What is the significance of Deepavali?

Pujaniya Devi Ji, during one of her tour of the United Kingdom, was invited by a reputed organization in Sutton, England to address their community on the occasion of Deepavali. This is her message.

"Dear devotees of Sutton,

I had the opportunity of meeting you on the occasion of Deepavali last year. Some of you have requested me to send you a message on this holy festival.

What is unique about Deepavali? What is special about the many other festivals that dot the spiritual calendar of Sanatan Vedic Dharma? In India, every day is a holy day, for some region or the other. All the celebrations related to the divine have one primary purpose - to make us remember God. As humans, our primary duty is to attain God. While we have responsibilities towards family, society, nation, and humanity, the principal purpose of human life is to reach God. And the only way to get God is by constant remembrance and devotion. Only we humans can do this, not any other life-form.

But we are utterly careless with this precious gift of human life. We should remember God every day, every moment of our lives.

Yet, we find some pretext, some work, and put off the real spiritual work we should do. So, the holy festivals serve as reminders to us to wake us up from slumber. In this way, we are obliged to take time off to pray to God, even if it is only for a day.

Every festival marks some greatness of God in any of his countless avatars. Some aspect of God’s compassion and kindness is highlighted in each festival, which delights our minds and draws us closer to him.

We should benefit from these holy festivals to take stock of our spiritual progress. Have I made progress since last Deepavali? Am I closer to God? Is my devotion more strong? We should ask ourselves these questions. If we are not, Deepavali is no different from any other day in our lives, and we have lost yet another year in our shortening lives.

On this auspicious day, light the lamp in your heart, welcoming Lord Sita-Ram. This is my message to you this year. This was my message to you last year as well. By putting across this message repeatedly, I am doing my duty, serving my Gurudev."

Note: If you have any spiritual queries, feel free to ask. Devi Ji may answer your query as a blog post here. Send your query to: Mail: contactus@bgsm.org

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