973. Lighting an Oil Lamp.....!

The first electric bulb was lit in Bangalore City Market in 1905. The journey of lighting thereafter has swiftly zipped along. We had Incandescent bulbs replaced by Fluorescent tubes which were substituted by Compact Fluorescent Lamps. This CFL are now taken over by LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs. With all these we cannot forget that before the advent of the first Electric Bulb every household in India had kerosene lantern to drive away the darkness. Nevertheless at the altar in the pooja room there was this oil lamp.

Though we have the Electric Bulb to take care of the darkness in the pooja room, the oil lamp still finds a place there??? Why???

There is a hidden secret behind this which needs to be unearthed. We all know that this Cosmos is an amalgamation of Five Elements namely Akasha (Space), Vayu (Air), Agni (Fire), Apa (water), Pritvi (Earth). The two elements Akasha and Vayu have very subtle density and are always felt above, while Pritvi and Apa have gross density and are felt below. Amazingly Agni is neither subtle nor gross and is felt above and below. It holds the connectivity between the elements and hence Agni was used by our ancient Rishis to pass on the Havis (Sacrificial offering) to the Divine Beings. Element Agni is considered a link between the Iha (Present Life) and Para (Life After) and hence a dead body is confined to flames.    

Now let us know why it is important to light an oil lamp in the evenings. Every living being born has positive and negative energies in them. Those with predominant negative energy prefer to stay in darkness to conceal their presence while those with positive energies thrive to be in light. Do not take it in a negative sense let me explain, the seed sprouting is positive development, right??? It needs light. Fungus formation on the bread is a negative development and it needs dark place. Apart from these two energies there is a third entity which is neutral.  

Even microbes get eliminated when exposed to Sun Light. As we have these two energies outside us we also have positive and negative emotions in our mind. There is a tussle between these two emotions to dominate the mind. As per observations made by our ancients when negative energy is dominant there will be turbulence and turmoil and with positive emotions in dominance there is serenity and calmness in the mind.

How is this related to lighting oil lamp???

At the creation of this Cosmos it was ensured that the domination of the negative forces be negated by positive energy if there is illumination. Hence the Shanti Mantra (Hymn of Peace) from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says “Tamaso ma Jyotir gamaya” (From darkness, lead me to light). So also the dominance of the negative and positive forces will determine the mindset of the family members. Now the question is whether it is possible to light up an oil lamp to achieve serenity and calmness in our mind?

Lighting up the area with an electric bulb will only remove external darkness. It will hardly help to bring in serenity in the mind, as the positive and negative forces are head-on with each other. Some other force is necessary to assist the positive force to get dominance over the negativity. Which is that other force???

Our Rishis revealed the secret of the third invisible Divine Energy, the Oil Lamp which is always neural. It has both negative and positive energy in equal proportions (Fire is neither subtle nor gross, as seen above). It is the simplest form of divine energy which provides heat and light. The oil lamp has a particular wavelength of Divine Energy which can activate the dormant energy and change the negativity to positive.