Festival of lights and sound

Diwali is celebrated to express joy on return of Rama from exile.  This view is supported by the practice of its occurance twenty days after Dussehra- the day of citory of Rama over Ravana, the king of Lanka.

To express joy,  people light candles, lit earthen lamps and these days also expensive electrical lighting. People also play with crackers. This is day of rejoicing and merry making.

Festival of wealth

The festrival is marked by worship of laxmi, the wealth goddess and Ganesh, the God of stenography and accounts.  Wealth is associated with business. so, business men close their accounts this day.  Lord ganesh is said to have taken dictation from Ved Vyas for writing Mahabharata. Hence, he is the first stenographer. There is also another story about Ganesha. He got the boon that no worship would be valid unless he were worshipped first. Hence, he is also worshipped along with Laxmi' the Wealth Goddess on this day. 

Five day celebration

The celebrations begin with Dhan Terus, which literally means- Thirteenth day of wealth.  On this day, people consider  purchase of utensils, ornaments etc. very auspicious. So, on this day, markets are very busy.  This day is marked by worship of God dhanvantri- Health minister of gods. Thus, this is also related to health. In fact, you can not enjoy fruits of wealth unless you are in good health. Yama- the god of hell is also worshipped.

On Diwali- which is main event of five day celebrations, buildings are lighted and crackers burst. Sweets are also offered to deity and distributed. On this day, gift packs are exchanged.  This day is also marked by gambling. 

Significant for business 

Practically, this festival is assuming extraordinary significance for business.  The shop keepers of utensils, sweets, electronics items and many others earn in this period more than the entire year. They offer discounts on this occasion.  In this process, there is compromise on quality and there is more adulteration in sweets.  For  cracker sellers and lighting, this is seasonal business for Diwali only.

Wealth significance

Wealth making and spending assume great signicicane in this period.  Unless you earn, you cannot spend and so is the revese. Unless you spend you cannot earn.  So apart from fair business, there is tress on gambling and bribes also. On this occasion, people not only gamble but also get an opportunity to send costly diwali gifts in cash and kind to various government departments and jdudiciary. Thus, the government employees, bureaucrats, judiciary have good income in this season and businessmen are sure of licence to indulge in tax evasion, violation of rules for public health, safety and labor protection and welfare.

Some suggestions

We need to encourage enhancement of skill and efforts for generating wealth and discourage the tendency to make easy money by bribes disguised as business and official gifts, gambling and consumption of liquer. we also need to discourage bursing of crackers which cause undue nuisance to all and cause fire accidents.