All our lives, we have been saying and hearing that Diwali is a festival of lights. We already know that Diwali is associated with the return of Lord Ram and Sita to Ayodhya when the entire city was lit up with lamps and ‘mashaals’ to welcome this couple after fourteen years exile in the forest. Enough has been written, read, seen and sung about this aspect of Diwali. What I want to tell the readers is something beyond this mythology, beyond time and space.

I want the readers to know the esoteric significance as to why we call Diwali, a festival of lights for which, we must begin by describing light. Light is the most ethereal kind of matter that we know.

In science too, light is the most elusive of all elements that a scientist can handle during his research because there are hundreds of varieties of invisible rays which vibrate beyond the power of the human retina to grasp or register, for example, today doctors operate on eyes to remove cataracts with the help of ‘laser-rays’ which is a variation of light. Even kidney-stones are treated with this modern form of surgery. But we cannot see these rays of light because they are beyond the grasp of human retina.

Then again, we cook in microwave ovens but can we see those light-rays? No. Also, we cannot see ‘ultra-violet’ or ‘infra-red’ or ‘Gamma’ rays. In the Christian Holy book of the genesis, the opening chapter contains the words: God said, “Let there be light.”  From this we see that light was the very first element created by God, without which, no other element could have been created.

Today scientists say with increasing confirmation that all matter is ultimately the condensation of radiant energy. It is the marvellous structure of our material universe which we see around us, and which the scientists of the 19th century thought was nothing but solid hard substance.

According to occult and esoteric theology, an ultimate force exists at the root of everything. You will be astonished to discover that this verifies the oldest religious teachings in the world. Teachings which were at first given verbally and later written down on tablets, leaves, parchment or metal plates declaring that God, Sun and Light are synonymous. You can ask: How can God be light?

Well, just as a spider spin’s a web out of its own body. The web is not apart from or different from the spider but part of its body. In the same way, God created light out of his own body. Which only means that light and God are the same.

In the Upanishads, Hinduism makes the same statement, that in the beginning, Brahma i.e. the creator made light and out of light, he made all other forms. The Babylonian Tablets repeat the same sentiment. The ancient Egyptian and the Druid religions worshipped the Sun because they regarded it as a synonymous with God and light.

To them, it was the visible proxy on earth of an invisible deity- it was the spiritual agent of God. Its’ splendour was, for them, a living proof of God and its rays, full of divine-life. To the Egyptians, light was the most spiritual of all ‘material’ things. I say ‘material’ because it is present and visible in the Universe and therefore the Egyptians thought of light and the Sun as some sort of divinity. Therefore, even the sphinx is built to receive the first rays of the sun every morning.

According to an American scientist, a positive and a negative electron can meet each other while roaming through space, merge with each other and form a corpuscle of light but this theory has few takers.

Actually, atomic-theories have existed through the ages but ours is a generation which for the first time in history, has split the atom, used it and unfortunately abused it for warfare. Even after two world wars and several other wars, mankind has not learnt to live in peace, harmony and love.

Let us hope this Diwali brings all mankind a little closer and let us rejoice in the ‘diyas’ that we lit in our homes. More importantly, let us light up the lives of those who are less fortunate than us!