Why Light Lamps During The Month of Karthik?

The month of Karthik in the Indian calendar marks the seasonal shift from a time of sadhana to a time of harvest. Sadhguru reminds us of the importance of lighting lamps in celebration and also to signify enlightenment, awareness, consciousness and ultimate liberation.

Full Transcript:

Sadhguru: What is the point of lighting this lamp? What is the science behind it? Because this is a culture… This is a culture where we did not do anything, which is not scientific, which is not naturally for the enhancement of the human being to reach towards their ultimate well-being or liberation.

So in this process, this lighting of the lamp is significant because in human experience, our visual experience is such it’s light which makes us see. So in this context, we have always seen that in our experience of these five senses, light plays a significant role in our perception of the world around us. If there is no light, there is no experience of anything around us. So in this context, light is important, but the significance of this day is not just about light, it is not just about lighting a lamp, it is the beginning of what we refer to as the Kaivalya pada, It is in this context that we have made this Karthik masam very, very significant because this is the shift from sadhana pada to Kaivalya pada. What this means – I will go into it…

Over 15,000 years ago a yogi appeared in the upper regions of Himalayas.

I see here there’s an attempt to create the Himalayan atmosphere. Nobody knew where he came from, what his antecedents were; his name, his identity was not known. Not knowing who he is but drawn to the power of his being, people assembled. Because he never introduced himself nor told his name, people started referring to him as Adiyogi, the first yogi. A huge gathering like this happened, but he did nothing. He said nothing, he did nothing, he simply sat still. If nobody says anything here on this stage or do anything on this stage, within ten minutes half the people at the rear part of the thing will slowly disappear. If we don’t do anything for three hours, most of them will disappear. If we don’t do anything for three days, only a few hardcore ones will hang on, rest of them will be gone. The same happened to him. Thousands of people gathered initially. He said nothing, did nothing, simply sat still. Days, weeks, months passed, he simply sat still. People could not make out whether he’s really alive or not. The only sign of aliveness was tears of ecstasy were dribbling down his cheeks, otherwise he did not even seem to be breathing.

They were expecting a miracle. Their idea of a miracle is something dramatic to happen. But what they were missing is that for a human being to sit here unmoving for months – no water, no food, no attending to nature’s calls, simply sitting here, if you have to sit like this, you have to transcend your physical nature. That is one thing they could not notice. Just seven people hung on and those seven people today are celebrated in this culture as the Sapta Rishis. These seven people pursued him and their longing they wanted to know their wanting to transcend their own limitations made Adiyogi, who they started referring to as Shiva because the word Shiva literally means – “Shi-va” means that which is not. That which is, is material. That which is, is creation. That which is not is the basis of creation. So they referred to him as Shiva but he sat there as a yogi with them and seeing their interest, when the sun shifted from Uttarayana to Dakshinayana in the month of June, the first full moon after Dakshinayana, he turned south. Because the sun turned south, he turned south and started expounding the science of knowing the mechanics of what a human being is and what is his relationship with the rest of the universe and how we can make this into one. So this phase of the year which is Dhakshinayana is referred to as Sadhana Pada, The Karthika masam is significant because now it is moving into what is called as Kaivalya pada. That means this was all the time of plowing, seeding and cultivating. Now the time for harvest… the inner harvest of whatever sadhana you have done, to take the cream of that sadhana, to make it available to yourself. You have heard many stories about this. If… Everybody is con… definitely aware of how Pitamaha Bhishma waited on the bed of arrows not to die in the sadhana pada but he wants to die or leave his body in the Kaivalya pada because that is the time you can harvest the fruits of life. The inner nature can be harvested very easily in the Kaivalya pada. Right now, this is the transition from sadhana to Kaivalya. And it is because of that, in this month lighting of the ma… lamp is indicative of enlightenment, awareness, consciousness and ultimate liberation. All this is symbolized with the lamps that we light. Now this is not just about lighting one lamp. Usually the tradition said that as the Karthika masam comes, you must double the lamps that you light because one thing is the day has become shorter, so you need little more light to do your daily activity. Another thing is to indicate that you’re multiplying the light in your life.

We want one hundred and twenty-five crore lamps in this country for every one of them (Applause) - at least one for everyone. We need seven hundred crores of lamps for every human being on this planet. You cannot do all that by yourself. You must do this much – one for yourself, one for somebody who is dear to you and one for somebody whom you do not like (Laughter).

The festivals of India were made in such a way in the past, in this country we had three (Audio disturbance)… three hundred and sixty-five festivals because every day is worth celebrating. So every day was a festival. But slowly we moved from being agricultural families to office-going families. So only when the government gives you a holiday, that (Audio disturbance) festival, otherwise it is not a festival. And gradually it is so happening that a festival means there was a time when the whole town or the village came together. It was a time of communion, it was a time of togetherness, it was a time of joy and celebration. But today festival means overeating and watching cinema on the television. So it’s very wonderful to see that in the name of festival, all of you have assembled here and lighting a lamp together is very significant because lighting a lamp for each other, lighting a lamp for ourselves is a very important part of our lives.