 Today being Diwali for those of you who are not familiar, Diwali essentially means festival of lights. Light is very important for us because our visual apparatus are made in such a way that without light we are quite helpless. If we were made like an owl, we wouldn't care for light. But we are made like this that without light we are helpless. So at this time of the year, towards the solstice, which is twenty-second of December, the planet gets positioned in such a way that particularly the northern hemisphere where we live, where at one time we believed that land exists only in the northern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere the earth in position, in relationship with the sun is in such a way that everything slows down, life gets into a state of inertia. This is something that we have observed for a long time. India being one nation or culture where there is over twelve thousand years of agricultural history, probably the only place on the planet with over twelve thousand years where they've been ploughing the same land. So in this experience they noticed that during this time, from here onwards till fifteenth of January, a seed will not sprout at the same speed as it would in other times of the year. Not just because of sunlight, simply because of the gravitational forces, the way they work, the sun's gravity, how it works upon the planet brings a certain level of denseness and inertia to the entire northern hemisphere. So this is a time when our own system slows down, mind can feel a little low and depressed easily, people can go into more depressed states during this time than any other time. So normally you may be lighting, we're talking about a time when people were using oil lamps. Maybe you lit one or two lamps in the house for your practical reasons. So once this season comes, next one, one-and-a-half months or forty days plus, you light up the entire house. As many lamps as you can afford, you light it up because otherwise it becomes depressive. So the festival of lights has its origin in this understanding. There are also other aspects attached to it, historical events which happened at that time which are connected to the making of the festival. So if you're not living a cracker of a life, at least burst some crackers. So today being Diwali made this period of slowdown of life that normally happens on this planet lead to contemplation, meditation rather than depression. Slowdown is fine if it's a positive slowdown. Slowdown is bad if it's a compelled slowdown, controlled slowdown from elsewhere. But if we consciously slowdown and make use of it to recoup and rejuvenate ourselves, slowdown is fine. So may this period become a period of meditation, not of depression. It's wonderful that all of you are here today on a Diwali day.