Diwali: Light Up Your Mind

This essay ran in our 2012 Diwali coverage, contributed by Anju Gattani, a fiction author and former international journalist who grew up in Hong Kong and has lived across Asia, Australia, and the United States.

Diwali arrives every autumn with the same promise: light over darkness. We light diyas in doorways and windows, we clean our homes, we invite Lakshmi in. The rituals are beautiful, and they are familiar. But the festival's oldest question is pointed at something closer than the doorway: what is the state of the light inside?

What is Diwali really celebrating?

The stories differ by region: Rama's return to Ayodhya, Krishna's defeat of Narakasura, Lakshmi's blessing of the new year. Underneath them runs one thread. Darkness in these stories is not just the absence of light; it is ignorance, greed, and the smallness of a mind turned inward on itself. The lamp is the symbol of awareness, the thing that lets you see what was always there.

Why "light up your mind"?

A clean house with a cluttered mind is a half-celebrated Diwali. The festival asks for both: the outer cleaning and the inner kind. Forgive one grudge you have been carrying. Call one person you have been avoiding. Put down one resentment that has been quietly taxing you for months. That is the Lakshmi puja no one photographs.

Ayurveda has always treated the mind and body as one system, and the festive season tests that idea. Late nights, rich food, noise, and crowds can leave the nervous system frazzled even as the spirit feels lifted. The old advice still holds: eat a little lighter than the feast invites, sleep a little more than the parties allow, and give the mind one quiet hour amid the noise.

What does a thoughtful Diwali look like?

It looks like the usual one, minus the excess. A few diyas instead of a fireworks arsenal. Sweets shared with neighbors instead of stacked in boxes. And one deliberate act of inner housekeeping: the apology, the gratitude, the letting go.

FAQ

When was Diwali in 2012? Lakshmi Puja, the main day of Diwali, fell on November 13, 2012.

What is the central ritual of Diwali? Lighting diyas and candles to symbolize light overcoming darkness, along with prayers to Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, for the new year.

Is Diwali only a Hindu festival? Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists, each with their own stories and meanings attached to the festival of lights.

The takeaway

The diya in the doorway burns for a few hours. The one in the mind is supposed to burn all year. Happy Diwali: may yours light up more than the house.