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Diwali

Sunday, October 23 @ 10:30 am - 11:30 am

Diwali

Details

Date:
Sunday, October 23
Time:
10:30 am - 11:30 am
Event Categories:
,
Join Us:
https://tinyurl.com/ESUCWorship

Venue

East Shore Unitarian Church
12700 SE 32nd Street
Bellevue, WA 98005 United States
+ Google Map
Phone
425-747-3780
View Venue Website

Swapnesh Dubey, an actor, director and activist in India, presented a service on Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights in 2020. He will return (via video) to present another aspect on the tremendously popular Indian holiday on October 23, and share his observations on how different regions of India celebrate the holiday, and its significance to their lives. Our chancel will be festively decorated in honor of the holiday, which begins October 24.

How to Attend

Today’s Bulletin

We require masks in all buildings. We encourage all in person participants to be vaccinated. Read more about our In Person Guidelines here.

• To virtually attend, please Zoom in using room number 989 3107 9078, passcode: chalice.
• To phone into the service, call 669-900-6833, Meeting ID: 989 3107 9078.

For those joining, please mute as soon as you enter the room, so everyone can hear. Please note, the services will be recorded, but at this time, there are no plans to share the recording.

More Information

Religious Education for children and youth happens during worship on Sundays. Children and youth arrive in the Sanctuary for the just a little bit and welcome in Sunday with a story and song. Then, they attend their own programs in the Education building. Learn more here!

If you don’t have a chalice, but want to light one, check out our Making a Chalice at Home page.

Both virtual and in person services are followed by coffee hour.

Sermon Text

Namaskar and hello to everyone,

My name is Swapnesh Dubey and I wish you all a very happy Diwali.

Let me start our Diwali celebration with few lines in Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages of India, which has often been considered God’s own language. Here are the words many chant while lighting the lamp on Diwali.

Shubham Karoti Kalyaannam-Aarogyam Dhana-Sampadaa |
Shatru-Buddhi-Vinaashaaya Diipa-Jyotir-Namostute ||

This means: Salutations to the Light of the Lamp, Which Brings Auspiciousness, Health and Prosperity,
Which Destroys harmful Feelings; Salutations to the Light of the Lamp.

Diipa-Jyotih Para-Brahma Diipa-Jyotir-Janaardanah |
Diipo Haratu Me Paapam Diipa-Jyotir-Namostute ||

This means: Salutations to the Light of the Lamp, The Light of the Lamp represents the Supreme Brahman, the Light of the Lamp represents Janardhana (Sri Vishnu),
Let the Light of the Lamp Remove My Sins; Salutations to the Light of the Lamp.

I started this talk with these Sanskrit lines to show that Diwali is literally about light. Not just outside but Inside. We will talk about that in a bit, but first let’s explore why Diwali is celebrated in different parts of India.

In North India, Diwali celebrates the story of King Rama’s return to his kingdom Ayodhya after defeating Ravana by lighting rows of clay lamps.

South India celebrates Diwali as the day Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narkasur.  And in western India the festival marks the day that lord Vishnu, the preserver (One of the main gods of the Hindu trinity) sent the demon king Bali to rule the nether world.

And for farmers, Diwali marks the start of harvest season. The festivities are full of hope for prosperity from the harvest. If the harvest is good then whole year will be good.

These are the main focuses of the different stories Indians celebrate with the festival of Diwali.

Let me give you a glimpse of King Rama’s return to his Kingdom and how people celebrated it. This is where Diwali started in north India. I am using video footage of the epic series Ramayana produced in 1987 which became so popular that even trains used to stop during the air time of the programme and allowed passengers to sit on platforms and watch it together.

This clip is important in so several ways, as it shows us how most Indians see Diwali and how it started. Telling the story is good but I wanted to show actual footage from this programme to help everyone understand how deeply Diwali is part of Indian culture and Hindu religion.

Diwali is India’s biggest and most Important holiday of the year. The festival takes its name from the row which is called Avali in Hindi and clay lamps which are called Deepa in Hindi. And that’s where the name Deepawali comes from: row of lamps. The clay lamps Indians light outside their homes symbolise the inner light that protects one from darkness.

This festival is as important to Hindus and non-religious Indians as the Christmas holiday is for the western world. Now let me tell you what we specifically do during the 5 days of this festival.

The first day of Diwali is called Dhanteras, which means wealth. On this day people purchase gold, silver, clothes and new gadgets as a sign of good luck. People worship the god of health and Ayurveda in the evening. Ayurveda, by the way, is the ancient Indian health system.

The second day is called NarakChaturdasi, also known as Choti Diwali. This phrase means ‘small diwali.’

On this day Lord Krishna, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, killed the demon Narakashura, the evil king who had held 16000 girls in captivity. This day is called Narak Chaturdasi. It literally translates to: Victory over Narakshura, the evil King.

On this day people wake up early in the morning and bathe in natural oils and herbal mixes, and change into clean clothes to celebrate.

The third day of Diwali is the most important day. It is called Lakshmi Puja, (Puja means ‘worship.’)

This is the day when Laxmi, the goddess of wealth is worshipped. Floor decoration are made and the entire house is lit with lamps, candles and lights, similar to what we can see in the church today. Families exchange gifts and sweets, and celebrate the evening together with laughter, Joy and prayers.

The fourth day of Diwali is Govardhan Puja, and is dedicated to Lord Krishna. Devotees offer 56 varieties of vegetarian food and drinks to lord Krishna as a gesture of gratitude.

The fifth and last day of Diwali is called Bhai Dooj. This day is for siblings to gather together and show their love to one another by exchanging gifts, sweets and blessings.

Let’s talk about how Diwali is less about religion and more about humanity and the joy of being a human with hope, with love, and with so much to offer.

Whenever I talk about Diwali I always go deeper into my thoughts and realise  how unfair our festivals can be towards women and people living under poverty. I can tell from my personal experience, as I have lived in extreme poverty.

In the year 2021, India was ranked 101st in the global hunger Index out of 116 countries. I mention this during our Diwali talk because Diwali is all about feasts and clothes and everything which involves a lot of money. But did you know that the top 10% of the Indian population holds 77% of the total national wealth? 73% percent of wealth generated in 2017 went to the richest 1% while 670 million Indians who comprise the poorest half of the population saw only a 1% increase in their wealth.

That’s the scenario in which I personally lived. I saw the immense stress my mother used to experience when Diwali was about to come. Why should she become stressed over a festival of happiness and prosperity? Because she and I were among those 670 million people for whom this festival was impossible to celebrate. People looked down on us because we had no money to buy new clothes nor could we eat lots of sweets and what not.

While Diwali is a truly amazing festival, it needs to be celebrated with kindness for all. Diwali means lighting not only one’s home but one’s heart as well. And that means uplifting those who don’t have the means to help themselves. This is an important aspect of Diwali: without all of us there is none of us.

The second point which I want to explore is the way the Diwali story centers entirely on Rama who has returned from his exile. But hardly anyone mentions Sita, his wife, who was with him every step of his journey. And what happened to Sita when she and Rama returned to their kingdom? Rama heard a rumour about her being impure and he throws her out of his kingdom. For the rest of her life Sita lives in forest yet again filled with shame and facing extreme discrimination. What does this tell us about our society?

India witnesses 86 rapes on average every single day. In 2021 there were 46 offences against women reported every hour. And those are just the ones that were reported to the police.

These widely -believed and highly regarded stories of gods show examples how women were treated even in the gods’ world. It is little wonder mere mortal men who believe these stories start expecting every women to be fully obedient, to always follow them without question – because that’s what Sita did. She, who is the incarnation of goddess Lakshmi.

If the goddess Lakshmi follows her husband and gets thrown out of her own house because some questioned her chastity then why shouldn’t mortal women be treated the same? That’s the problem.

I believe that Diwali should be seen less through the lens of religious stories – because the  more we believe in them, the more we start modelling these references in our day-to-day life. Every day I see women treated this way in my country.

On this Diwali I wish for my country to stop calling women as goddesses and then treating them like dirt. I want us all to treat one another with utmost respect, dignity and empathy. That’s what Diwali is all about. It is about hope, it is about help and it is about sharing.

My wish is that we will start opening our hearts and filling them with light so that our world is not just one colour or one light. It is a mixture of everything and every one of us. That is what the idea of Diwali is.

I wish you all a very happy Diwali, lots of love, light and positivity. Let us pray on this Diwali for those who aren’t able to light their homes, and for those who are trapped in war and injustice. Let us vow to lift up of each and every one of our human family.

Thank you.

Details

Date:
Sunday, October 23
Time:
10:30 am - 11:30 am
Event Categories:
,
Join Us:
https://tinyurl.com/ESUCWorship

Venue

East Shore Unitarian Church
12700 SE 32nd Street
Bellevue, WA 98005 United States
+ Google Map
Phone
425-747-3780
View Venue Website