Surendra Ullal & Ramesh Soparawala
One of the most popular Indian festivals, Diwali, is around the corner. Children enjoy it with bursting firecrackers while adults greet it with Puja and Namaste.   We welcome it with salutations to our readers and seek their ever-lasting support in the coming year and for years to come.
We greet readers and well-wishers and offer our Best Wishes for the coming year. As is our tradition, we contacted our readers for their views on Diwali and the upcoming New Year. We share their views below.
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Dr. Bharat & Dr. Panna Barai, Indiana
Let us first send our best wishes and healthy greetings to all our well-wishers and readers of India PostNewsweekly for this Diwali and upcoming New Year. May this great festival of India enlighten your spirit and the flower from your heart spread the fragrance of happiness all around.
Having a cursory glance at the world scene, I get a bit despondent but my inner self says that better sense will prevail. The conflict essentially stems from one community trying to impose its will on others and there is resistance, and that is understandable. It is important that the leaders understand this and find a way out that will let all beings live in peace and harmony, which is necessary for the progress and prosperity of mankind at large.
The World Hindu Community Celebrates Diwali Festival on Nov. 12, 2023
Dr. Sudhir Brahmbhatt President, Technology Services Inc.Â
President and Founder of Center for Indian Cultural Education- Bal Vihar of St. Louis, MO.
Festivals in India are auspicious affairs where people gather together to celebrate the festivities and share bundles of joy, love, and well-wishing. It comprises a series of joyful events marking the passage of rites and rituals during a lifetime. Hindu Festivals have great spiritual, as well as, religious significance and, consists of ancient codes and stories to rationalize their importance. Diwali is also known as Deepavali, Dipavali, Diwali, Deepawali, or the Festival of Lights. It is celebrated in October or November each year. Our actual Diwali is on November 12, 2023. With this Diwali, we are entering into the Hindu New Year 2080.
The key lessons of this festival are as follows:
Give and Forgive
Everyone forgets and forgives the wrongs done by others. There is an air of freedom, festivity and friendliness everywhere. This festival brings about unity. It instills charity in the hearts of people. Everyone buys new clothes for the family. Employers too, purchase new clothes for their employees.
Rise and Shine
Waking up during the ‘Brahma muhurta’ (at 4 a.m.) is a great blessing from the standpoint of health, ethical discipline, efficiency in work, and spiritual advancement. It is on Deepavali that everyone wakes up early in the morning. The sages who instituted this custom must have cherished the hope that their descendants would realize its benefits and make it a regular habit in their lives.
Unite and Unify
People embrace one another with love. Deepavali is a great unifying force. Alas! That heart has considerably hardened, and only a continuous celebration of Deepavali in our homes can rekindle in us the urgent need to turn away from the ruinous path of hatred.
Prosper and Progress
On this day, Hindu merchants in North India open their new account books and pray for success and prosperity during the coming year. The homes are cleaned and decorated by day and illuminated by night with earthen oil lamps. The best and finest illuminations are to be seen in Bombay and Amritsar. The famous Golden Temple at Amritsar is lit in the evening with thousands of lamps placed all over the steps of the big tank. Vaishnavites celebrate the Govardhan Puja and feed the poor on a large scale.
Illuminate Your Inner Self
The light of lights, the self-luminous inner light of the Self is ever shining steadily in the chamber of your heart. Sit quietly. Close your eyes. Withdraw the senses. Fix the mind on this supreme light and enjoy the real Deepavali, by attaining illumination of the soul. He who Himself sees all but whom no one beholds, who illumines the intellect, the sun, the moon and the stars and, the whole universe but whom they cannot illumine, He indeed is Brahman, He is the inner Self. Celebrate the real Deepavali by living in Brahman and enjoy the eternal bliss of the soul. (With excerpts from the writings of Swami Sivananda)
Gurbachan Shewakramani, President, Hindi Lovers Club, Chicago
All members and the President Hindi Lovers Club take immense pleasure in greeting all Indian Americans with good wishes on the occasion of Diwali and New Year.
We at the club are hugely immersed in preserving and propagating the Hindi language and literature, among all Desi bhais and behans, without any discrimination. It is our sixth year and in this short period, we have taken big steps in making our efforts through classes, lectures, and cultivating reading habits.
Hindi is, relatively speaking, easy to understand, thanks largely because of Hindi films. It is easy to master and we are doing our bit to preserve this national heritage. We are still open to any constructing suggestions in pushing our efforts in this direction of making Hindi as popular as possible. We are sure with your good wishes and help we will succeed in achieving our objectives
Please note: Shree Ganesh Temple is organizing a Havan for World Peace on Sunday, November 26 2023 at 3 p.m. and all are welcome.
Sunil Shah, Chairman & founder president, F.I.A. Chicago, IlÂ
Amidst the current war and conflicts amongst different countries comes Diwali: The festival of lights with the message of victory of light over darkness. But the true message is to remove the darkness from within us.
It comes with a spirit of optimism and positivity very much needed in current circumstances.
This Diwali let’s find solace in the tradition that reminds us of our resilience and strength. May the warmth of the festive lights brighten our hearts and bring comfort to humanity.
May the Lord bless us all with peace and bliss and, your ventures be fulfilled. Let’s celebrate a safe Diwali, to maintain the beauty of nature, and to be healthy, wealthy, and happy. Burst our bad habits not crackers at Diwali thereby celebrating eco-friendly not pollution-friendly Diwali.
Hina Trivedi
We take great pleasure in extending our best wishes for the upcoming Diwali and New Year. May all your past problems and troubles vanish and, may the New Year usher in much-needed happiness and pleasure in your life.
I have weathered many a storm so far and by the grace of God, I am through with that. This makes me a very optimistic person. I do see that greed and desire to grab power do bring conflicts and unhappiness in general. This happens in the life of a person and in the life of a society too. Looking at the world scenario, these elements create trouble even now and the person right in his mind and action, get himself eschewed from these trouble-generating elements.
My sincere prayer and message for this Diwali and upcoming New Year is – Sarve Atra Sukhina Santu, Sarve Santu Niramya, Sarve Bhaderni Pashyantu and Ma Kaschit Dukham Apnuyat
