Burn Your Inner Demons
Dushera, Diwali is around the corner and we have
Navratas carrying on. Everyone says burn your inner demon and exorcise the
devil which resides in you in this pious month. In fact the burning of the
effigy of Ravan is tantamount to burning the evil that lurks in one self.
How wonderful it would be that we could get away with
washing away our sins by burning little voodoo dolls made in our image? Just
imagine, the scenario outside one’s house and there is a line of dolls made
with crackers in them and then they are set alight!
What would be the scenario in front of the politicians
that rule us? Would they do this? It should have been made compulsory by the
sages, and priests who set up the precedence of burning the effigies, that anyone
found guilty in the eyes of public should publicly burn an effigy so as to
vanquish the evil and bad that is in them and also to serve as a reminder that
the high and mighty also fall.
We must remember and rise above the false -hood, which
cloaks our daily lives. We find that life and the turn that society has taken
is just the opposite, we were taught that good triumphs over evil. Good is pure
and just and it wins in the end.
It however seems that this is not happening, life is
becoming increasingly superficial and we are losing the true meaning and
spiritual significance of the festivals.
Worldly success is measured in terms of material
objects; possessions and morals are being sacrificed to attain more prestige
and false honor.
This season, instead of burning an effigy in the local
grounds exorcise the inner demon which lurks in all of us, the one which lusts,
is full of avarice, covets, hates and sometimes commits heinous crimes and
thinks that the red eyed devil or shaitan is hidden but he or she is within us;
it depends what we feed.
I don’t mean go around , burning people but look
within and make a conscious effort to get rid of the demon or the shortcomings
and grasp the true meaning. Be it dusshera which symbolizes the destruction of
Raavan and bringing back cheer and Diwali which marks the return of King Ram to
Ayodhya where lights are burnt and crackers are burst.
Both symbolize the triumph of good over bad , and
vanquishing evil . Thus this festive season let’s, return to the true meaning of
the festival sand not get caught up in superficiality and artifice.
Ravneet Sangha
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