Swami Brahm Bodhi

Dear Ones,

Today is the sacred festival of Deepavali — the festival of light, of auspiciousness, and of inner awakening.
Heartfelt greetings and blessings to all of you on this joyous occasion!

This is the day when, along with lighting outer lamps, we also kindle the light within — moving from the darkness of ignorance toward the radiant path of knowledge.

Today, a devotee remarked about the spiritual journey — that it is extremely difficult. Indeed, such experience depends on one’s perspective.
For some, this path seems arduous; for others, it becomes a journey of divine bliss.

In the Vedic traditions, the spiritual path was made rather severe — with austere lifestyles, strict rules, and harsh punishments for transgression.
In the Puranic traditions, we find both shades — the struggle of rigorous penance on one side, and the sweetness of devotion and divine love on the other.

But when Bhagavan Sri Krishna gave His teaching in the Bhagavad Gita, He settled this matter once and for all —
that the journey to liberation, the journey to God, is not a path of sorrow and self-torment.
The Lord rejected those forms of austerity that inflict pain upon the body or mind.
He declared: “Through such austerities, I am not attained.”

Therefore, you will gradually come to realize that the journey to the Divine Abode is neither difficult nor joyless — it is a path filled with bliss and saturated with love.

Thus, when we light the lamps within, we also begin to understand the true meaning and inspiration behind lighting lamps without.
“Asato mā sad gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya, mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamaya.”
— Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from mortality to immortality.

This is the true message of Deepavali.