Diwali in the New Normal: Find Your True Light

Diwali is the biggest festival of the year for millions of people. It is associated with lights, sweets, meeting loved ones, exchanging gifts, and much more. This Diwali, while we enjoy the festivities, it is time to dig a bit deeper. Let us first examine the top 10 things that the festival of Diwali stands for, and then juxtapose them in the context of the New Normal. As we combine tradition with the present day realities, let us look beyond the surface of the celebrations and help us find our true light this Diwali. But, before we do that, let us stay in the festive moment, and savour the top 10 things that we all love about Diwali.

Top 10 Things that Diwali stands for

Relish each of the top 10 things that we look forward to during Diwali and the festive season.

Looking Deeper To Find Your True Light

These are the ten well-known things that we see and feel all around us during the festive season around Diwali. However, these are mere symbols or manifestations of the real reason why we celebrate Diwali. In the last couple of years, we have come to challenge everything around us, as we reinvent our lives to brace for the New Normal. This Diwali, it is time to look beyond the surface of the traditions, and examine how the rationale for these celebrations ties in with the New Normal.

Here are the top five underlying traditional attributes of the Festival of Lights and their relevance in the New Normal.

1) Victory of Good Over Evil

Tradition: Diwali is celebrated in the first place to celebrate the victory of good over evil. Most of the Top 10 things that constitute Diwali are indeed ways in which we celebrate this victory. The lights, sweets, colors, decorations, etc. are all vibrant elements of this celebration.

New Normal: As we celebrate Diwali in the New Normal, it is time to reflect on what represents good and evil in our present-day context. What are the top evils afflicting today’s society and how we can get rid of them? What are the virtues that we need to imbibe in our cultural and social fabric? At a more individual level, what are the maladies affecting our own lives, and how we can build the strength of our character to ward these off?

Related Read: Affirmations

2) The Return From Exile

Tradition: Diwali marks the day when Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. This is the rationale for all the gala celebrations, lighting and firecrackers. The boundless joy of his return fills everything that is in our line of sight, whether it is our homes, the markets, offices or even the skies.

New Normal: How do we celebrate this day in the New Normal, and, is the return of Lord Rama a metaphor for something else in the current context of the New Normal? The last couple of years have forced us to re-assess our priorities, re-calibrate our relationships and indeed re-imagine all aspects of our lives. In a sense, while the frantic pace of our lives was pushing us around, we now have the opportunity of a lifetime to re-set the equation of our lives and return to our original path and our destiny. This Diwali, it is the time to ask ourselves how we can return to the origins of our symbolic kingdom and regain all the glory that we are born for?

Related Read: Back to the Future

3) The Reunion

Tradition: In addition to the individual aspect of Lord Rama’s return from exile, Diwali is the day, or rather the night, when he united with his broader family and the people of his kingdom. This is why Diwali is not just the celebration of a set of individuals but represents a joy that is shared by everyone in society.

New Normal: How does this joy manifest in our present-day context and who do we share it with? It is a well-known fact that as telecommunication and technology have brought us closer, the strength and quality of our relationships is at an all-time low. It is time for us to reunite with the people who are an integral part of our universe. This Diwali, let us make a conscious effort to rediscover the joy of belonging to the larger family of humanity and connect with each other in our individual and collective lives.

4) The One Investment

Tradition: Lakshmi Pooja, or offering prayers to the Goddess of Wealth, has always been one of the cornerstones and defining moments of our Diwali celebrations. But, we have seen several times in the last few decades that wealth is but an ephemeral concept, at least in its traditional usage. Disruptive events or black swan events can wipe out our life’s savings in one fell swoop. We saw this during the financial crisis of 2008 and yet again during the pandemic. 

New Normal: As we re-set our lives in the New Normal, it is time to ask a fundamental question? What is the one investment that can yield everlasting returns and generate boundless wealth for us? As it turns out, the answer does not stem from the world of finance and wealth management. Instead, the answer lies within each one of us. Since we live in VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) times, there is no external investment that can guarantee to withstand the test of time. On the contrary, the best investment is in oneself. Let us make ourselves so resilient that we can adapt to the changing needs of the times, and continue to thrive in abundance and prosperity.

5) New Beginnings

Tradition: Diwali marks the opening of new books of accounts for the upcoming year. The trading community offers gratitude for the good past year and prayers for a great year ahead. They makes fresh entries in their accounting books. People engage in muhurat trading on the stock markets. However, this is only symbolic of new beginnings.

New Normal: What is the significance of this day and tradition in the New Normal? We are living in a world where we have to constantly re-assess our priorities and re-think about all aspects of our lives. This means that there are new beginnings every day and we need to find the courage to set out on a new path. Diwali is one of the ways to celebrate these new beginnings. It is time to ask ourselves how we can set new foundations and start over with a clean slate.

Related Read: How to live life on your own terms

Find Your True Light This Diwali

As we go about resetting our lives this Diwali, in the context of the New Normal, let us not restrict our thinking. Let us think beyond the mere symbols of our festivals and instead, spend some quality time to think about the deeper meaning and the rationale behind some of these festivities and celebrations. And finally, while keeping the traditions alive, let us interpret these traditions in a way that truly adds value to our lives and to society, rather than merely going through the motions.

This Diwali, find your true light so that the Diwali lights can dazzle even brighter and we celebrate not just the Festival of Lights, but the Light of our Lives!

Watch Your True Light

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About The Author

Rajiv Maheshwari is a business and start-up advisor, and the co-founder of From The Experts Mouth. He is a management professional with over 25 years of experience, and worked as CEO for a decade, and in leadership roles with NYSE listed companies such as Accenture and WNS.

He is a Chartered Accountant and MBA (Director’s Merit List from IIM Bangalore) and an autodidact, who is on the path of self-directed life long learning and sharing. He is a thought leader, author and keynote speaker and has developed several frameworks to bridge the gap between academia and industry.

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