Lighting the Lamp of Gratitude for Diwali
Deepavali, today known as Diwali, is a celebration of a love and gratitude. As much as Diwali is about conquering light over darkness, Deepavali is much more anchored in love and gratitude. Let’s discuss the history, the lessons we can learn and how we can apply them in our lives. I have the great pleasure of speaking to you about lighting a lamp of gratitude for Diwali.
One of the activities I do as a part of my spiritual practise is to study our philosophy. These scriptures have many exemplary people that teach us the principles of life through their behaviour. By applying these lessons in situations throughout my life, I grow and develop — more importantly I cultivate the mood of service to others.
The Ramayana is based in the kingdom of Ayodhya which is in Uttar Pradesh, North India. It is the story of a great warrior called Rama, who is unexpectedly wronged in so many ways, and responds to these adversities in an exemplary way. It is described that Rama was the ideal human being because of the way he acted in his life and how he constantly strove to become a better king. We should try to follow his example to better ourselves and in that way become ideal.
How many of you know the story of the Ramayana?
A Quick Introduction
First, let’s go over a very brief introduction into the story so that hopefully everyone will understand what I am talking about and then we can learn the lessons together.
Rama is a warrior prince who was expected to take up the throne after his father and all the citizens of the kingdom loved him. However, he was unexpectedly banished from the kingdom because of the actions of his step mother and her envious maidservant. His wife, Sita, and brother, Lakshmana joined him in exile because of their deep love for Rama. In the last year of their stay in the forest, Sita was abducted by a demon called Ravana.
On the search to find his wife, Rama discovers a group of vanaras, monkey warriors, and they want to serve Rama by helping him find his wife. Together, they start a search party and eventually they find where Sita is being held captive. After many unsuccessful attempts to reason with Ravana to return Sita peacefully, then finally war ensues. Fighting alongside his army, Rama conquers all the demons and is reunited with Sita. Once the dust has settled, Rama starts his journey back to Ayodhya. This is where Diwali begins — Rama’s return to his kingdom.
The Vanara’s Service
The vanara warriors dedicated their lives to Rama. They searched for Sita throughout Bharat (India) with numerous parties. They fought valiantly for him and many of them died on the battlefield against Ravana’s forces. They gave everything to serve him and did not expect anything in return.
Their service is an example for ours because it has the special quality of being selfless.
Rama’s Gratitude
Since his army served him with this special quality, Rama expressed his gratitude to them in many different ways and I will use one example which highlights some key lessons about gratitude.
Just before entering the kingdom of Ayodhya, Rama stopped at Bharadvaja Rishi’s ashram and being so happy to see him, the rishi offered him a wish. Rama desired,
“Let all of the trees along the way to Ayodhya become full of fruit and flowers. Let streams of honey flow from these trees, exuding the fragrance of nectar.”
Seeing the transformation of all the trees, the monkeys immediately jumped into the high tops and began to feast on the fruits and honey to their full satisfaction.
This is an example for us in how we can express our gratitude. An expression of gratitude should have one key quality:
Gratitude is pleasing to the receiver
An easy way to do this is to render some service to another person, do something which is just meant for their pleasure where we have nothing to gain from it. Do you all want to know why this is important? Because by doing so we gain everything — we gain happiness.
Service does not have to be complicated or follow some difficult and impractical process. It can be something so simple like
If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it.
Bhagavada Gita As It Is 9.26
An example of simple service is the offering of fruit and honey that Rama made to his warriors — this was most pleasing for them.
Lighting the Lamp of Gratitude
Another good example of offering service is the reception that Rama’s family and Ayodhya’s citizens gave to him upon his return. Rama’s brother, Bharata, heard that his beloved brother would be returning and quickly assembled all the citizens to the edge of the kingdom. Seeing Rama approaching in the distance he began to offer a lamp to Rama. Following his example, all the citizens began light lamps and express their love for Rama.
These lamps represent the love and gratitude that each of the citizens had for their beloved prince who had returned from such a long period in exile. They welcomed him into the kingdom and also into their hearts.
We follow in the example of Rama expressing his gratitude to the vanaras and the citizens expressing their love for Rama by lighting lamps. Therefore, we celebrate the festival of Diwali.
These examples teach us that we should find our gratitude and offer it to the receiver by doing acting in service that will be pleasing.
On Deepavali, we offer lamps of gratitude and love to God because He has given us so much — the air to breathe, food to eat, friends and family for love. Such a simple token of gratitude is so pleasing to the Lord:
What learned person would approach anyone but You for shelter, when You are the affectionate, grateful and truthful well-wisher of Your devotees? To those who worship You in sincere friendship You reward everything they desire, even Your own self, yet You never increase or diminish.
Srimad Bhagavatam 10.48.26
Gratitude Meditation
I would like you all to join me in a prayer of gratitude: close your eyes and think of someone that you are grateful for — maybe parents, friends, siblings, teachers or God. Say thank you to them for something that has been instrumental in your life. Take your time because the receiver really deserves that precious gift of time you will honour them with.
Thank you all very much for joining us today on this journey today. I hope that you will take away this practise of being grateful in your life through small and simple acts of service. If you are to take something away from this talk, then it would be — find your gratitude, express this through service which is meant to please. Thank you for your time, and if you would like to ask me any questions please post in the comments below.
