Diwali Gala Dinner Remarks by Ambassador of India to Hungary

28 October 2026

Jó estét kívánok! Namaskar! Hare Krishna, and a very happy and blessed Diwali to all of you!

Thank you for inviting me to speak tonight.

It is a real pleasure to celebrate Diwali in Budapest with so many friends of India, and I want to thank the ISKCON Hungary team for bringing us all together.

On the new moon night of Kartik, families across India set small clay lamps on their doorsteps and along their windows.

Diwali falls on the darkest night of the month, and that is exactly the point. You don't need a lamp at noon. The festival asks us to bring light to the places where it is missing, in our homes and in ourselves.

An old prayer from the Upanishads puts it simply: tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, lead me from darkness to light. Thousands of years later, that is still the heart of Diwali.

Last December, UNESCO added Deepavali to its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The decision was taken in New Delhi, at the Red Fort, and it was a proud moment for us. But UNESCO was really recognising something hundreds of millions of people already knew. Diwali is alive. You find it in kitchens and temples, and in the boxes of sweets we send to our neighbours.

What I have always loved about Diwali is how many stories it carries. In much of north India, people remember Lord Rama coming home to Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile, and the people of the city lighting rows of lamps to welcome him.

Jains mark the nirvana of Lord Mahavira.  Sikhs, while celebrating Diwali also mark Bandi Chhor Divas, the release of Guru Hargobind from captivity.  In Bengal, the night belongs to Goddess Kali. And almost everywhere, it is the night of Lakshmi.

One festival holds all of these stories, and they sit together quite comfortably.

Since we are among devotees of Krishna tonight, let me tell you one more.

Long ago there lived a powerful king called Narakasura. He was the son of Bhudevi, the Earth herself, and he had a boon that made him almost impossible to defeat.  The power went to his head. He attacked the heavens, took the earrings of Aditi, the mother of the gods, and held sixteen thousand young women captives in his fortress. The gods came to Krishna for help.

Krishna set out on Garuda, and his queen Satyabhama rode into battle beside him. In many tellings, it is Satyabhama who strikes the final blow. She was herself a form of Bhudevi, and the boon said that only Narakasura's own mother could end his life.

The part of the story I like most comes at the end. As he lay dying, Narakasura finally saw what he had become. He asked for one thing: that his death should not be a day of mourning, and that people should mark it with light.

Krishna granted the wish. That is why, on Naraka Chaturdashi, the day before Diwali, families in many parts of India wake before dawn, bathe and light lamps.

There is a gentle lesson in that. Diwali celebrates the defeat of darkness, but it also leaves room for someone who was lost to see the light, even at the very end.

Dear friends,

India and Hungary have known each other for a long time. Sándor Kőrösi Csoma set out for Asia to search for the origins of the Hungarian people, and he rests today in Darjeeling. Amrita Sher-Gil, one of India's finest painters, was born here in Budapest to a Hungarian mother. And exactly one hundred years ago, in 1926, Rabindranath Tagore came to Balatonfüred to recover his health and planted a lime tree by the lake. It is still there.

What strikes me as Ambassador is how naturally Hungarians have taken to Indian heritage. Yoga is practised in studios and parks across the country. Every June, the International Day of Yoga, is celebrated in Budapest and beyond. Interest in Ayurveda keeps growing. And Indian food, as you will discover shortly, needs no introduction in this city.

A good share of the credit belongs to organizations like ISKCON. For more than three decades, you have made India's spiritual heritage something people in Hungary can actually experience, and not only read about. You have done it through kirtan, through prasadam shared with anyone who walks through your doors, and through the Bhaktivedanta College here in Budapest. For many Hungarians, ISKCON was their first real encounter with India.

Then there is Krishna Valley. Since 1993 the community has turned some 270 hectares, much of it once barren land and pasture, into one of the largest eco-villages in Europe. Its electricity comes from solar panels and its water from its own wells. Wastewater is cleaned in reed beds, without chemicals. Oxen help work the fields, and the community has planted around 300,000 trees. Most of us talk about sustainability. Krishna Valley has been living it for more than thirty years.

Friends,

India today is changing on a scale that is hard to take in, even for Indians.

Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has embarked on a historic journey guided by a clear civilizational principle: Vikas Bhi, Virasat Bhi. Unprecedented modern development marching hand-in-hand with a proud celebration of our ancient heritage.

India has become one of the largest economies in the world and the fastest growing of the major ones.

A street vendor in India can now take payment on a phone in seconds, through UPI. In 2023, Chandrayaan-3 made India the first country to land near the south pole of the Moon. And last year, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla flew to the International Space Station on the Axiom-4 mission, with Hungary's own Tibor Kapu beside him.

This progress has come with a new confidence in our heritage. In Ayodhya, the Deepotsav on the banks of the Sarayu now lights more than two million lamps on the eve of Diwali.

India is building for the future and celebrating its ancient past at the same time.

The advantages of the growth in India are open to our friends, and Hungary is already part of the story.

When India decided to build its own sovereign AI capacity, with its own computing infrastructure, it needed servers in very large numbers. Part of that demand is being met from Komárom, at a high-tech factory that has become one of the biggest drivers of Hungarian exports. Roughly a quarter of Hungary's exports of these computing units now go to India. A policy decision in New Delhi has turned into a billion-dollar export opportunity for Hungarian industry and Hungarian workers.

Which brings me back to Lakshmi. On Diwali night we pray to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good fortune. There is a belief that she visits homes that are clean and lit, and passes by those that are dark and shut. So we open our doors and light our lamps, so that she can find her way in.

India and the European Union have just opened a very large door. In January this year, after almost two decades of negotiation, we concluded the India-EU Free Trade Agreement. It creates a free trade area of two billion people. The agreement is now moving through the final steps of signature and ratification, and we look forward to seeing it in force soon.

For Hungarian companies, it means lower tariffs and easier access to one of the fastest growing markets in the world. For Indian companies, it makes Hungary an even more natural base in the heart of Europe.

If we keep the lamps lit on both sides, I am confident Lakshmi will find her way into both our houses.

Dear friends, let me close with a prayer.

May the light of Diwali bring peace and good health to every home in this room.

May the friendship between India and Hungary grow stronger and warmer with every year.

And may Lakshmi bless both our peoples with prosperity.

Sarve bhavantu sukhinah, sarve santu niramayah. May all be happy, and may all be free from illness.

Boldog Diwalit! Happy Diwali, and Hare Krishna.