Food For Life Ermelo celebrated Diwali by providing food to locals of Ermelo on 14 November.

Mr Paddy Singh, organiser and manager of Food For Life Ermelo, said: “Deepavali or Diwali is the biggest and the brightest of all Hindu festivals.”

“It is the festival of lights – deep means “light” and avali “a row” to become “a row of lights.”

Diwali is marked by four days of celebration, which literally illuminates the country with its brilliance and dazzles people with its joy.

“There are 10 main reasons for celebrating Diwali.

“The main reason is the celebration of the home coming of The Lord.

“The Lord appeared as Lord Ramachandra some 18 million years ago on this planet.

“According to an ancient Sanskrit epic known as the ‘Ramayana,’ it was the new moon day of the month of Kartik when Lord Ram, Mother Sita, and Lakshman returned to Ayodhya after vanquishing the demon king Ravana and conquering Lanka.”

He added, the citizens of Ayodhya decorated the entire city with the earthen lamps and illuminated it like never before in honor of Rama’s victory.

“It was on this day, that the Lord returned to the capital city of Ayodhya after completing the 14 years of banishment.”

According to another great ancient Sanskrit epic called the ‘Mahabharata,’ it was ‘Kartik Amavashya’ (new moon day) when the five Pandavas who were brothers returned from their 12 years of banishment.

The devotees who loved the Pandavas celebrated the day by lighting the earthen lamps.

Diwali is also the celebration of the victory of good over evil, by Lord Rama himself.

Knowledge over ignorance is symbolised by the lighting of lamps – all the darkness of the world cannot put out the light emanating from a single lamp.

Mr Singh said: “Where there is real knowledge, there lifts the veil of darkness.”

“With the economic situation that the country is in, Food for Life Ermelo, wanted to serve the children from under privileged communities on this day.”

Read the complete article in the Highvelder newspaper.