Diwali, Festival of Lights, Los Angeles (11/13)

This post covers five Diwali celebrations in the Los Angeles area, one on Thursday (Oct. 20), one on Saturday, Oct. 22, two on Sunday, Oct. 23, one on Monday, Oct. 24, and the largest on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. The first and last are FREE, but the other three request a voluntary donation.

Diwali: Celebrating Oneness Nov. 13, 2022

FREE: Diwali, India's "Festival of Lights" is a celebration of ONENESS or nonduality (advaita), with speakers from various faiths, cultural performances, experiential meditation, and a free vegetarian lunch. More

When and where

• Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022, 10:00 AM–1:00 PM
• Sanatan Dharma ("Eternal Truth") Temple
• 15311 Pioneer Blvd., Norwalk, CA 90650

• Celebrate Diwali, New Moon Meditation, Puja, Healing Fire Ceremony + Eclipse, Monday, Oct 24, 2022, 6:00 PM | Meetup

Art of Living, LA: Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022

Krishna the cowherd loves the flute

All are cordially invited to attend “Diwali: Festival of Lights’’ -- an evening of celebrating joy, music, culture, and peace at the historic Art of Living Dome in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, October 23rd. 

Diwali is an age-old festival of lights traditionally originating in India. It celebrates peace, prosperity, and victory of light over darkness, and harmony for all.

During this event held for the Los Angeles community, coming together to connect, celebrate, and welcome the light of peace and prosperity into our lives, joy will reign above all else.

Diwali? Originating from the Sanskrit word Deepavali, it literally means rows (avali) of lights (deepa). This Festival of Lights symbolizes the vanquishing of ignorance (darkness) by the knowledge (light).

There are four aspects of Diwali:

1. Lighting of lamps. The lights on Diwali are symbolic of spreading knowledge.
2. Firecrackers: When an explosion happens on the outside, the explosion inside is diffused. This is the significance of firecrackers.
3. Distribution of sweets. Sweets dispel bitterness and are symbolic of a renewed friendship.
4. Feeling the abundance. It is a day to feel grateful for all that we have.

The celebration will begin with a short breathing and meditation session to relax the mind and feel the peace and joy within. When true wisdom dawns it gives rise to celebration, and in celebration we may lose focus or awareness.

So let us celebrate this Diwali with knowledge and feel the abundance. For those who have will be given more! This event will have all the aspects of celebration, which includes:

• Laxmi Puja (devotional ceremony to Lakshmi),
• followed by lighting lamps (diyas/tealight candles provided): There is an opportunity to make a personal sankalpa (deep wish) and offering. Sankalpa is a deep intention, since every manifestation has an intention behind it. We have many desires or intentions, however not all intentions come to fruition or manifestation. The process of taking a sankalpa is an ancient Vedic technique that uses mantras to invite the energy of the universe to help strengthen and manifest our intentions.
• Lighting lamps and dance performances
• Meditation
• Dinner (vegetarian Indian cuisine).

All are welcome, and anyone who comes for the event can witness the puja (sacred ceremony). Come celebrate the light of happiness, joy, and SELF. FREE-$51: Tickets (Eventbrite)

Things to do in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles Festivals, LA Community Festivals, #dance #food #music #musical #india #diwali #lightshow #weekend_activities #diwali2022 #lights_festival

• $0–$51 Tickets
• The Art of Living Rating 5 (3 reviews)
• Diwali, Art of Living Foundation, DTLA, Oct. 23, 7:00 PM

Diwali Festival with Kenwa, Tickets, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022 at 6:30 PM | Eventbrite

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ART OF LIVING FOUNDATION

Organizer of Diwali Fest 2022: Festival of Lights operating in 152 countries, The Art of Living Foundation (AOLF) is a non-profit, educational, and humanitarian organization founded in 1981 by the world-renown philanthropist and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (srisriravishankar.org). All of AOLF’s programs are guided by Sri Sri’s philosophy: “Unless we have a stress-free mind and a violence-free society, we cannot achieve world peace.” The AOLF community is diverse and attracts people from all walks of life backgrounds and religious orientations. AOLF offers numerous highly effective educational and self-development programs and tools that facilitate the elimination of stress and foster deep and profound inner peace, happiness, and well-being for all individuals. These programs, which include breathing techniques, meditation, yoga, and practical wisdom for daily living, have helped millions around the world to completely transform their lives. In addition to these courses offered globally, AOLF, working in collaboration with The International Association for Human Values (IAHV), has successfully implemented numerous humanitarian projects and service initiatives including conflict resolution programs, disaster relief, sustainable rural development, empowerment of women, prisoner rehabilitation, education for all, and environmental sustainability. It has been said of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar that not since Mahatma Gandhi has one person united so many people of different races, religions, traditions, economic and social status, and nationalities, creating a One World spiritual family across the globe. Sri Sri’s message is simple: “Love and wisdom can prevail over hatred and violence.” Happily, this message is not just a slogan but through AOLF has been and continues to be translated into action and results.

• Pasadena: Diwali Festival of Lights, at the Awareness Center with Kenwa, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022 at 6:30 PM

Self-Realization Fellowship "India Night," Saturday, Oct. 22

The Glendale SRF is a jewel of architecture.

(Glendale Temple) SRF is presenting Diwali, the Hindu "Festival of Lights," which signifies the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance. Delicious Indian dinner, followed by "Chai and Chatter," a kirtan (singing), and a shortened version of Glimpses of a Life Divine, a documentary on the life of Paramhansa Yogananda. Doors open at 5:00 pm, dinner served at 5:30 pm. Tickets are $20. To reserve, please call (909) 621-5023. Lots of help needed for this event. Volunteer.

Diwali at Ananda Ashram, Glendale (10/20)

Swami Vivekananda in the US

FREE: Thursday night is the celebration of India's "Festival of Lights" called Diwali. Group meditation, showing connection to all the world's great religions, is the focus of this heartwarming holiday celebration.

“My idea is NOT to bring here a Hindu creed or a Christian creed or a Buddhist creed, but to take the best out of ALL and embody the universal aspect of all. That is my dream.”

-Ananda Ashram Spiritual Center Founder Swami Paramananda

Female gurus are blessings to the world.

"We dedicate a symbol which represents the ideal of unity and oneness of all world Teacher…to place before the people of this country [USA] the wisdom and truth from all lands, classics, and scriptures, in fact, from the whole world, showing their underlying unity and harmony" (1938).

• RSVP: Festival of Lights, Thursday, Oct. 20, 7:00 PM

Nagas in the News: The Killing Fields

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Tamjty (historical photo). HALLOWEEN SERIES

Prisoner portraits during atheist-Maoist-communist takeover of Buddhist Cambodia by Pol Pot and the NAGAS' own Khmer Rouge ("Red Army"). What followed in terms of police state war crimes and genocide of its own citizens is referred to as "Killing Fields."

Murder on an unimaginable scale: Killing Fields

(Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum) Upon arrival at the secret prison, victims were first photographed and required to give detailed autobiographies, beginning at childhood and ending with arrest. They were then forced to strip to their underwear, and all of their possessions were confiscated. The prisoners were then taken to cells.

Those taken to the smaller cubicles were shackled to the walls or concrete floor. Those who were held in the large mass blocks were collectively shackled to long pieces of iron bar. The shackles were fixed to alternating bars; the prisoners slept with their heads facing opposite directions. They slept on the floor without mosquito nets, mattresses, mats, or blankets. They were forbidden to talk to each other. More 

• Thinking About Museums: revisiting genocide (PHOTOS)

Holyland Turmoil: Kashmir

Hindu protestors carry pictures of Hindu gods, Indian national flags and an effigy of People's Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti as they protest against Jammu and Kashmir government for revoking a land transfer to a Hindu shrine in Jammu, India, Monday Aug.11, 2008 (AP Photo/Channi Anand).

India security forces kill 13 Kashmiri protesters

By Aijaz Hussain (AP, 8/12/08)

SRINAGAR, India — Indian forces shot and killed at least 13 Muslim protesters on Tuesday as tens of thousands of people defied a blanket curfew in Indian Kashmir, the bloodiest day in nearly two months of unrest that has rocked this long-troubled Himalayan region.

Police and protesters battled each other through clouds of bullets, tear gas, and rocks, while in New Delhi, politicians again failed to find a solution to the crisis that threatens to shred the last tenuous threads binding the predominantly Muslim region of Kashmir to Hindu-majority India.

Angry Muslims took to the streets of cities and towns across Kashmir in spite of the first total curfew imposed on the region in 18 years to protest Monday's killing of prominent separatist leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, and four others.

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Indian policemen beat a Kashmiri Muslim protester during a march on Srinagar-to-Muzzfarbad road in Srinagar, India, Monday, 8/11/08. Security forces fired warning shots and tear gas Monday to disperse thousands of Muslims marching toward Pakistan's portion of divided Kashmir to protest a road blockade by Hindus, police said (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan).

In Srinagar, the main city in Indian Kashmir, about 100,000 people gathered at Martyrs Graveyard for Aziz's funeral, vowing to fulfill his legacy and achieve independence for Kashmir from India.

Violence has roiled the region since June 23 when Muslims and Hindus began tit-for-tat protests over a government proposal to transfer land to a Hindu shrine in India's only Muslim-majority state.

The protests have crystalized anti-Indian feeling in Kashmir just as Indian forces appeared to be gaining an upper hand in their nearly two decade fight against the region's separatist rebels.

Huge crowds thronged Aziz's emotionally charged funeral, setting tires alight and waving green Islamic flags. Chants of "We want freedom," and "Blood for blood," rang through the cemetery.

"Our struggle for complete independence from India will continue. No power on earth can deter us from achieving this," Mirwaiz Omer Farooq, another separatist political leader told the crowds who huddled together in the rain, straining to hear the speeches delivered without microphones.

"It's a do or die for us. India can take as many lives of Kashmiris as it can, but it must leave," said Rafiq Ahmed, a protester waiving green flag.

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Kashmiri Muslim protesters run for cover as a tear gas shell explodes near them during a march on Srinagar - Muzzfarbad road in Srinagar, India, Monday, Aug. 11, 2008. Security forces fired warning shots and tear gas Monday to disperse thousands of Muslims marching toward Pakistan's portion of divided Kashmir to protest a road blockade by Hindus, police said (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan).

Six protesters were killed in several incidents Tuesday in Srinagar, police said. Two more died in Nagbal village on the city's outskirts and three others were killed in Paribal, a village 40 miles to the north, they said.

Two protesters died in Jammu, the only Hindu-majority city in the region, when police opened fire at an angry Muslim mob that attacked Hindu shops and homes, said Sudhanshu Pandey, a senior government official.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over the region and both claim it in its entirety.

Indian policemen cane charge Kashmiri marchers during a march to Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-Administered Kashmir, in Srinagar 8/11/08 (REUTERS/Fayaz Kabli, INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR).

More than a dozen Islamic militant groups have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir's independence or its merger with Pakistan. More than 68,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

Aziz was killed Monday when police fired into a large crowd of Muslims attempting to march to the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir to protest a blockade by Hindus of the highway linking the Kashmir Valley with the rest of India.

The Hindus had blocked the roads to protest to the government's decision not to allocate land to a Hindu shrine in the region, after initially saying it would. The reversal came after protests by Muslims, who accused the government of trying to change Kashmir's demographics in favor of Hindus.

Traders say the region faces shortages of food and medicine because of the blockade, and complain that hundreds of truckloads of Kashmiri fruit are spoiling because they cannot be delivered.

On Tuesday the government announced that the road was now clear. However, it said it was open to the idea of traders exporting their products across the border to neighboring Pakistan — a move that would further reduce Kashmir's ties to India.

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Kashmiri women cry during the funeral of two people who mourners say were shot dead by police in Srinagar 3/13/08 (Danish Ismail/Reuters).

"However, a decision in the matter can be taken only through mutual arrangements between India and Pakistan," the Home Ministry said in a statement, warning against unilateral action.