| Saturday evening Vaibhavi and I attended the second | | | | Cannon spoke and Ashok Joshi wound everything up |
| annual Diwali celebration and dinner (vegetarian) in the | | | | with a few remarks. Dinner. Home by 11:30 pm. |
| Governor's mansion. This year Dinesh was present | | | | - "Diwali means 'row of lights'. When Ram returned to |
| with Kalpana, Governor Jon Huntsman and First Lady | | | | Ayodhya after 14 years of exile, the citizens |
| Mary Kaye (radiant in a sari), Congressman Chris | | | | welcomed his Pushpa Vimana, flower airplane, by |
| Cannon, and Scott Anderson (CEO of Zion's Bank). | | | | lighting thousands of "deepas', or lights, throughout |
| Others present were Lalit and Bobby Kumar, Bhaskar | | | | the city. |
| and Sanchaita, Jagdish Gil, Jayaraman and Rukmini, | | | | The entire saga of Lord Rama is told by the sage |
| Joe and Panna Goff, Srinivasan, Sneha Kasera, Jaya | | | | Valmiki in the epic narrative, Ramayana. This is |
| Prakash and Satya, Ranjan and Deepa Gupta, Ed and | | | | definitely the most popular epic in all of Asia. |
| Missy Ekstrom, Ashok and Surekha Joshi, Krishna | | | | Wherever you go -India, Thailand, Indonesia, |
| Shenai, etc. There were about 75 present, with a | | | | Malayasia, Burma, Cambodia, Nepal – you see |
| slightly higher percentage of Indians than Westerners. | | | | the Ramayan celebrated in art, architecture, |
| It is noteworthy that though the Indian community in | | | | performing arts, literature, puppetry, and sculpture. |
| Salt Lake City, spearheaded by Dinesh, numbers only | | | | The Grand Palace in Bankok has a surrounding wall 8 |
| 500 families, it has contributed so importantly to the | | | | feet high and 5/8 mile long with scenes of the |
| quality of life in Utah. Opening up the mansion for this | | | | Ramayana from start to finish. The ruins at Anchor |
| celebration each year is a measure of Governor | | | | Wat feature huge sculptures of scenes from the |
| Hunstman's great appreciation and thanks for all that | | | | Ramayana. |
| they bring to the state. | | | | When describing the significance of Diwali, Rama's |
| Beyond even this, Governor Huntsman and Mary | | | | Homecoming, and of the Ramayana, generally |
| Kaye are in the process of adopting an orphaned | | | | commentators describe it as the triumph of good |
| Indian girl, one and a half years old. Dinesh has been | | | | over evil. As you may know, Rama, on the eve of |
| helping them with this for a year and they expect to | | | | his coronation as king of Ayodhya, through no fault |
| fetch her from Gujarat by Xmas. They have | | | | of his own, was instead sent into exile for 14 years. |
| renamed her Asha (Hope) Bharati (India). As soon as | | | | While in the forest Ram's beautiful wife Sita, the |
| the Governor and Mary Kaye return to the US with | | | | goddess of fortune, was kidnapped by the demon |
| her, they want to bring her to the Spanish Fork | | | | Ravana. Rama' allied himself with the monkeys of the |
| temple for a blessing ceremony. | | | | forest, including the devoted Hanuman, destroyed |
| Vaibhavi and I, with the help of Satish Kumar, priest | | | | Ravana's city, his army and killed Ravana himself at |
| of the Ganesh temple, and Surya, set up an altar in | | | | last. Thus the description is one of good over evil. |
| the upstairs dining room with Deities Ganesh and | | | | But we do not want to elevate 'evil' to 'contender' |
| Lakshmi. I was asked by Dinesh to provide the | | | | status. Evil cannot contend with good, any more than |
| commentary ( * as below) and organize the puja. | | | | darkness can contend with light. The Festival of |
| Satish expertly chanted much of the Sanskrit. | | | | Lights celebrates the power of light in the lives of |
| While Satish intoned verses from Sri Suktam, I | | | | great men and women everywhere. Ravana was not |
| anointed the foreheads of Gov. Huntsman, Dinesh, | | | | 'evil'. He was just ignorant: ignorant of God, of spiritual |
| and Ashok Joshi. These gentlemen did the same for | | | | life, spiritual values, spiritual power, spiritual joys. |
| their wives: Mary Kaye, Kalpana, and Surekha. Their | | | | Because he was indifferent to the cultivation of |
| husbands tied the "rakhis" onto their wives' left wrists | | | | spiritual knowledge and practice, he became, by |
| and the ladies performed the ceremonial lighting of | | | | default, polluted with the three enemies of the soul: |
| the lamps. We did Shoda Sadupachara, or the 16 | | | | lust (kama), anger (krodha), and greed (lobha). |
| offerings to Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, who is | | | | For instance, we know that good health is achieved |
| none other than Sita, Rama's consort. Of the 16 | | | | with effort. The motto of one health club is "There is |
| offerings Kalpana offered the akshita symbolic of | | | | no such thing as staying the same. You are either |
| "padyam (washing the feet), "arghyam (washing the | | | | striving to get better, or allowing yourself to get |
| hands), "acamanam" (rinsing the mouth), "snanam" | | | | worse." To maintain good health one must eat rightly, |
| (bathing) etc. and then all three ladies offered flowers | | | | exercise and take bath regularly. Failing to exercise, |
| a number of times to the chanting of "Mantra | | | | eat correctly, and maintain hygiene, one falls into ill |
| Pushpam". Finally , an offering of sweets, the | | | | health. |
| atonement verses (prayascitta), and the releasing of | | | | Thus evil was something that overcame Ravana |
| the Deity. | | | | because he was not interested in striving for the |
| After the puja, Ed Ekstrom introduced the Governor, | | | | light. The sun is available for everyone, but what can |
| who praised the Indian culture and shared the | | | | you do if someone turns his back on the sun and |
| excitement of Asha Bharati's impending arrival. Chris | | | | casts himself into shadow? |