Today is Diwali, the festival of light, and there is an array of colorful lights all around. Most of the houses around have been lit with light of different colors and shapes. It is so wonderful to see the display of light, it is sheer pleasure to behold light. I look at the convent, facing our corridor near the main road, a series of lights (diya) have been lit, and it was a beautiful sight. Women are known for decorating houses on this day, with light. I had known that it is a wonderful day to light candles at least on the corridor near the main road, and brighten up the space, and luckily I found an old packet of tiny candles in one of our cupboards, and made use of them to light up the corridor.
The candles were too tiny to last even ten minutes, I thought, and after lighting some 20 candles, I went for my customary walk; when I returned after about 30 minutes, I could see the light at the corridor, and there were some candles which were still burning. It was a beautiful sight to see a line of candles burning. I hurried to light up some more candles which were left earlier, and I wonder if the corridor had ever seen such candle light soothing its space in all the years of its existence. There is nothing that equals the soothing light of candles or of diyas (earthen lamps). I was happy that I could light up my own little lamp during the ‘festival of light’.
When I first thought of lighting up the corridor today, the line which was flashing in my mind often today was from Rabindranath Tagore, in his poem ‘There are numerous strings in your lute’: “Amidst your numberless stars, Let me place my own little lamp!” There is light all around, and it is not necessary for me to add to the already existing light; however my “little lamps” are sure to add yet another dimension to the light! However small these candles be, they add something new to the world around me, and that is my joy! Often I have the tendency to take for granted: there is already so much light, why take the trouble to light my little lamps!
Looking at the world around, there is always a tendency in me and in others to keep away from what makes the world noble, beautiful and colorful. Why should I take the trouble to do my little part, while it is too tiny, in comparison to what others contribute? Little drops make an ocean, is true, and it takes a little effort on my part to add that little drop; if the world is still worth living and beautiful, I should acknowledge the millions of little drops contributed by millions of people down the years, and several other millions still contributing each and every moment. Then why should I hesitate to light my own little lamps?
If everyone lights up his/her house, the whole locality is sure to be beautifully lit, and that is exactly what the festival of light invites all of us to: to light my little lamp, and I can expect the world to be bright and beautiful. However if I fail to light my little lamps, then I will have no right to blame the world for being dark and damp. It takes very little effort to light my courtyard or corridor, and I don’t need to light up others’ houses; looking at me, probably others may also be inspired to light up their homes, just as I was inspired to light up our corridor after looking at the neatly lit convent! And what a joy it is to celebrate light, which is another name for LIFE!
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