, but according to the mainline tradition, Narakasura, the demon, was born out of the Boar Avatar of Vishnu, and was born between the Boar, and the Mother Goddess Lakshmi. According to another version, he was the son of Hiranya.
Diwali Mythology as a Lesson on Greed and Desire
The story is very significant. The symbolism behind this is about the Earth plane, and the origin of the demon is also out of the Earth. The Boar went deep into the Earth in order to rescue the Mother Goddess Lakshmi, who was kidnapped by a demon, and the demon was associated with gold.
The demon was so greedy, and he wanted to have the world come under his control. He was leading a very inappropriate life at the expense of other people just to satisfy his own senses of greed. This is exactly the condition of human beings today.
Krishna and the End of Narakasura’s Reign
The story goes that the regime of this guy, Narakasura, went for some time, and Vishnu, his own father, incarnated as Krishna and killed him. And as he was killed, he had a request that his death should be celebrated by everyone on the Earth plane.
Diwali is the day when we remember the death of Narakasura. What it means is that greed has come to an end, and by whom? By a person who was his own father, Vishnu, but reincarnated as Krishna. Diwali really means the death of a greedy person who was immoral in every sense of the term, and that came to an end.
Diwali as the End of Greed and Beginning of the Golden Age
Greed has gone out of control, and God has to check the greed and then stop it. ‘Occupy Wall Street’ is a movement that started in New York and spread everywhere. It is still spreading everywhere and is a very important movement. I just recall the mythology of Narakasura on this day, where we are facing situations of greed being controlled by contemporary happenings, whether it is the unrest in the Middle East, and the dictators losing ground or being killed.
All of this is a good sign of a Golden Age that is going to come. I have no doubt in my mind that the Golden Age is starting as of now.
The New Age is where people will behave, have a better mind, a better body, better ethics, and character. That is on the corner.
Cultivating a Proper Relationship with Wealth
Is the world able to live without money? No, it cannot. We have to have some kind of economic system, otherwise things on this Earth plane will not work. We cannot go to the barter system. Money will always be here in some form or the other. Dumping it, or hating it, is not going to be a choice, and it will never happen.
What needs to happen is a proper relationship with money. A proper relationship with money is that human beings should develop compassion to share the money between themselves, and not have greed. Greed will destroy the person who is greedy, and also the environment in which he is living in. Greed has to go and is an outcome of ignorance. Only an ignorant person will be greedy. An intelligent person will never be greedy. Greed goes with ignorance hand-in-hand.
The Transition to a Spiritual Paradigm
One way that has started to happen is trouble for all of the people who have more money than they really need, because there is an uprising against the rich people who are hoarding money. This uprising will continue to gain strength, creating a lot of internal turmoil, and the government will not be able to handle that situation, and will be forced to enact laws to contain the rich people who will resent the laws, but it will be done no matter what. Otherwise it will lead to a lot of violence. This is going to happen everywhere, all over the world.
There will also be some external factors that will expedite the process, and that factor is natural calamities everywhere, where people will not be able to handle those calamities, and then will be forced to turn to God, and ask for a solution. At that level, then we will see a solution emerging because people will know that they are unable by themselves to solve the problem.
Who has to solve the problem? God. Then there will be ethics; then there will be morality.
On this day of Diwali, I want to recall that only when ignorance is put to an end will greed also go away. That is the promise of the Golden Age.”
Experience the deeper meaning of Diwali with Pillai Center’s Diwali Rituals. Honor Goddess Lakshmi, remove obstacles of greed, and invite abundance into your life.
DIWALI: POWERTIME FOR ULTIMATE WEALTH & ABUNDANCE BLESSINGS
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