By Sadhguru – Founder, Isha Foundation

Sadhguru: The culture of celebrating Deepavali goes back 12,000 – 15,000 years. People realised how, during this time of the year, life hits a point of inertia and does not happen at the normal pace. For the northern hemisphere of the planet, due to the position of the sun, it is winter. But above all, the forces of gravity work in such a way that there is a kind of stagnation and nothing grows well at this time.

In India, which is probably the only country with a 12,000-year history of agriculture, people observed that at this time of the year, seeds either do not sprout or sprout very slowly. The very life process slows down and inertia sets in.

Inertia means death; dynamism means life. In a way, a kind of temporary death occurs in all our systems. Mentally, you may become depressed, and physiologically you slow down in many ways. To make use of this state of inertia as a period of incubation rather than allowing it to affect us mentally and physiologically, we evolved various systems.

During the entire lunar month of Kartik, people light up lamps to keep up the aliveness in their houses. Unlike today when there are electric lamps, when we were using oil lamps normally due to economic conditions, people lit one or two lamps for practical purposes. But when this particular month came, they would light as many lamps as possible, at the entrance of the home and inside it, because this is the time when the human mind can become naturally depressive. This became a festival of lights. So Deepavali was not just for one day but was supposed to be for the whole month.

Historically, Deepavali is called Naraka Chaturdashi. When Naraka Chaturdashi comes, at four o’clock in the morning, crackers will burst all over the country. Nobody can sleep through that; everybody wakes up and comes alive because it is important that you come up before the sun in winter months. The first rays of the sun should not hit a blade of grass or some other worm or insect — the first rays of sun must hit you. That is why, before sunrise, everyone is out to receive the first rays of sun upon themselves. The important thing is to beat the inertia.

Life is a play of time and energy. All of us have a certain amount of time and energy. As far as time is concerned, for all of us it is rolling at the same pace. No one can slow it down, no one can hasten it. The only thing is that if you are very joyful, your experience of time will become very brief. It does not matter if you live to be a hundred, it is still very brief. For the potential that human beings carry, a hundred years is nothing. But if inertia has set into you and you are miserable, suddenly it feels like time is not rolling. Twenty-four hours will pass like an eon for you.

Only miserable people can live a long life. If you are joyful, it is a very brief life. You will see that the more miserable a society is, the more the need for entertainment will arise. The need for entertainment will go up tremendously in a society where there is a deep-rooted misery in people. Where people are joyful, they will not have time for entertainment; joy will take up everything. They wake up in the morning and before they know it, it is already night.

Deepavali is called Naraka Chaturdhashi because Narakasura, a very cruel king, was killed by Krishna on this day. Narak means hell; one who causes hell to everyone is a Narakasura. But, evil need not necessarily come in the form of demons. Inertia is the source of narak or hell because once inertia sets in, you are hell.

Not that you go to hell — you are hell. In a variety of ways, we are letting this inertia of life into us. Desperation, depression and frustration can cause much more damage to one’s life than the demons that you have not seen. Deepavali is a reminder to slay all that is negative to our life.

[Sadhguru, a yogi, is a visionary, humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader. An author, poet and internationally-renowned speaker, Sadhguru’s wit and piercing logic provoke and widen our perception of life. www.ishafoundation.org ]