Festival of lights: Why so much darkness around then?

It was Diwali yesterday, also celebrated as Bandhi Chordh. I have been celebrating this festival since I can remember being born, but it got me thinking the first time… Same day, same way, but different claim. So, let’s explore the diversity here foremost in order to understand the moral of this story. I’ll begin with a short story that gives impetus to the Hindu festival of lights, called Diwali. According to the Hindu belief, in times before records started, there was a King called Dashrath of Kosala. His second wife was also the stepmother of Lord Ram Chandra (One of the Hindu deities and seventh incarnation of God Vishnu). She wanted her own son to become the king instead of Ram Chandra. So, she asked her husband to grant her the promised wish in the form of exiling Ram with his wife for fourteen years. There are many adventures written as part of this epic mythology.  Victorious in all adventures, and completing his exile when Lord Rama returned to the capital city of Ayodhya, people lit the town and the streets with earthen lamps to symbolise the victory of light over darkness. Fireworks are very much a modern addition to the festivities. Sikhs too celebrate on the same day but with different title, ‘Bandhi (prisoner) Chordh (freedom). According to history, the sixth Guru of the Sikh faith, Guru Hargobind Singh ji fought four battles against the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, following the torture and execution of the fifth Guru, Arjan Dev ji due to resistance against the persecution of the innocent people by the Mughal regime. It’s important to highlight two things here- not all Mughal kings were oppressive, and that the war wasn’t against the Muslims. It was a call against injustice and oppression. After the martyrdom of the fifth Guru, his son Hargobind became the next Guru ( Please note that Sikh guruship was not always a hereditary discipline as is the case with ordinary monarchies). He carried on the selfless duty towards mankind by continuing to instil a strong character of dignity and justice amongst people. Guru was imprisoned in the Fort of Gwalior (in the Madhya Pradesh state of India). The Guru found that there were other fifty two Hindu kings un-justly languishing in prison already due to various reasons, like not paying taxes etc. However, after a few years, Pir (Saint) Mian Mir advised the arrogant emperor Jahangir to release the Guru as he was a man of God. But the Guru refused to leave the prison until all the fifty two Hindu local Kings were released too. The emperor tried a cunning trick by announcing that whoever could hold a part of Guru’s ‘chola’ ( a loose attire worn on top of Indian trousers at the time) could leave prison with him. It is believed that miraculously all the fifty two men could hold the chola and the Emperor had no choice but to release them all. The Guru visited the

Golden Temple in Amritsar to thank the almighty. The Gurudwara ( Sikh temple) was lighted with earthen lamps to celebrate the occasion. Hence the day is commemorated in the form of Emancipation of the Oppressed. The immediate issues around Diwali and Bandhi-Chor might be different but the core reason to celebrate remains the same – standing up to the power of oppression, without fear of consequences. If we think deeper, this has been a common cause that should have united all mankind before we were converted to become weapons of mass destruction against one another. Unfortunately, most of us cannot see much beyond the tip of our noses. Hence, we only see the disparity, like, Diwali vs Bandhi-Chor, but not the similarity- celebration of victory of light over darkness. The result? Just look around the sorry state of the planet- all manmade and man caused collateral damage of hatred. I had found the real reason to celebrate the day by lighting the outer candle but absorbing the light within.
Happy Diwali, Happy Bandhi-Chor, Happy humanity. Peace.       
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