The other day I happened to meet Bhanu didi, Gurudev's sister, when she addressed the volunteers of International women's conference in the Art of living Ashram at Bangalore.
This was the first time I met her at such a close proximity. Such a divine beauty & simplicity ..love & radiance emanating from her. She was down to earth and was chatting with us. She mentioned about her facebook post on the reason for lighting the oil lamps at home or during any celebrations/ puja.
So beautifully she had put it across the various aspects involved in lighting the small oil or ghee lamps. Even she had asked us to add our own views on that too.
To read Bhanu didi's post :
Thinking on those lines, I started visualising my own experiences , how I feel while lighting the oil lamps. From childhood days, having brought up in the family of Hindu tradition, we have the habit of lighting the lamp both in the mornings & evenings in Puja room and on every special occasions like birthdays, festivals, functions etc. Also we light a lot of lamps during Karthik Deepam festival ,when Thiruvannamalai Deepam is on. After the huge ghee lamp is lit up on the holy Thiruvannamalai hill, all houses will be lit with small mud lamps and placed decoratively all around the houses, on the rangoli/ kolam pattern , in the front doorway, on windows, compound walls etc. It will be such a visual delight to watch , that too when viewed from a distance, it will be spectacular. And it brings in lots of joy & enthusiasm within us.
Just before lighting the lamp in the Puja room, we ensur that first our body is cleaned by the daily bath , we wear clean and neat clothes and the place is also cleaned thoroughly, no dusts visible around and the lamp is also washed well. If it's a copper or brass lamp, then we use the tamarind pulp and the special powder to make it sparkling clean. Secondly , we also chant the known mantras ,songs , keeping our favourite God in mind , not giving any place for any negative thoughts to crop in our mind, with complete focus on one's own self and 100 percent in the present moment
, we do the act of lighting the lamp with a sacred feeling.
Once the lamp is lighted, the characteristic striking glow of fire brings in some brightness to the environment , visibly driving away the darkness. It symbolically signifies the removal of darkness of ignorance within our consciousness and brings in the light of knowledge and wisdom in us. Our consciousness gets an uplift, no matter how low it was.
The lamp lit with ghee or sesame oil has its own fragrance, purifying the atmosphere. On the day of Ugadhi, when I had been to the powerful Banashankari devi temple in Bangalore for attending Swami Suryapadji's Satsang, the strong smell of the thousands lamps lit on cut squeezed Lemons by the devotees engulfed the whole area, spreading the positive energy.
Sitting in front of the lighted lamp , chanting prayers and doing meditation has a definite impact on our consciousness, no doubt.
Let the practise of lifting the oil/ghee lamps in houses continue among the present younger generations and let the knowledge & wisdom dawn upon them with all its glory!!
Gurudev says " Light the lamp of love in the hearts of the people! And only a lit candle can light the unlit candle!! "
Jai Gurudev !
