Transcript:

Diwali - Goddess of Good FortuneMusic; Ambience: Hindu priest chants with bell, strong chant, Hindu temple, loud brass bellJM: We're listening to the sounds of a celebration of light and good fortune. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. During the autumn festival of known as Diwali, Hindu merchants and businessmen light ceremonial lamps and pray to the goddess Laxmi to bring wealth and good luck in the upcoming year. Swami Brahmananda is with the Hindu Temple Society of North America in Queens, New York.SB: "Many people worship Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, because Hindus believe wealth will stay with you only if you are good. To try to possess wealth or try to get wealth in a bad way, she's going to go away. The goddess of wealth won't stay. So any wealth earned, ill-gotten wealth will never prosper, like that proverb. So we worship goddess Laxmi for new beginning, for a new prosperous life."JM: Visitors at a Hindu temple approach a statue of the goddess and try to gain her attention by ringing a large brass bell which hangs nearby. Surrounded by thousands of small oil lamps, worshippers wait patiently to receive a special mantra from a Hindu priest. But Swami Brahmananda says that the mantra is not just a prayer for financial gain. The Hindu ideal of wealth, he says, stretches far beyond the simple pursuit of money.SB: "Money is not totally a wealth. People have money but they have no peace. You can't buy peace with money. You may have a big house with ten bedrooms, you may lie down and you won't get sleep. Money can give you comfort, money cannot buy you peace. The only difference between a wealthy man and the poor man, is that the poor man suffers uncomfortably, the rich man suffers comfortably. That's all. That's the only difference between the poor and the rich. " JM: Pulse of the Planet is presented by the National Science Foundation, with additional support provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. I'm Jim Metzner.