The must-know real colours of Holi || Acharya Prashant (2019)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: Shabdyog satsang, 19.03.2019, Rishikesh, India   Context:   What is the meaning of Holi? What is the meaning of it`s colours? How to enjoy Holi?   Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transcript

00:00It's my first time in India and there are a lot of new things, a lot of impressions

00:16and now that Holi is coming I really want to know what is it about, what does it mean?

00:25What have you seen so far regarding Holi?

00:28Just with the colours and the powers and everyone is dancing and singing, playing music.

00:37So Holi is a festival celebrated over a full day and the preceding night.

00:55It's a very prominent Indian festival, obviously with the spread of the Indian Diaspora.

01:03It is now celebrated almost across the world.

01:07Of course in the Indian subcontinent plus in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, also where

01:15there are pre-existing communities of Indian origin, places like Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago.

01:23So Suriname, Mauritius, Maldives, Indonesia, so that's what the festival of colours is

01:35all about.

01:37People smear each other with colours and it could be powder colours or liquid colour which

01:50is thrown on people.

01:51You will experience all of that, you are here on that day, so I don't think anybody is going

01:58to spare you and there is a lot of wild festivity, people go around beating drums with music

02:10and nobody is spared, men, women, young kids, elderly and they say Bura Na Mano Holi Hai

02:21and it is the day of colours and everybody has to participate and everybody must look

02:27very very coloured, not only one colour, green, yellow, red, blue, you name it and you will

02:35see all these things going on and you also do not differentiate between friends and foes

02:43on these days, even enemies are supposed to meet and hug each other and smear each other's

02:51faces with a bit of colour and forget all the enmity and the bitterness.

02:57As I said on the preceding evening, there is that pile of woods that is lit up and that

03:07happens almost at every crossing, in every village, every city in India, especially in

03:19North India and that has its own significance, its own symbolism.

03:26You have seen that, right?

03:27We are in Rishikesh right now, you have seen that, the wood pile, where did you see it?

03:33By the bridge, near the Lakshman Jhula, the Ram Murti, yes it is there, so they are going

03:41to ignite it, they are going to ignite it.

03:47What is the meaning with Holi, like all the colours is fun and what is the thought behind it?

03:55I am so glad you are curious about that, it's a very important thing to ask and in fact

04:02that is something that most Indians too seem to often forget and therefore they must recall

04:13it, remember it once again.

04:15You see there is this old fable, an old myth, it comes from the Vishnu Puran, so there was

04:24this king of the demons, his name was Hiranyakashipu and he prayed to Lord Brahma, a prominent

04:39God in the Indian trinity, the Hindu trinity and he really prayed hard and performed austerities

04:54and he was very insistent, very determined and his prayers were answered, it is said

05:00God appeared in front of him and asked him what do you want and he said I want immortality.

05:07So God said in what way, he said I should not be killed in day or in the night, I should

05:19not be killed indoors or outdoors, neither hand held weapons nor projectiles should be

05:31able to kill me, neither rastri nor shastri, neither man nor an animal should be able to

05:39kill me and I should be killed not on land, not in the sea and not in the air.

05:53So practically please bless me that I never be killed and because Brahmaji had become

06:04satisfied with this king's tapasya, his penance, so he gave him the boon he wanted.

06:15Now this fellow turned very arrogant and in his kingdom he declared that God should not

06:23be worshipped, only the king should be worshipped and if somebody dares to defy the king, he

06:29would be slaughtered and everybody fell in line, everybody did as the king commanded

06:36except for the king's own little son and this little chap said nothing doing, truth is truth,

06:45God is God, you are just a mere mortal, I will not submit to you.

06:50If I have to bow down, I will bow down in front of God, not in front of you, you are

06:55just an arrogant king who has attained a bit of power, I do not subscribe to all this.

07:04The king got really furious, first of all he tempted the little chap and then he threatened

07:10him and he did whatever that could be done with the little boy but he didn't succeed,

07:17the boy was adamant, he had a lot of faith, a lot of stubbornness as well.

07:26So, the king called his sister, sister by the name of Holika, you see how the names

07:33are related, Holi, Holika, so this sister comes over and she had an extraordinary power,

07:42the power was that she could not be killed by fire, fire could not burn her, that is

07:52the power she had.

07:55So she too tried to tell a few things to this little chap but he didn't listen, so she created

08:03a huge pile of woods, what does that remind of?

08:07The woods in the streets that you have seen, so very similar pile was made by her and she

08:15knew that she can't be burned, so she called Prahlad, made him sit in her lap and she sat

08:22on the pile and she ordered that the woods be ignited and what was the plan?

08:32Not merely to threaten him, to actually kill him, burn him down, such a vicious plan.

08:43So everything seemed to be going as per the plan, the woods were set on fire but something

08:51very unexpected happened, what?

08:54The little kid survived, the woman got burned, reduced to ashes, it was a miracle, just happened.

09:06In some descriptions it is said that there was a very special cloak that she was wearing,

09:15it was fireproof, it was supposed not to catch fire and she was wearing it and the kid was

09:20not wearing it but right when the woods were being ignited, there blew a fierce wind and

09:30the cloak that the woman was wearing went to the kid, so the woman got burned and the

09:36kid got saved.

09:38But these explanations or justifications are not important, what is important is that the

09:44innocent kid survived and the scheming woman got burned down.

09:50Now the king got really furious, not only has he lost his sister, his ego too has been

09:57very badly hurt.

09:59So he got a really hot and burning column of iron, it had been heated to a very high

10:12temperature and he told the kid, embrace it as you would embrace your God and let me see

10:18how your God saves you now, go and hug that column, that pole as you would hug your dear

10:24God and if there is God, he would save you.

10:28So the kid said, fine daddy, I have just passed one test, I am ready for the next one.

10:34If fire itself could not hurt me, what would a hot pole do to me?

10:40So the kid goes to the pole and hugs it and from the pole emerges a very special creature,

10:48it was half lion, half man, it is called as Narsingh, Narsingh means man, Singh means

10:53lion, a creature that was half lion and half man.

10:59And what time was it of the day, dusk, neither day nor night, do you see where the plot is

11:06leading to, what?

11:09Yes, in the beginning of the story, we remember that the boon that the king had attained was

11:18that he can be killed neither in the day nor in the night and what time is it of the day

11:24right now, dusk and the king can be killed neither by a beast nor by a man and what is

11:32the creature that emerges?

11:34A beast and a man, so neither a beast nor a man and he had been blessed that he can

11:44be killed neither inside a building, a house or a palace nor outside.

11:50So the beast goes to the king, picks him up and takes him to the threshold of the entrance

11:56of the palace, neither inside nor outside, right at the entrance and carrying the king

12:04in his lap, the beast sits down.

12:06It's not a beast, it's Narsingh, Narsingh Bhagwan, Narsingh is worshipped.

12:15So the king is neither on land nor is he in water or in air, he is somewhere in between,

12:21he is in the lap of Narsingh.

12:26Now he can be killed neither by a hand held weapon nor a missile, a projectile.

12:32So how does the beast kill him?

12:36Using his sharp claws and this way the king got killed, the kid got blessed and this festival

12:46celebrates the innocent faith of Prahlad, that little kid.

12:53Faith that saved him from all the sinister plots and all the power of the mighty king

13:02and people rejoice, people celebrate, only a few people remember the central idea.

13:16He is asking me about the symbolism.

13:18You see, people work hard, the king worked really hard and he kept austerities, he forced

13:35even God to come down and bless him.

13:38So it would have required a very special effort, it was a mighty project.

13:44But then what did he want from God, nothing but the extension and continuation of his

13:49own mortal self and what is the lesson we get from there?

13:54That even if the ego works hard, all it seeks is its own continuation.

14:02The fellow tells Brahma, please ensure that my mortal self is never annihilated, I do

14:09not die, I should not die in the day, I should not die in the night, I should not die inside

14:12nor outside, personal gratification, continuation of the body, continuation of the ego.

14:18So even if the ego seems to work very hard, it is always for an unworthy purpose.

14:24So the message to all those who work very hard in their lives is, do not merely work

14:30hard, also see why at all are you working so hard.

14:35Second thing, even if the ego does get power, it utilizes it, rather misutilizes it for

14:46some nefarious end.

14:48So the king got power and that power could have been very well used for something constructive,

14:54something creative.

14:57But what did the king use it for?

15:03And he became utterly demonic and he became a tyrant and he declared that no God should

15:11be worshipped, only the king should be worshipped and that's what the ego does.

15:17Only thinks about itself and gathers power and misutilizes it.

15:22So the lesson to all of us is, before we go after power, we should ask, what do you want

15:29to do with that power?

15:32Being powerless is better than having power in the wrong hands.

15:44Then something to learn from Prahlad, you see he had blood relations, very intimate

15:49relations with the king, the king was his father, but he kept the truth and real godliness

15:56above all relations of the body and blood.

16:00It's a great learning in detachment, it's a great learning in truth.

16:06No relation of the body, no relation of the blood is higher than the one fundamental relation

16:11we have with the truth.

16:13Look at Prahlad, he says, I do not care so much for my father, I rather care for the

16:20truth and it's such a great and difficult thing to say.

16:27But Prahlad did that and that's why you have this timeless festival now, it's continuing

16:34since such a long time, centuries after centuries we see it.

16:44We have so many relationships, no relationships should be kept higher than the one central

16:50relationship we have with our real father.

16:55Bodily relations are no comparison to our fundamental relation with the heart, with

17:02the truth, with God, if you want.

17:09Yes, Holika, not to miss out on her.

17:22Smart woman, smart woman with extraordinary powers and it's her smartness that brought

17:30her to flames, that's a very important message to be remembered.

17:40The more smart you are, the more clever you are, the more are the chances that your own

17:47smartness will destroy you.

17:51It's very important to see when cleverness turns into cunningness and that happens very

18:01frequently, very easily, very unnoticeably, you do not even know when you have turned

18:06cunning.

18:08If you are cunning, your own powers will destroy you.

18:14She thought turned Holika into ash, her own plans, her own designs, she thought she was

18:22being smart, she thought she would succeed, she thought it's Prahlad who would be killed

18:32and see what happened, she got killed, smartness got killed, smartness turned out to be quite

18:39dumb.

18:49And one last thing about nursing, God is cleverer than the cleverest.

18:56You might think that you have nailed it, you might think that neither day nor night, God

19:02says how about dawn and dusk, they are neither day nor night.

19:07So you might be clever, God is cleverer than you.

19:10Do not use the powers you have from God against God himself.

19:20Remember that he is the one, he is the father, he is the boss, you are not.

19:28Do not try to act too smart, too clever, do not be ungrateful.

19:37You might be powerful, remember that your powers are coming from him, he is the source

19:44and the source would always be more abundant than the ones who are receiving from the source.

19:52So whatever you have, whatsoever the ego has is nothing in comparison to the source

19:58from where the ego comes from, the entire world comes.

20:02Such a nice thing to see.

20:07If we are clever, then God is the cleverest.

20:09If we are smart, then God is the smartest one.

20:13He can take any route, he will come up with any method, but the ego would certainly be

20:19defeated.

20:22So that's the motive, that's the theme behind Holi.

20:30Of course, you will not see this central idea so much in action.

20:36Mostly what you would see is a lot of jubilant, even raucous celebration, loudness, garish

20:51movements and all that is quite enjoyable, quite fun.

20:56That's the remarkable thing about Holi, that's what makes Holi so similarly special.

21:02But do remember that it's not just about colors and having fun.

21:11The symbolism runs very, very deep and we would do well to remember what the whole thing

21:17is really about.

21:20So, enjoy your Holi.

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