As we begin the celebration of the festival of lights (Deepavali), what should be foremost in our minds and hearts? Bhagawan lovingly explains to us in crystal clear terms!
The human being is a composite of man and beast and God, and in the inevitable struggle among the three for ascendency, you must ensure that God wins, suppressing the merely human and the lowly beast. This festival of Deepavali is to express gratitude for the defeat of the Naraka (demonic) tendencies in man, which drag him down from Divinity. Naraka is the name for hell, and the asura whose death at the hands of Krishna is celebrated today is called Narakasura, the personification of all the traits of character that obstruct the upward impulses of man. He is said to be the son of Bhumi (the Earth) and he is also called Bhauma. This is very appropriate, for the earth and all attachments for things earthly, lead us down into the regions of pain and grief. Earthly domain and earthly riches are powerless before spiritual domain over the senses, and the spiritual riches of self-knowledge and self-confidence!
– Divine Discourse, Oct 24, 1965.
