The Day After Diwali: Govardhan Puja and King Bali

If you cry the day after Diwali, you'll spend the whole year crying.

Lord Shiva said this.

In the previous episode, Lord Shiva said that on Diwali night, Mother Gauri won the dice game.

After midnight on Diwali, when people are half asleep, the women of the city play music and drums to drive Alakshmi out of the courtyard.

The next morning, Govardhan is worshipped.

The cows are adorned, and that day they are neither made to carry loads nor milked.

And that same night, they worship a demon, King Bali.

Draw his image on the ground in five colors.

Place it in the middle of the house and worship him with the whole family.

Why worship a demon? Because Lord Vishnu himself joyfully gave this day to Bali.

And here Lord Shiva says the most important thing.

Whatever state you're in on this day, that's how your year will go.

If you cry, you'll spend the year crying, if you're happy, in happiness, if you eat your fill, in abundance.

The last day Yama, the god of death, went to eat at his sister Yamuna's home.

That's why on this day, people don't eat at home, they eat food prepared by their sister.

So don't argue at home this Diwali. The next day records the year's accounts.

Lamps burn outside the home, but the light that lasts all year comes from the feelings within the home.

Perhaps that's why Lord Shiva said Diwali wasn't a festival of lamps, but a festival of feeling.

All these things are explained in the Uttara Khanda of the Padma Purana.