The Metaphor of Deepavali
Deepavali, or Diwali as commonly known, will be celebrated on the 12th of November this year. What is the inner, or spiritual, significance of Diwali in Sanatan Dharma? An excerpt from Partho's latest book.
Why is Sanatan Dharma so misunderstood? Why do we not have a coherent, well-constructed Sanatan Dharma narrative?
There are, to my mind, three important reasons for this.
One, the fact that no school or university in modern day Bharat teaches or discusses Sanatan Dharma. Generations of young Indians have grown up without any Dharmic education or any real appreciation of their spiritual heritage.
Two, most of Sanatan Dharma’s acharyas and gurus still speak of the Dharma in the old, traditional language—typically the language of religion—which does not encourage critical thinking or spiritual exploration. This kind of language and expression is still faith-based, axiomatic and authoritarian, much like the Abrahamic tone and idiom.
Three, hardly anyone in the public sphere addresses—or is capable of addressing—the misreading and misunderstanding of Sanatan Dharma logically and cogently. No one corrects the religious clichés, stereotypes, superstitions, the superficial social practices and banalities, that have gathered like moss around some of the seminal ideas of the Dharma.
These need to be seriously and urgently addressed and corrected. By everyone who cares for Sanatan Dharma. Sanatan Dharma is timeless, for sure, but its expression must be relevant in time. Anyone who understands the deeper Sanatan Dharma—the Dharma of the Rishis—will know that its truths and values can be articulated in the most scientific and rational language capable of engaging the subtlest of intellects. The founding seers and teachers of Sanatan Dharma were not only colossal spiritual beings but scintillating intellectuals as well, the original buddhijeevis.
And there is no doubt that we need spiritually and intellectually evolved beings to stand for Sanatan Dharma and be its exponents and interlocutors. It is not given to everyone to speak for Sanatan Dharma or fight on its behalf. Nor is it given to any Ram, Shyam or Jadu to attack the Dharma. While the strutting and fretting fools rush in where the devas would hesitate to tread, let us focus on building an all-comprehensive, dynamic and modern narrative for Sanatan Dharma, at least in Bharat to begin with.
