Spirit of Festivals

This is the holiday season and there is a lot of festivity in and around us. I was just thrown this question by a colleague of mine who lives in the other part of the world
So, What do you do for this festival - DIWALI ?

Well that's when i told him we prepare sweets, decorate the house and then in the evening we do some prayer and then light crackers and fireworks - its all a fun festival.

That set me wondering - how much of this i actually do - in the right spirit - not much really. So this year I decided to do something on the lines of my proclamation to make it a festival. I went to the old city and shopped and got some trinkets. I also got "Marigold Flowers" and bunches of Mango Leaves.

One day before the festival in the evening - I decorated my house entrance with these flowers and the leaves. A dramatic effect indeed to see the deep orange with the mango green. I went and did this to the entrance of my Prayer Room as well. I had got trinkets to hang on my main door and there they went with bells and mirrors.

All this rubbed on I guess. My husband who had got some lights 2 years back and never used them - fixed those lights and set them up in my balcony. I had also got some Diya shaped lights and they also were arranged - mind you i didn't even have to ask him to do it.

On the day of the festival around 5:00 PM in the evening, I washed the approach steps and the entrance to my apartment and put rangoli all over the place from the stairs till my entrance door. All in all it was fun and I suddenly felt good and my home looked and felt like a new bride :-).

Every year I burnt crackers, but this year I had done much more - I felt much more festive thanks to the effort. I realized that festivity comes from within. We must want to make it special for ourselves else all customs and traditions that were meant to be fun will become mundane. I have also kind of decided to make efforts to give that special touch to all such days going forward.

I have realized that festivals are not merely a reason to get a holiday or to listen to some story that had happened eons ago. It's actually an opportunity to feel fresh, to do something different, to be creative, to come out of the routine and to actually experience the spirit of the festival and to celebrate it in totality.

SO, look within yourself and rediscover your festive spirit, whatever time of the year it is and whatever festival be it , it becomes much more fun and interesting if you take the interest to live it with zeal and do that something special. It also gives you a chance to get out of the routine and feel special in small little ways. So folks up your festive quotient and enjoy the season of festivals.

Happy Holiday season to all of you and Season's greetings.

Wishing for Affluence..

I am human - and since i am a normal human being there are those moments in life when something happens - a Benz or BMW zooms past , i see one of the most good looking heroines looking like that forever, some beautiful jewellery that is beyond my means and many more such insignificant incidents that actually scream out "It's Money Honey!!!" and make me wish i were richer, followed by a pang of guilt which comes after the momentary dreamy state.

These moments happen to every human being i guess. The times when u wish that something magical happens and life transforms into a totally new world. The current constraints seize to exist and there is new found freedom.

The reason why we probably wish for such miracles is because we actually wish to be free from limitations. The human mind seeks liberation. We have created these boundaries ourselves. To have a working couple automatically translates into having more loan taking and repaying capacity. We have lost the basic wisdom of "A penny saved is a penny earned".

Today something happened that made me wish for affluence and i felt truly justified wishing for it. A friend of mine and her husband have been running an NGO for about 10+ years now and after seeing the purpose of it i found a purpose for myself. For once i wished with all my heart that i am affluent enough to be able to help this organization with much more than what i am currently capable of.

And somehow while wishing for wealth at that moment i felt more happy than guilty. I felt liberated rather than limited while wishing for affluence to help this cause. This in itself was a big eyeopener for me.

Take a look at the site that i am mentioning : http://www.seed.org.in/
Spend some time on this site, and lend a hand if you feel like. There is no compulsion but i thought i could share the purpose of my feeling purposeful in life :) and it might help some else find a valid reason to "Wish for Affluence and Abundance".