lighted lamp in the home

The Hindus with their spiritual belief follow certain

practices, like:

1. lighting of lamp near the idols of the dieties. And Also

during other occassions.
2. keeping the fingers straight and joining both hands

each finger touching the corresponding finger of the

other hand, face to face and saaying, namasthe.
3. bending before parents and elders, and touching

their feet.
etc.,.


What is the significance of such practices?

Through some forwards, I received on my e mail, I learnt

the meaning of such practices, which I following without

thinking about them. Now that I realised the meaning of the

thoughtful practices handed over from generation to

generation, I wish to share with my blog readers.

1. Lighting of lamp (part I)
There is a sankrit shloka about the lighted lamp. It goes this

way:

Deepajyothi parabrahma
Deepa sarva thamophahaha
Deepena sadyathe saram
Sandya deepam namostuthe

The deepam is considered to be the supreme lord, who

drives out ignorence which has engulfed us. To him,we

prostrate to deepam to bestow knowledge to achieve to

higher planes of life.

In any hindu family, it is the handed over practice, to light a

lamp or couple of lamps, in front of the diety. And in some

families, a lamp is kept burning ever. These are lamps which

are not kept burning with the help of electricity, but with

oil.
Our seers symbolised the light as knowledge. And that light

will drive away the ignorence. In mundane reality, everyone

knows that light drives away the ignorence.
So, in lighting a lamp, the seers indicated that man in

general will be in the darkness of ignorence. And he should

gain knowledge to drive away the that darkness. Gaining

knowlege helps him to understand the nature around him

and beyond.

The lamp is lighted with the use of oil and wick. Here oil

represents the eartly wants the man possesses. Earthly wants

may be interests in other sex, money, or assests.
The wick sybolises the self or ego. When the ego is burnt

out, the eartly wants are also burn out. And the man gains

knowledge which leads him to higher planes of thinking.


(source: e mail from a friend)