One of the important day of Diwali festival is called Narak Chaturdashi, the 14th Day of Ashwin Months 2nd half of Indian calendar is called with the name Narak literallg meas Hell.
Why would someone call a day with such scary name that too during festival where people need to enjoy and relax?
That’s what the beauty of Indian festival meanings and iconography is. This day is dedicated to the lord of death and mortality called “Yama” and his abode “Naraka”.
Early texts like the Rigveda do not have a detailed description of Naraka. It is simply a place of evil and a dark bottomless pit. The Atharvaveda describes a realm of darkness, where immoral are confined after death. The Shatapatha Brahmana is the first text to mention the pain and suffering of Naraka in detail, while the Manu Smriti begins naming the multiple hells. Also twenty-eight hells are described in the Bhagavata Purana and the Devi Bhagavata Purana. Each with unique sets of sins and the punishments.
The mind’s bottom is full of darkness, and which runs behind the easy ways and shortcuts in life.
Running behind the needs of life, sometimes we leave the intelligence aside and just run behind pleasure. Once the pleasure is gained after compromising everything we face that guilt, grief and shame, which is nothing but Morale, intelligence or the “Yama”.
In one of the verse it is said कामातुराणां न भयं न लज्जा, meaning when carnal desire comes to human they will not have fear or shame…. when such devil enters in the mind man or woman becomes worse than animal because animal doesn’t have that Yama- the intelligence in them.
It is clear in this verse the fear and shame is nothing but “Yama” and the carnal desires and running behind them is nothing but darkness of “Naraka”.
Let us ignite that light for “Yama” the morale and righteousness and give away the hell-full acts from our life.
Compiled by: Dr Sandeep Sadanand Chaugule, you may reach out to him on Twitter @sandipchaugulle
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