The story behind Diwali
The festival spans five days: Dhanteras (Dhanatrayodashi), Choti Diwali (Narak Chaturdashi), Diwali (Lakshmi Puja on Amavasya), Govardhan Puja, and Bhai Dooj. Homes are cleaned, lamps lit, sweets exch…
The festival spans five days: Dhanteras (Dhanatrayodashi), Choti Diwali (Narak Chaturdashi), Diwali (Lakshmi Puja on Amavasya), Govardhan Puja, and Bhai Dooj. Homes are cleaned, lamps lit, sweets exchanged, and fireworks celebrated. Diwali is simultaneously a festival of inner light — the dispelling of ignorance by the light of self-knowledge.
Gau Seva on Diwali is rooted in the Govardhan Puja tradition observed the day after Diwali, which directly honours cows as the embodiment of Lakshmi herself. The Bhagavata Purana records that on Diwali night, Lakshmi visits homes where the cow is honoured. Feeding cows on the night of Diwali — offering roti, jaggery, or full bhojan — is thus understood as welcoming Lakshmi through her most sacred form, and inviting her blessings of abundance into the home.