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Carrying the Light: A Diwali Reflection
Diwali isn’t just a festival, it’s a framework. It’s a reminder that light is something we return to, even after grief or misunderstanding.
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Bhavini Patel - Wed, 15, Oct 2025
- 16:54 EDT
- 27
Representative Image / AI generated using Perplexity
There’s a quiet power in the way a single diya glows against the dark. It serves as a reminder that even the smallest light can hold its ground. Diwali teaches us to celebrate that light, and to become the ones who carry it.
This year, that message feels especially urgent. For many Hindu Americans, recent months have brought challenges that have cast long shadows: misrepresentation of our faith, questions about our place, and a persistent pressure to defend who we are. We’ve seen our traditions flattened into headlines, our intentions distorted, and our presence treated with suspicion in spaces where we’ve long contributed with care and conviction. And yet, like that diya in the wind, we remain committed.
Diwali isn’t just a festival, it’s a framework. It’s a reminder that light is something we return to, even after grief or misunderstanding. It’s what we protect when the world feels uncertain. It’s what we offer when we choose hope over cynicism, compassion over fear, and service over silence.
Light in our tradition is sacred. It signifies knowledge, clarity, and wisdom. In times like these, it invites us to think not only about personal celebration, but public service.
This year, that light looks like students organizing interfaith meals. It looks like temples hosting blood drives or community forums. It looks like young people speaking up for themselves, and for the dignity of all. It looks like our community leading with the values of seva, ahimsa, and dharma. These are daily choices. They’re the quiet but resolute ways our community has always shown up, even when no one was watching.
Part of that definition means being honest about what we face. Hindu Americans today are not just navigating stereotypes today. We’re often caught in the crossfire of political narratives we didn’t write. In classrooms and on campuses, we sometimes feel the need to apologize for our faith before we can even explain it. In media portrayals, our tradition is too often mischaracterized, flattened into foreignness.
We don’t have to live in reaction to distortion because we can lead with definition. So this Diwali, I light a lamp for transformation and a version of America where Hindu identity is understood. Where interfaith solidarity is a given. Where young people can carry both faith and belonging without having to leave either at the door. Where the values we’ve carried for generations - service, nonviolence, devotion - are recognized as part of the American story.
To my fellow Hindu Americans: may this Diwali remind us that our light is not something to hide. It is something to share. Something to lead with. Something to live by.
In a world that sometimes feels defined by division, your light might be exactly what someone else is searching for.
The author is a public servant and community leader who currently serves as Executive Director of Sustainable Pittsburgh.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of New India Abroad)
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