Here is an attempt to start the new label, to get a hold of some of our traditions ( samskaras - meaning a purificational rite or a ceremony) and their significances.
For any spiritual function, one of the most sacrosnct requirement is the lighting of a lamp, consisting of a Diya, two wicks, and oil. This I thought would be the first in this series. The traditional intrepretations are
1. Light symbolises Knowledge. The lord being the source, the illuminator, of Knowledge, the lamp denotes the Lord Himself as that "all pervasive knowledge".
2. Knowledge removes ignorance, and backs all our actions whether good or bad. The lamp is therefore being a witness, to all our actions, also helps us to stay in the right path.
3. The wick represents our ego, and the oil represents our vasanas, when lit by spiritual knowledge/awareness both of them perish.
My own addition to this ; the two wicks represent the jeeva and the paramathma, when realisation dawns or when the oil gets exhausted, and the wicks burn and merge themselves, the entire outward manifest world, including the flicker of diya's light all cease to have any individual existence as there is no duality but the "ABSOLUTE ONE UNIVERSAL REALITY".
Recall the aarati "na tathro bhanti na chandra tharakam...... which translates to He who is there where neither the Sun, Moon nor the stars shine, what to talk of the small flame in my hand. Everything shines after Him, it is By His light that we are illuminated.
I am touched by my own intrepretation, and when I meditate, it will be so much more fullfilling.
Hope this column gets more and more of this.
Love
Vichu
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