Asatomaasadgamaya Tamasomaajyotirgamaya
Mrityorma amritamgamaya Om Shanti:Shanti: Shanti:!!
‘Lead me from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality! Om! Peace! Peace! Peace!’
Karthika Pournami on on 15-11-2024
Karthika Pournami
As we can infer from the meaning, leading a person from darkness to light may be taken literally and figuratively. Leading a person from darkness to light means his fear, obscurity, uncertainty and illusion will all be put to rest by bringing him to light, which in turn brings clarity.
Figuratively, a person’s ignorance about anything is destroyed by giving him the light of true knowledge. When true knowledge or wisdom dawns, peace prevails. Thus, we find the ideas of gifting true knowledge, peace and positive vibrations are behind lighting oil/ghee lamps on the day of Karthika Pournami.
Karthika Deepam
The observance of Karthika Deepam, the Festival of Lamps, is believed to bring in new hope, prosperity, peace and happiness. Though this festival is celebrated among Hindus across the globe, in Tamil Nadu, this gains more popularity because it is considered to be one of the big festivals for Lord Kartikeya who occupies the family deity or ‘Kula Daivam’.
New earthen lamps with oil are lit on this day to ward off evil energy and usher in positivity and rays of hope. This celebration can be traced back even before the common era since we find references about this in ancient Tamil literature. This festival marks the conjunction of the Full Moon and the Krithika Star in the month of Karthik.
One may argue that any source of light i.e, a bulb or tube light may be used to remove darkness. So, what is the significance of lighting oil lamps? This may be answered based on the philosophical explanations given in our Scriptures that the oil or ghee symbolizes our ‘purva janma vaasana’ or the impressions the ‘Atma’ carries from the experiences of the previous births, both positive and negative ones and the wick represents our ego.
When the lamp is lit by the flame of spiritual knowledge, the ‘vaasanas’ get slowly burnt and exhausted and the ego too perishes along with it. Once when everything gets exhausted and complete surrender happens, a person becomes eligible for final liberation i.e., Moksha. It is also believed that the light from these oil lamps can help the souls of the deceased ancestors find their way to heaven.
Moreover, during the entire month of Karthik, oil lamps are lit and kept on both sides of the main entrance gate because in this month Lord Siva is believed to shower His blessings on His devotees.
This ‘Deepam’ (Pournami) festival is celebrated with much fanfare in all temples of Lord Subrahmanya and Lord Siva. Sri Arunachaleshwara temple at Thiruvannamalai, Tamilnadu is very special because it is considered as ‘Agni sthalam,’ one of the five elements.
The other ‘pancha bhuta’ temples are Ekambareshwara temple (Earth), Jambukeswara temple (Water), Kalahasti temple (Vayu) and Chidambaram temple (Akasha) and Arunachalam temple (Agni) An interesting story is attached to the Agni ‘sthalam’ at Thiruvannamalai.
As per our Puranas, once Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu were in an argument. They want to know who is superior. They wanted Lord Siva to act as the mediator. Lord Siva agreed and took the form of a long, brilliant beam of light extending beyond Akasha and penetrating the surface. Lord Siva laid a condition that whoever sees the head or foot of the brilliant light first is the winner and he will be treated as great.
Both of them agree. Lord Vishnu takes the form of a Varaha, a wild boar and goes down the ground, into the nether worlds to see a glimpse of Lord Siva’s foot. But midway he finds it extremely exhausting and returns unsuccessful in His mission. Lord Brahma takes the form of a swan, and flies higher and higher to see Lord Siva’s head.
In the midway, he encounters a Ketaki flower which tells him that it was adorning Lord Siva’s head and it fell from there. Lord Brahma strikes a deal with Ketaki that, when he returns and tells Lord Siva that he saw His head, Ketaki should endorse His words as a witness.
But Lord Siva finds out the truth and punishes Lord Brahma by plucking His fifth head, bans Ketaki from Lord Siva’s worship. Since all the Devas and the sages propitiated Lord Siva and requested him to continue to bless His devotees in this brilliant light form, Lord Siva agreed.
Full Moon Day is celebrated with great enthusiasm in the month of Karthik at Thiruvannamalai, There are three important ‘deepams’ lit during this festival.
- Kumaralaya Deepam. It is done in Karthik month on Karthik star.
- Vishnu Aalaya Deepam. This is done on Rohini star in Karthik month.
- Sarvaalaya Deepam. This is done on Full Moon Day in the month of Karthik.
Slokam
The following ‘sloka’ is recited while lighting lamps at home.
Shubham karoti kalyanam
Aarogyam dhana sampada:
Shatru buddhi vinaashaya
Deepajyotir namostu te!
(I salute the brilliance of light that brings auspiciousness, prosperity, good health, abundance of wealth, and the complete destruction of the six enemies of our intellect {Kaama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Maatsarya}).
To say in simple words, this deepam should be lighted to annihilate evil forces, and negative energy and to usher in new hopes and positive energy.
