What do we understand about Holi?

 

What do we understand about Holi?

In India, all of us know that it is celebrated at the end of winter and the advent of spring where a holy fire is lit and family and friends gather around the fire chanting mantras, throwing prasad and coconut into the fire, and then carrying some ashes home to apply on one’s body the next day before bathing. On the next day which is ‘Rang Panchami’ people throw colour and water on each other and basically have a ball of a time. This is the most colourful annual festival which is celebrated all over India.

There is a deeper meaning to this festival as compared to the obvious physical aspect of burning the fire and playing with colours and coloured water! In essence Holi means the triumph of good over evil and the conquest over sensuousness through spiritual values. Throughout the year gone by, we have lived a life based on material values and on what kind of society we live in. For most of us it is a matter of survival, so many times we do things which we would otherwise not have done. In so doing, we may hurt people, ride roughshod over them in order to achieve our short-term goals. We do all this just to survive – or so we tell ourselves and convince ourselves. But the truth is we get used to it and it starts becoming second nature.

This festival comes as a reminder for us to introspect in front of the Holi fire and symbolically throw all our negative energies, habits, deeds, etc. into the fire and burn it; the next day we celebrate with colours - thus making our life colourful and joyous. We are supposed to do this just once and kind of turn over into a new leaf – but we live in ‘kaliyug’, hence the moment the festival is over we go back to our day-to-day life and the ‘burnt’ negativities lying inherent in our nature come rushing back!

To turn into good human beings, we need to not only burn the negativities but not allow them to seep into our being again. This we can easily do through yoga and meditation. When the time comes a Himalayan Master will enter our lives and plant the seed of awakening within us. Once this happens, through regular meditation, the fire element within our bodies burns the negativities and purifies us – all our energy centres are cleansed and we turn into radiant beings spreading positivity and cheer to all those around us!