Lighting A Lamp Poem by DEEPAK KUMAR PATTANAYAK

Lighting a lamp
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I wonder what it is
Lighting a lamp
Is it the light of God
Bright and calm
I wonder when I see
My mother lighting
An oil lamp in the morning
And in the evening
Just before the beginning
Of daily household chores
And when the day is done

And I see great beauty
Emanating from lights' source
My mother says
Light symbolizes knowledge
And darkness as ignorance
So we light lamp to bow down to knowledge
And knowledge is the best wealth
Anyone can possess

Made from clayey soil, the diya's birth
Is a small gratitude to mother earth
Oil or ghee symbolizes water
That helps to burn the wick
Sky (clouds) is similar
To cotton braided in the form of wick
And it symbolizes ego
Air around us supports fire
Fire comes from the light
That, when lit, eats up ego (wick)
And that in turn makes
The negative affinities (oil or ghee)
Get exhausted at the most

Thus the lamp reminds one about
The five elements (pancha bootas)
The flame of the lamp burns upwards
Reminding us that we acquire knowledge
To take us to higher ideals
Thus when weighed down with burdens
When joy and hope falling utterly
Comes that divine light
Making us to see beyond the dark
Beyond the light toward eternity