By: Smt.Meera Tadipatri
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| Pic.courtesy: Smt. Kalavathy Tamraparni |
Audio link: Go vatsa & Yama deepa
"A" means fully [samantaat] and kaasha means illuminating.
Thus "Akasha" means fully illuminating. A jaDa vastu doesn't have that capacity and it is the chetana devata who stays in that Akasha and illumines and even he/she doesn't have independant capacity nor adhikara to illumine fully. Thus, it is Bhagavan with the name and form and quality [naama-ruupa-guna] as Akasha illumines fully.
Bhagavan named Akasha is present in the deepa with 13 specific rupas da= 3; pa =1 and together as per vaamagati left to right it is 13 as per HKAS] to remove the darkness called ajnana [about His mahima] and throws light [jnana of Paramaatma].
This rutu called sharat has very clear skies after rains and devoid of air-dust [due to rain washng them away hence kavi-s praise "sharat-chandra as pure and bright].
Lighting deep with the anusandana of Indira Damodara is very significant -- the thought of Damodara as the "one who binds us in samsaara and also the only one who removes us from the shackles of samsaara thr' His jnana" is capable of removing our paapa which alone is the kaarana for blocks what is rightful to us.
The deva-s daytime is equalent to our one year and this is the time of dawn in deva-maana and Laxmi starts to wake up Bhagavan-- i.e., anugraha-kriya-unmukha. A special prartana to bhagavan from our mother Ambruni to shower His anugraha drushti on His children.
The sampradayaa is to draw ashta-dala kamala signifying the devatas of eight directions: In the center which is anugraha shakti two lamps are lit for Indira Damodara. In each of the eight corners small lamp can also be thought of or lit. Apart from the dik devatas listed below, the special worship this time of the year is to the deities belonging to kaala-niyamaka rupa of Yama. The lamps are adhishtana/base in which we worship Indira - Damodara.
The eight deities are Rudra, Yama, Dharma [a rupantara of Yama while the former is born to Surya and the latter is to Chaturmukha], Prajapatis, Bhudevi [narakaasura's mother belonging to kaxa # 18], Sapta-pitrus [kaxa # 19], Preta deities [kaxa # 27], and finally Yamas sevakas represented by Shyama and Shabala.
This lamp is first offered to the Lord Indira Damodara and then after surya-astamana, placed outside on a higher floor/wood facing the South direction i.e., Samyamipura, the capital of Yama and his bhrutyas. As always if you use wood/floor draw a ashtadala rangavalli and keep the lamps. The belief is that the Lord in Yama comes along with his bhrutyas and accepts our prayers and not only blesses us but all our pitrus [who may be suffering as well] and take care of them and also our progeny. The best lamp is til oil lamps while ghee is for vaibhava. till is for removal of paapa! Thus at-least one set of lamp should be til-lamp in the house.
As to how long and when to keep -- it varies from sampradaaya. Many start this on dvadashi itself while we keep in puje room on dvadashi and keep outside facing South on an elevated pedestral on trayodashi. Some keep it for three days while others keep it for a full month amAvAsya to amAvAsya while others keeps from dvadashi to pournami.
Notes:
The ashta dik-palakas are:
East -- Indra
S-E - Agni
South -- Yama
S-W - niruti
West -- varuna
N-W -- Pravaha vaayu
North - Chandra/Kubera
N-E -- Shiva
In each of them Vayu-antargata Bhagavat rupas are there like clock wise from East Upendra, Parashuraama, Sriraama, Dharmaputra-Krishna/Janardhana, Matsya, Hayavadana/Vasudeva, Kalki, Narasimha/Sankarshana.
Please refer : Dik Palala Puje for more details..
Shri KrishnArpanamastu !!
Govatsa puje
Link to Deepavali page
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