Competition, the desire to defeat and overwhelm the other person by whatever means necessary for his downfall, and the greed to earn wealth, fame, superiority - these have put out the lamp of Love in the human heart today. Resolve on this Festival Day to light it again. When the worship of God starts in the shrine room, the first act of yours is ‘lighting a lamp’, isn’t it? Without a lit lamp, no auspicious ceremony is initiated. When the lamp of love is shining, God manifests! Keep it burning bright and pure, God persists! Allow all to light their lamps from it, God showers Grace! God, first; the world, next; myself last! That is the legitimate sequence for the sadhaka; and who is not a sadhaka? You have to be one, now or later, so that you can be liberated from this cycle of birth-death! Now, man, in his callousness towards his own welfare, has turned it topsy-turvy! It is ‘myself first, the world next and God is last.’ So, God is lost, too! Hold fast to God; then, you will be safe. You can hold fast to him, either through Jnana, Bhakti or Karma marga (paths of knowledge, worship or work).