This weekend (Saturday to be exact) one of the world's oldest and greatest religions will celebrate one of it's most important and symbolic events: the festival of Divali which is supposed to be held on 'the darkest day of the year' and celebrates the triumph of light over darkness.
One of the nice things about growing up in Trinidad is that one is exposed at a very early age to three of the world's great religions ... Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. We have large segments of our population who follow one or the other of these three religions with varying degrees of enthusiasm. We also tend to join in the celebrations of the particular religion when it has a feast day and, indeed, recognize these feast days with public holidays.
That this is right and proper is unquestionable. Most religious scholars will readily and happily posit that there are many ways up the mountain, but that there is only one mountain top! Indeed, in conversations over the years most priests, imams and pundits have all agreed that the real differences between the world's religions are more of form than of substance, and that they all, in their own way, preach fundamentally the same core values of love, family, honour and truth. That they approach these core values from very different angles is a given. But ultimately, when all the dogmas are stripped away they all fundamentally say the same thing: there is only one Supreme Being (called by many different names) who sits on only one mountaintop. You might choose to go up the South Eastern slope while I trudge up the North Western side, but we are both going in the same direction. Up!
And so, despite the fact that there are so many worries, conflicts and troubles in the world, the Hindu festival of Divali comes at a most appropriate and welcome time to remind us that no matter where you are or who you are, light will always triumph over darkness. And so to all who might read this may I wish you Shubh Divali.
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