Light beyond lamps: Celebrate the eternal Diwali within
Diwali is a festival of lights that transcends external indulgence, urging individuals to seek the inner light, Kutastha-deepa.
Diwali is a festival of lights. A long line of gleaming lamps light up streets and courtyards, houses and huts, celebrating the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and good over evil. But beyond those flickering lamps that illuminate our homes, there is a steady and sublime, eternal and effulgent light that shines within the human heart — always and forever.
That light is what Vidyaranya Swami’s Panchadasi calls the Kutastha-deepa — the eternal lamp within. In its deeper sense, Diwali is about awakening to this inner illumination, situating ourselves in the light of this eternal consciousness.
In the Deepa-Panchaka section of Panchadasi, Vidyaranya Swami beautifully describes the layered presence of five kinds of light in human existence — the physical light of the lamps, the light of the senses, the light of the mind, the light of the intellect, and the light of the Self (Aatma Jyoti). The eternal Self itself is known as Kutastha-deepa. Each higher light illumines the lower one: the eyes see through the attention of the mind, the mind functions through the guidance of the intellect, and the intellect in turn is directed by the cosmic light of witness-consciousness — the Sakshi, the Atman.
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This blissful, blazing, unwavering and unchanging consciousness — the Kutastha-deepa — illumines every aspect of our life. It is the substratum of all thoughts, emotions, and actions, yet remains untouched and untainted by the mind’s fluctuations. It is the light that lights the lamp of our soul. It is the soul itself.
Diwali, therefore, is not only about dispelling external darkness or brightening one night with festive lamps. Deeper introspection reveals that it should be about removing the long night of Avidya (ignorance) — the darkness that breeds confusion, conflict, and chaos within and around us. Avidya blinds us to our true nature and the essence of our being.
The bhava (spirit) of Diwali, unfortunately, has been overshadowed by bhoga (indulgence). In today’s consumer-driven societies, Diwali has become a spectacle of shopping sprees, social media displays, and market-driven emotions — all of which show how the external world dictates the flame of our joy. This external flame keeps flickering, swayed by the winds of desire, distraction, and comparison. The result is fleeting happiness followed by stress, tension, and a growing sense of emptiness — a crisis of meaning, self, and identity.
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The illuminating night of Diwali offers a golden opportunity to look within — to go beyond these transient lamps of worldly pleasure and rediscover the ever-illuminating lamp of awareness that diffuses unspeakable bliss forever. Amidst the diyas and deepas burning outside, Diwali becomes a moment for self-reflection — a moment for adhyatma-anusandhana (self-inquiry).
As the Kena Upanishad beautifully asks: “What is the light behind this light? Who illumines this outer illumination?” Those small, delicate lamps we light on Diwali night remind us that all lights ultimately arise from, and merge into, the one eternal consciousness.
The Bhagavad Gita expresses this truth eloquently:
“The Self is the light of lights, beyond darkness; the source of all illumination.” (13.18)
The Panchadasi extols this further: “You are that light” — a light not lit by oil or wick, unaffected by the winds of consumerism, anxiety, or unfulfilled desires. Steady, blissful, and ever-illuminating, this inner radiance guides us from Avidya (ignorance) to Vidya (knowledge), from darkness to the luminous presence of wisdom and joy.
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Classical Indian philosophy gives us profound frameworks to access this inner lamp of reality — the Kutastha-deepa. Let us awaken our consciousness this Diwali to that eternal light which illuminates life always and forever.
You are that Kutastha-deepa. Then Diwali will no longer be just one night of lights — it will become a steady and blissful state of being, a celebration of what Indian philosophy calls Nitya Deepawali — the perpetual Diwali of the soul.
(Author Rakesh Ranjan Das is a PHD Candidate, Centre for Political Studies, JNU)
