I want to share a story I wrote a few years ago in my book Rangolis of My Childhood.
A few years back, on a festive day like this, my parents shared dinner with the whole family. The house gradually filled with relatives. The women showed off their new saris, while the men talked about the fields, work, or whether that Diwali was hotter or cooler than other years.
Everyone dined together, the women sitting on brightly colored rugs and the men scattered around the rest of the room.
After dinner, it was customary to go from house to house, greeting neighbors and wishing them a happy Diwali. Slowly, the elders left, until only the youngest of us remained with great-grandmother. And I say “great” because I’ve always seen her the same way: dressed in a sari of beautiful colors that covered her frail body, with a deep gaze that missed nothing. She was old and wise.
Because it was so hot inside, we all went out to the courtyard and surrounded the rangoli she had drawn that very morning. Together, we placed garlands of lights to give it a festive touch. The rangoli became a star of vivid colors that seemed to want to rise toward the sky.
It felt wonderful under that starry sky. My youngest cousins fell asleep in my lap while we sang and laughed.
Gradually, we calmed down. We breathed deeply, as if following the heartbeat of the wonderful earth around us.
It was too beautiful to be real!
Then something magical happened: Grandmother began to speak in a voice that didn’t seem her own. It was warm but also commanding.
She explained that whenever she sat under such a beautiful sky, she always remembered a very old story told to her as a child. And she began to tell us the story:
*"A very ancient legend says that the God of gods felt very lonely in an infinite universe and thought it would be good to have some company.
Inspired, He created creatures and breathed life into them. They grew and multiplied until they found the key to happiness.
They followed their path and transformed, moving toward the divine essence, eventually becoming part of it.
The God of gods felt loneliness again, and once more He was alone, filled with great sadness.
For many days He reflected and meditated, until one day He thought it was time to create again, but this time He wanted to shape and give life to a human being. His only fear was that this human too would discover the key to happiness and find the way to Him, eventually becoming divine.
He pondered for a long time and wondered where he could hide the key to happiness so that man and woman could never find it. He considered hiding it in different places: at the bottom of the sea, in a cave hidden among the perpetual snows of the Himalayas, or in a distant corner of space. But he was not satisfied or confident that he had chosen the best hiding place.
A little voice inside him said that man and woman would eventually dive into the deepest ocean, and it would not be safe in any Himalayan cave either, for sooner or later they would find it. Not even the vastness of space would be safe, because one day man would explore the universe.
—Where can I hide it? —he asked himself.
One day, when the first rays of the sun appeared, the God of gods realized that the only place where man would not search for the key to happiness was inside himself: within his own soul.
Then, with such wisdom and awareness, He created man and woman, placing the key to happiness within them."*
When the story ended, a great silence filled the earth, and great-grandmother said: “I have told you this story so that from now on you will know how to value what is truly important in life.”
I believe that behind this little tale lies the secret of life.
No material wealth on Earth can fill man and woman with happiness. No treasure, diamonds, or jewels can give meaning to our lives. All material things disappear, leaving nothing behind.
When this happens, man and woman feel great sorrow in their souls. When we feel this pain, we are able to seek what is real and realize that the key to happiness lies within ourselves, and with it, the door that gives meaning to our lives opens.
If we learn to look inside ourselves, we will be able to see the world around us with new eyes: we will deeply value all of nature, all animals, big and small, and all the people who inhabit our world.
From now on, man and woman will know what they are and why they are here, understanding their role on Earth. They will also know that being in harmony with the Universe gives them the gift of growing in balance with nature and the world they live in, gradually reaching true happiness.
