Diwali or the festival of lights is one of the popular festivals celebrated across the length and breadth of India. It is coming on 3rd November in this year namely 2013. We all look forward to this festival of lights. The festival is also known for the worship of Goddess Lakshmi, the deity who is supposed to be the custodian of wealth.
Let us discuss a few simple things you can do for making Diwali even more auspicious, although it is auspicious enough in itself. These tips will ensure that your home is blessed by Goddess Lakshmi and that the whole year goes well. Some of these might seem simple tips without any spirituality but these are very practical and genuine tips and the festival of lights will actually brighten your house if you follow them.
1. Ensure that your house is clean before Diwali. Try to throw of all those things that you do not use. Keeping unused and waste goods in the house is not auspicious as Goddess Lakshmi does not like to come to the houses that are not well maintained and clean.
2. Most people forget to clean the store rooms and the lofts in the house. This is also important you must clean all these places and throw off anything that is too old and is not used at all. You can also give them off to people who are poor and would need these items more than you do. When you give off these as daan you are doing away with maya and this pleases the Gods.
3. If you want to buy new furniture and paint your house before Diwali you can also do that. This is a good thing to do as this will make your house look neat and nice. The Goddess Lakshmi will feel welcomed to the house. Depending on your budget and ability you can try to furnish the house and do the repairs that are pending for some time. This will improve the aura of the house and give a festive feeling to the house. If there is any seepage in the house then house or in the bathroom do ensure that the repairs are done with. No corner of the house should be left neglected.
Happy Diwali
4. Ensure that the curtains are washed before Diwali. You must start the cleaning process at least a week before Diwali. So that in and around Diwali you can concentrate on the celebrations and the puja of Goddess Lakshmi. On the day of Diwali no major cleaning must be undertaken in the house as it is considered very inauspicious. Regular dusting and booming is fine. This too must be done before the sun set.
5. Two days before Diwali (which means for this year it will be the 1st November 2013) ensure that you light fourteen lamps and put them in the different corners of your house. This includes the stores and the bathroom too. This will ensure that the evil spirits are done with and the house is filled with positive energy for the Diwali. This tradition is more common in West Bengal. It is even better if ghee is used to light these earthen lamps. This tradition is also called yamadeep daan. This is also celebrated as Dhanteras in the North India.
6. On Dhanteras or 1st November 2013 ensure that you buy a small amount of gold or silver. This will ensure that the next whole year you have enough supply of wealth to your house and your year is prosperous. This is an old tradition and we recommend all our readers to follow the same. If the ladies in the family are given a gift made of gold and silver on this day then the day becomes even more auspicious. You must do a puja on the Dhanteras day. This is called the Dhanteras Puja. We will write more about it in our next article. Ensure that the gold or silver that you buy on this day is kept at the feet of Goddess Lakshmi before you keep it in your locker.
7. The house should be lighted with lamps and diyas on the Diwali day. Ensure that you do all the arrangements well in advance so that on the day of Diwali you do not have to rush with anything. You can use lamps, candles, etc to light the house. Ensure that no part of the house is left in the dark. You can start these lights from the day of Dhanteras and continue them till Diwali.
8. It is good to give daan and gifts to people on Diwali. Ensure that you donate in the temples and to the poor so that you get blessed. If you give daan on Diwali, the deities will ensure that you get much more than what you have donated. We highly recommend performing daan to all our readers on Diwali.
9. On the 2nd November 2013 is Kali Puja. This is a very big and special puja of the Goddess Kali. This puja is more common in West Bengal. Even if you are not a Bengali ensure that you visit a Kali temple on this day and get blessed by the Goddess. She will ensure that your year goes well and all the evil factors in your life are done away with. The Goddess Kali is very powerful and must be worshipped on this day.
10. On the Dhanteras day ensure that you light a lamp at the main entrance of the house. This can also be a candle. This lamp should be on till the Diwali day. If this happens then it will mean that you will definitely have a good in flow of cash and prosperity into your house.
11. You must put a Rangoli outside the house on Diwali. It can be made of flowers or of colourful powder. This is a sign to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi into the house. You must also make small foot prints of the Goddess Lakshmi entering the house. This will ensure that the goddess enters your house and blesses your household. This is a must to on Diwali.
12. You must wear new clothes on Diwali and worship the Goddess Lakshmi. This will please the goddess. On the evening of Diwali all the family members must together do aarti and pray to the Goddess Lakshmi. After the aarti ensure that you take the aarti to all the parts of the house and also to the place where you keep money and wealth. This is done so that the Goddess Lakshmi can bless the whole house and also ensure that the wealth stays in the house.
13. The women on Diwali must ensure that they dress up well and have gold jewellery on as they worship the Goddess Lakshmi. You must have earrings, a chain in the neck, bindi, payal and toe rings are also must be won on Diwali. Bangles and rings should be worn so that the Goddess Lakshmi is pleased and blesses the house. The women are considered to be the laksmi of the house so they must be dressed well as they do the Diwali puja.
14. The aarti thali should have gold and a silver coin in it. You must ensure that the coins that you in the puja must be kept in the house. Never sell or gift these. You can keep an exclusive gold and silver coin that you will be using year on year for this purpose. This coin that you use should not have any picture of gods on them.
15. You must use a lot of fresh flowers to decorate the house on Diwali. The Goddess Lakshmi is very fond of nice smelling flowers. The house should also smell nice. Try to use a lot of incense sticks so that the house smells good. On the day of Diwali ensure that there are no quarrels in the family and everyone is in peace. The Goddess Lakshmi do not like to visit households that have constant fights and arguments. Do not be rude to anyone on Diwali and if someone comes asking for help do not let them down. Try to do whatever is possible to help them.
16. On the evening of Diwali light a ghee lamp in the place where you do puja. Ensure that this lamp is on all through the night. If it is then you will get very good results and a lot of prosperity in the year to come. If possible cover the lamp with a vessel that can collect the fumes coming out of the lamp. You will see a coat of black coloured substance on the vessel next morning. Use this to apply kajal. All the women in the house must use this to apply kajal next day. This will ensure that the house is blessed. This is considered very auspicious and is followed in many parts of the country.
17. All the items that you used for the puja in Diwali and to decorate the house must be thrown in a river or a water body.
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As you know we also like to analyze the old knowledge in context of new age for the people who are getting cut from ancient knowledge thinking that it is not relevant in the modern age. We will not dissect all the 17 points one by one as that would make it too long but in a brief summary it can be stated that the ancient seers intelligently combined the different practices which are required for individual, family and societal harmony and spiritual growth into these tips.
Things like cleanliness ensure that the environment is kept clean, happy and good vibrations are spread. While buying new things helps in the development of economic activity of sales and purchase. Even the ladies were given the due respect by preferring that new cloths and jewellery be worn by them.
Once peace and happiness prevails, that is the platform on which spiritual growth can occur for when the environment is calm, the mind gets calmed more easily and the external light also gets manifested as the internal light giving a new meaning to Diwali or the festival of lights in the true sense of the word.
We hope that this article on simple tips for making Diwali – the festival of lights – even more auspicious will help you to enjoy a better Diwali and also ensure that you make the most if this festival and have a prosperous year ahead. We wish all our readers a very happy and safe Diwali.