This event has ended. You can watch the recording here or above. Read the Diwali reflections of our speakers below.

Faith for the Climate hosted this special interfaith webinar on Wednesday, 15 October 2025, to hear from our members of Dharmic faiths, who shared perspectives on how Diwali connects with climate and environmental justice for them. 

Diwali, also called Deepavali, is a major festival celebrated by different communities in the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora. Hindus know it as the festival of lights, and variations of it are celebrated by Sikhs, in the form of Bandhi Chhor, and Jains. 

You can watch the recording above, and read more about our illustrious speakers below. We also asked each of them for a a short written reflection on their personal connection between Diwali and sustainability from their unique faith perspective. Enjoy!

Amandeep Kaur Mann, co-founder of EcoSikh UK
Co-founder of EcoSikhUK, an organisation with a unified interfaith response to help combat climate change, global warming and bio-diversity loss.  After studying International Business, Amandeep’s Sikh faith and affection for nature’s wonder led her to a career in Environmental Management. She is utilising her corporate experience in creating policies, strategies and behaviour change campaigns to support and initiate climate based community projects. 

She represents the organisation as Commissioner on the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission, which is the largest regional body of its kind in the UK and is Co-chair of their Communities and Engagement Panel and Leadership team. She enjoys learning more about Ayurveda, indigenous cultures and ancient civilisations.  

In Amandeep’s words:

This Divali, Sikhs also remember Bandi (translated to ‘imprisoned’) Chhor (‘release’) Divas (‘day’) – when Guru Hargobind Ji, the 6^th Guru of the Sikhs, demonstrated the spirit of selflessness, seva (‘service with no reward’) and compassion for others.  

When being released from wrongful imprisonment, he also fought for the freedom of other innocent people of different faiths. He stood with the spirit of humanity instead of erecting barriers and divisions.  

We are reminded to channel those values into one of the world’s biggest threats today – climate change. It hits the most vulnerable living beings and ecosystems. Let’s shine a light on this and learn more about what we can do collectively and the brilliance of human connection with earth and each other.  

Sister Maureen Goodman, programme director at the Brahma Kumaris UK
As a presenter at several climate change conferences, Maureen has a deep interest in the spiritual and ethical dimensions of climate change and climate justice, the nature of harmony, and the connection between our inner state of being and the state of our Earth. Maureen is part of the Interfaith Liaison Committee which reports directly to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. She was head of Brahma Kumaris (BK) delegation at COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh in 2022. She also headed the BK delegations to COP 15 and COP 16 for Biodiversity and represents the Brahma Kumaris in the International Coalition of Faiths for Biodiversity.

Maureen has a long term involvement in inter-religious dialogue and represents the Brahma Kumaris on the Board of World Religious Leaders of the Elijah Interfaith Institute. 

In Sister Maureen’s words:

Natasha Chawla, researcher at the University of Oxford who is currently focusing on the ecological philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore
Natasha Chawla (University of Oxford) researches Indian environmental thought; her PhD focuses on ontopoetics and Rabindranath Tagore’s eco-philosophy. She facilitates study classes with Chinmaya Mission UK and serves on the Continuing Development Board of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. Founder of So’Hum Studios, she teaches Hindu philosophy on teacher-training programmes and through public talks and panels, linking it’s many branches with sustainable living and informing interfaith conversations on religion, philosophy, and the environment.

In Natasha’s words:

To me, Diwali’s celebration of light over darkness extends naturally to our relationship with the Earth. The festival commemorates Lord Rama’s return to Ayodhya, celebrating light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance through his victory over forces that disturbed cosmic order. Diwali also marks the harvest season, a time when we traditionally honour Lakshmi (the goddess of prosperity and abundance) by cleaning our homes and surroundings. This act of cleanliness and purification isn’t merely physical; it reflects the Hindu principle of dharma—our duty to maintain cosmic balance and keep things in right order. Just as we clean our homes to restore harmony and welcome prosperity, we are called to consider our impact on the larger home we all share: the Earth. This annual act of cleaning our homes can remind us to purify our relationship with nature through mindful consumption, sustainable practices, and healing the damage we’ve caused. 

When we light diyas (oil lamps), I’m reminded that true illumination means living consciously, which means not wastefully. The ancient Hindu understanding that divinity pervades all of nature, from rivers revered as goddesses to trees considered sacred, calls us to practice ahimsa (non-violence) toward our environment. Environmental justice, from this perspective, isn’t separate from spiritual practice; it’s integral to it, because the Earth itself is sacred, not merely a resource for human use. The Bhagavad Gita (3:14) teaches that those who take without giving back disturb the cosmic order: “From food come all creatures; from rain comes food; from sacrifice comes rain; and sacrifice comes from action.” 

During Diwali, as we seek blessings for knowledge and abundance, we must also commit to being guardians of the Earth’s abundance. For when we break the cycles of nature, we violate dharma itself, creating a darkness that no amount of festival lights can dispel. If the oil lamps we light symbolise knowledge dispelling ignorance, let them remind us that no greater ignorance exists than destroying the web of life that connects us all. Just as Lord Rama’s return restored righteousness to his kingdom, Diwali calls us to restore righteousness in our relationship with the Earth—reminding us that prosperity without sustainability is merely an illusion, and that honouring the divine means protecting the sacred balance of which we’re all part.

Dr Sachi Patel, Multifaith Coordinator and Advisor at SOAS and Hindu chaplain at King’s College London
Dr Sachi Patel is the Multi-Faith Coordinator and Lead Chaplain at SOAS University of London, and also serves as the Hindu Chaplain at King’s College London. He has worked in chaplaincy for over a decade, fostering dialogue and understanding across faiths and beliefs.

Sachi holds an MPhil in Classical Indian Religion from SOAS and a PhD in Theology from the University of Oxford, where his research explored the interplay of politics and religion in eighteenth-century India. He is the author of a monograph in the Routledge Hindu Studies Series examining Jaisingh II and the rise of public theology.

Born in London, Sachi spent ten years living as a Hindu monk in both the UK and India and served as a Hindu chaplain at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Passionate about interfaith engagement and the theological and ethical dimensions of caring for the earth, Sachi is committed to working with faith communities to address the climate crisis.

In Dr. Patel’s words:

Rāma is honoured in Hindu tradition as Maryādā Puruṣottama which reflects his embodiment of the highest virtues of dignity and exemplary conduct. He embodies many ideals at once: the dutiful son who accepts exile to keep his father’s word; the faithful husband devoted to Sītā; the just king whose Rāma-rājya is remembered as a reign of justice and prosperity; and, less often noticed, the guardian of the natural world, who treats the forests and their creatures as sacred companions in his quest.

Diwali celebrates the return of Lord Rāma to Ayodhyā after years of exile, when the citizens welcomed him home with rows of glowing lamps. That light which greeted Rāma’s homecoming was more than a sign of joy: it affirmed a sacred bond between human life and the natural world that had carried him through his journey. Though God as Rāma could have destroyed evil by his own power, he chose instead to work in harmony with creation. The Rāmāyaṇa shows again and again that creation itself participates in the drama of dharma.

During his years in the forest of Daṇḍakāraṇya, Rāma protected sages and wildlife from the rākṣasas who desecrated it. When he needed to cross the ocean to Laṅkā, the sea-god Varuṇa revealed how a bridge of floating stones could be built, nature becoming an ally in the struggle against injustice. An entire army of forest-dwellers, the vānaras, became his trusted companions and warriors. And when Lakṣmaṇa lay gravely wounded, the mountains of the Himalayas yielded the life-giving Sañjīvaniherb, earth’s own medicine.

Hindu thought sees the world as inseparable from God. The very idea of avatāra, that the Divine descends into time and matter as Rāma, reveals creation as the theatre of God’s action. Rivers, forests, animals and mountains are not inert resources but participants in this sacred story. Rural Hindu cultures still honour this truth, rivers are mothers, trees bear names, and the spirits of field and forest are acknowledged as bestowers of gifts from the Supreme. Rāma’s story becomes a lesson in humility and collaboration, an invitation to see the natural world not as a backdrop, but as a co-worker in sustaining dharma.

To celebrate Diwali is therefore more than remembering Rāma’s homecoming. It is a pledge to protect the earth as God’s own dwelling place, to care for the living presence in every river, tree and creature. This ancient vision speaks urgently today, and our stewardship is itself an act of worship, the very lesson embodied by Rāma.

Last updated: 21 Oct 2025