BETHESDA, Md. (RNS) — While standing at the pulpit on Sunday, the last day of Diwali (Nov. 3), Rev. Abhi Janamanchi addressed his congregation with the words of one of the oldest Sanskrit mantras, the Gayatri Mantra. , believed to enlighten and guide the mind towards truth and righteousness.

“Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti (peace, peace, peace),” the group of more than 100 worshipers chanted in response, their heads bowed. “May we carry forward the light, strength and resolve of this sacred celebration,” added Janamanchi, an Indian immigrant who describes himself as a “UU Hindu.”

Diwali marks the new year in some traditions, an “opportunity to start again, similar to Rosh Hashanah,” said Janamanchi, who draws his sermons from tenets of all religious traditions. “We say that Unitarian Universalism is many windows, one light. Although Diwali has Hindu origins, it transcends a religious perspective. There is in him a universality and a unity, not a conformity. It is a unity centered on diversity, on our differences.

The Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church, founded in 1951 in this suburb on the northern edge of the nation’s capital, celebrated the Hindu festival of lights in partnership with Hindus for Human Rights, a progressive advocacy organization, adding a call for action to accompany the traditional dance, food, singing and fireworks of the festival.

“We live in critical, troubled and troubled times, and we must come together to find ways to recommit ourselves to the work entrusted to us,” the minister said, “to meet the challenge.” against injustice, against oppression and against authoritarianism.

The line of oil lamps that many Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists use to light their homes and temples, Janamanchi said, represent the divine light of truth meant to “guide us through the darkest times,” he declared, including the imminent American. presidential election. “My faith commands me to speak out about the moral issues we face.”

Pranay Somayajula, director of organizing and advocacy at Hindus for Human Rights, told the congregation in his speech that rather than treating Diwali as an “abstract or detached celebration,” it is important to remember that the lessons of this ancient holiday applies as long as “we are still anchored”. here, in the real world,” and against a backdrop of injustice across the world.

“If we’re talking about a celebration of good triumphing over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and truth over lies, that must actually mean something in how we carry on that spirit after today, in how we engage with the world, no matter what it looks like for each of us,” Somayajula said.

Celebrated throughout the Indian diaspora around the world for five days, the importance of Diwali varies from region to region. Somayajula said Sunday’s event demonstrated the wide diversity of stories told on Diwali, from Lord Rama’s return to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and victory over Ravana; The defeat of Lord Krishna against the demon Narakasura; and the Sikh observance of Bandi Chhor Diwas, commemorating the release of Guru Hargobind from Mughal imprisonment, as well as the 52 kings he freed with him.

At the evening service at Cedar Lane, young children re-enacted the battle between Krishna and Naraka, a duo sang Indian and American folk hymns and three Sikh men sang kirtan, a traditional devotion.

“TStreet Diwali is if we see the lamp as the name of God, if we see the wick as the name of God, and the oil as the name of God, so that the life of the Creator comes to our values, “, said Mandeep Singh, one of the kirtan artists.

Mmamohau Tswaedi and Balaji Narasimhan, a couple in their 30s from Germantown, Maryland, have been attending Cedar Lane services together since the pandemic and celebrating Christmas and Ramadan there. Tswaedi is the daughter of a Lutheran pastor from South Africa and Narasimhan comes from a religious Hindu family in Chennai, India.

The Narasimhans family brought their baby boy for his first year of Diwali celebrations on Sunday, November 3, 2024, at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda, Maryland. RNS photo by Richa Karmarkar

Taking their 2-month-old son to his first Diwali celebration, the couple is convinced that this congregation, where they have been “educated about what is out there,” is the place where their family belongs and where their son will eventually “become educated.”Determine what he wants to keep and what he wants to give up.

“The culture I grew up in is very communal, and I find the United States to be more individualistic, in general,” Tswaedi said. “So I think spaces where you feel a community — not necessarily like the community I grew up in, but where you can feel the togetherness — are places you want to be. And I think that’s what this space and events like this create. It’s that level of unity that transcends, like, one belief or another.

Diwali is nothing new at Cedar Lane. Students from Lakshmi Swaminathan’s Natanjali School of Dance have been dancing Bharatanatyam, a traditional Indian form, at Cedar Lane celebrations for almost a decade. In 2010, they performed at the Washington National Cathedral, dancing to the music of Hindu gods and goddesses before Jesus on the cross. For their teacher, the performance gave rise to a profound awareness. “God is one. When you are in contact with God, it doesn’t matter where you are,” she said. “Whether you are in a church or in the basement of your house, God is in you.

It was UU Fellow Beth Brofman’s first Diwali last month. A longtime member of a Dutch Reformed church in New York, Brofman sought a more diverse and socially active spiritual community when he moved to Bethesda, happily trading “How Great Thou Art” for Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up.” . said, the latter having performed after Sunday’s sermon.

Worshipers gathered outside to paint rangoli, or colorful mandala designs, with chalk after the Diwali service, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda, Maryland. RNS photo by Richa Karmarkar

After researching the correct greeting for Diwali and the most auspicious colors to wear, Brofman said his first Diwali came at the perfect time.

“I actually need to distract myself and be around other people who reflect my values,” said Brofman, a retired social worker whose anxiety level reached that of the 2016 election, when she was a solicitor. “Rno matter what happens on Tuesday, we will have this community of like-minded people who will continue to stand up for the things that I believe are important. You know that you are not alone and that the people we know are much more important.

Janamanchi agreed and said Sunday’s celebration was well timed. “The Narakas of the world are very active,” he said, citing the evil figure fought by Lord Krishna and his queen, Satyabhama, in Hindu tradition. “Like Krishna and Satyabhama, we can recognize that we are not alone in this situation, that together we can overcome, overcome evil, overcome oppression and overcome injustice.”

“In all of this, there is joy,” he added. “Joy is not the opposite of sorrow. Joy is present even through heartbreak, challenges, despair, and despair. And for me, these are also messages that Diwali presents to us. So if there’s one thing I want people to take away, it’s joy. »