Sadhguru: Certain things change from the trayodashi of Karthika masa.
Traditionally, they created a science as to how one should behave. So, the significance of the
festival has largely been ignored. It is time to bring this back so that you don't sink down.
Do not become susceptible to various negative forces which are always working upon us.
Sadhguru: This is Deepavali time.
What is the significance of this? This is a festival which always comes in the month
of Karthika as per the lunar cycles, on the thirteenth day, which is called as trayodashi.
The thirteenth day of the Karthika month is the festival.
Traditionally, the science behind this is, on this day everybody worships...
on the Deepavali day, everybody is supposed to worship Dhanavantari, the deity dedicated to one's
health and well-being. Today the word Dhanavantari has almost become synonymous with a doctor.
Dhanavantari or the deity Dhanavantari is supposed to be the source of Ayurveda;
the science of long and healthy lives.
Well, lot of North Indian people, yeah? Lot of North Indian people.
So (Laughs), I don't know when they did this because the nature of the language is like that.
In northern India, most people speak Hindi language
and the last syllable, they'll cut it off.
If you say “Dhyanalingam,” they'll say “Dhyanaling” (Laughter).
If you say “Shiva,” they’ll say “Shiv” (Laughter). If you say “Rama,” they’ll say “Ram” (Laughter).
The language has the habit of cutting off the last syllable (Laughs) always – almost everything!
“Krishna," tch – “Krishn,” "Deepavali" – "Diwali" (Laughter),
like this. So someone cut this Dhanavantari and trayodashi
and made it Dhantera (Laughter). What was about health became about wealth (Laughter).
Dhan means money (Laughs). Now everybody thinks Deepavali is about money.
Why it is about health is, for those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere,
it is from this day onwards, certain things change from the trayodashi of Karthika masa –
things change. In a way, there is a slowdown of life.
So for the winter months, how… what you should do with yourself, what time you should wake up,
what you should eat, how your food habits should change, how your practices should change.
For all this, traditionally they created a science as to how one should behave, to pass through
winter months without getting sick, without getting depressed, without losing your sense
of balance and purpose in life – how to do this? For this, there was an entire science, lighting of
lamps and bursting of crackers was one of those things, so that you don't slip into a slowdown.
There is genetically, there is a dimension – the evolutionary memory within us thinks that
as winter months come – whether it actually got cold or global warming kept you warm,
that's not the point – the changes have happened. The distance between the planet and the way the
planet and the sun are positioned has changed. Because of that, slowdown of life happens.
If you were a bear, I believe you were some time ago (Laughter), you would be
hibernating. So there is a tendency for the body to hibernate. If you do not know this,
the seed doesn't sprout. Nobody plants a seed from this season to fourteenth of January in India,
because the seed will not sprout fully or will not sprout at the same speed as it
would in other seasons. Everything, life slows down in the Northern Hemisphere.
Because life is slowing down, we are preparing to do more energetic things around us, so that we
don't really slow down and become a part of that. In a way, we are trying to assert our evolution.
Yes, if we were some other creature, we would go and curl up somewhere. But now we have become
human, we have transcended our biology tch..., am I assuming too many things (Laughter)?
You're supposed to have transcended your biological tendencies.
So to transcend this, there's a whole lot of activity created, so that you don't go
into a hibernating kind of state. Physically slowdown, mentally little bit of depression
could easily happen in everybody because the season is like that. In colder countries,
definitely people experience this. Hmm? Yes or no? Because things have slowed down within you. In the
Northern Hemisphere, not just you, everything has slowed down because our relationship with the sun
has changed, which is the basic source of life. The basic source of energy on this planet is sun;
not because you came up with the solar panel – it's always been so (Laughter).
Now because the Northern Hemisphere, its relationship with the sun has changed,
you're looking away from the sun, there is a slowdown from
this month, the thirteenth day of this lunar month which is called as the Karthika trayodashi.
So to make up for this, in India there are various things done from this month onwards. Normally,
traditionally, the roles of males and females are interchanged at this time. For example,
it is a part of daily activity for a woman – not anymore, in rural India still – that
first thing in the morning she cleans the front of her house and draw some geometrical figures.
These geometries… today she knows only one design, unfortunately (Laughter). She keeps
putting the same thing, or she got it painted, or she has a template, and she
puts it. Otherwise, she's supposed to use rice flour and every day – Monday,
Tuesday, like this every day of the week – she's supposed to draw a specific design,
geometric design to attract a certain kind of energy into her home.
If it's a full moon day, a certain kind of design; if it's a new moon day, a certain kind of design.
So twenty-eight patterns were there, which people knew on which day, what to put.
So during these months, it will become the duty of the men to do this. And
this is the only month where men are supposed to go out singing on the street in the morning.
Early morning, they're supposed to go singing on the street. Even today, a small number of
people are doing this. In rural India to some extent, in urban India once again a little bit
of revival is happening. Today we’ve become very large cities, otherwise if you lived in a village,
everybody who lives there, needs this beat of drum and music
to reverberate in their system so that they don't hibernate, so that their systems don't slow down.
So Deepavali is about that. If you cannot see the light, that's why the crackers so that you anyway
wake up (Laughter). At 4:30 in the morning, they will start bursting crackers all over the town,
so that everybody wakes up and everybody becomes alive. Because it is important in the winter
months that you come up before the sun. The first ray of sun should not hit a blade of grass or some
other worm or insect – the first ray of sun must hit you. This is a commitment! That is why before
sunrise everybody's out to receive the first rays of sun upon themselves, not upon the ground.
So, the significance of the festival has largely been ignored but still people are singing a
bit and bursting crackers a bit. It is time to bring this back, especially in colder weathers
this would be wonderful if some of these things are revived because Diwali is not
a religious festival. It's got something to do with our geographical location on this planet.
Because we're in the Northern Hemisphere, these changes are happening to us, to our bodies,
to the plants, to the animals – everything it's happening. You see everything slows down.
But if you slow down within yourself, mentally if you slow down, you will become little dim.
Physically if you slow down, you will become susceptible
to various other ailments which you may not be susceptible if your body is vibrant and alive.
If this body is vibrant and alive… There are a thousand infections within you right
now but you don't get sick because body is alive and vibrant. If little
slowdown happens, all these little, little things become major problems within you.
This is why the whole thing about Dhanavantari,
the science of health and well-being, that it must be kept alive;
till fourteenth of January, everything must be kept alive. You need music, you need more light,
you need lamp light – you need all kinds of things to keep the atmosphere alive for yourself, so that
you don't sink down and don't… do not become susceptible to various negative forces, which
are always working upon us. It is just that some are sailing above it, some are sinking into it.
So, this is the significance of Deepavali. It is Dhanavantari’s
trayodashi.