Bhagwat urges Diwali be celebrated with understanding of science behind old traditions

Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat has appealed to people to celebrate festivals by understanding the science behind Diwali's traditional practices. He was speaking at a Diwali Milan programme held in Nagpur.

Bhagwat said firecrackers earlier were not made with chemicals and did not use harmful substances, so the smoke from them killed insects. He also said lighting lamps of ghee and oil earlier helped keep the atmosphere clean.

He said Diwali had just been celebrated and that it begins with Vasubaras. "We make Govardhan out of cow dung, and cow dung has other uses too." According to Bhagwat, the world is now beginning to accept this. He said that because "we" kept following these practices, the whole world used to mock "us" some years ago, but that has now stopped.

Bhagwat said the world today is advancing by stumbling, whereas the ancestors of Indians built their way of life through stumbling and experience. The world is now beginning to understand, and the concept of "One Health" has emerged. He said people earlier believed they were masters of nature, but they are part of one world along with nature. They therefore depend on it and on one another.

According to him, if biodiversity, ecology and everything else remain well, human beings will also be happy. For humans to be happy, they should place some restraints on themselves. He said people are not the owners of nature but a part of it. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was also present at the programme.

Bhagwat also spoke on self-reliance. He said that if people develop on the basis of what they have, they do not have to depend on the world. Self-reliance makes a person free, whereas those who depend on others have to serve them.

He said others are also "ours", so the world's development should follow from "our" development, and every nation should think this way. Bhagwat also said that the country's scriptures hold many kinds of knowledge for becoming self-reliant.