vedabhASya - Vedic Studies

 As usual for the festivals of India, there are multiple stories on why people celebrate Deepa-avali. Here is my story on it. Naraka-asura is is the son of Earth (Bhumi, Aditi) and the Boar (varAha avatar of god Vishnu)  that guards the forests of Earth.  He got friendship of Mura, a demon that induces vices (of selfishness and self-centrism) in our mind. When he became very powerful he started abusing Aditi, the divine Mother Earth herself.  After bearing it all for a very long time, in another eon,  Aditi complained to SatyabhAma, the wife of Krishna, the ruler of west of India (while Naraka ruled in other corner, the east of India).  Krishna and Satyabhama teamed up, fought and killed Naraka. But before that they have to kill Mura, the  demon that induces the vices of selfishness and self-centrism in Naraka's mind. At the time of death (as Mura got killed), Naraka realized his mistake, begged forgiveness and asked for a boon. That people will celebr...

  Nava-ratri means nine nights. Nights induce fear in human beings. But nights also nourish them. There are three fear inducers in a human life that also nourish them. Huge barriers (be it social, human, natural etc etc) in front of our life induce fear in us. We have to develop the strength to cross these potential barriers to achieve something. If we cross-over these barriers, they nourish us.  dur-gA in sanskrit means one that can not be stopped. This quality is personified as a feminine divinity in vedic literature.  So we invoke durgA (invoke means worship in vedic terms), the strength in us, not to be stopped by any barrier. The ability of others to harness resources for their growth (which we call wealth) induces fear in us. We have to develop that ability in us  to harness the resources around us for our growth. If we achieve that wealth, it nourishes us.  Laksh-mi means the 'mark' or 'characteristics' in us. The hallmark of human life is the ability to ...