The most important thing about Holi || Acharya Prashant (2019)

Acharya Prashant

Full Video: The must-know real colours of Holi || Acharya Prashant (2019) Link : https://youtu.be/qFKQK7OJKOQ?si=wH_woKEQZeHbelLB  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

00:00What is the meaning with Holi, like all the colors is fun and what is the thought behind?

00:10I'm so glad you are curious about that.

00:13It's a very important thing to ask and in fact that is something that most Indians too

00:22seem to often forget and therefore they must recall it, remember it once again.

00:31You see there is this old fable, an old myth.

00:35It comes from the Vishnu Puran.

00:38So there was this king of the demons, his name was Hiranyakashipu.

00:46And he prayed to Lord Brahma, a prominent God in the Indian trinity, the Hindu trinity.

01:01And he really prayed hard, performed austerities and he was very insistent, very determined

01:11and his prayers were answered.

01:15It is said God appeared in front of him and asked him, what do you want?

01:19And he said, I want immortality.

01:23So God said, in what way?

01:27He said, I should not be killed in day or in the night, I should not be killed indoors

01:37or outdoors, neither handheld weapons nor projectiles should be able to kill me, neither

01:48rastri nor shastri, neither man nor an animal should be able to kill me and I should be

02:00killed not on land, not in the sea and not in the air.

02:09So practically, please bless me that I never be killed.

02:15And because Brahmaji had become satisfied with this king's tapasya, his penance, so

02:28he gave him the boon he wanted.

02:31Now this fellow turned very arrogant and in his kingdom he declared that God should not

02:38be worshipped, only the king should be worshipped and if somebody dares to defy the king, he

02:45would be slaughtered and everybody fell in line.

02:49Everybody did as the king commanded, except for the king's own little son.

02:56And this little chap said, nothing doing, truth is truth, God is God, you are just a

03:03mere mortal, I will not submit to you.

03:06If I have to bow down, I will bow down in front of God, not in front of you.

03:11You are just an arrogant king who has attained a bit of power.

03:16I do not subscribe to all this.

03:20The king got really furious.

03:22First of all he tempted the little chap and then he threatened him and he did whatever

03:28that could be done with the little boy.

03:32But he didn't succeed, the boy was adamant, he had a lot of faith, a lot of stubbornness as well.

03:41So the king called his sister, sister by the name of Holika.

03:48You see how the names are related, Holi, Holika.

03:53So this sister comes over and she had an extraordinary power.

03:58The power was that she could not be killed by fire, fire could not burn her.

04:08That is the power she had.

04:11So she too tried to tell a few things to this little chap, but he didn't listen.

04:16So she created a huge pile of woods.

04:21What does that remind of?

04:23The woods in the streets that you have seen.

04:25So a very similar pile was made by her and she knew that she can't be burned.

04:32So she called Prahlad, made him sit in her lap and she sat on the pile and she ordered

04:41that the woods be ignited.

04:44And what was the plan?

04:48Not merely to threaten him, to actually kill him, burn him down.

04:53Such a such a vicious plan.

04:59So everything seemed to be going as per the plan.

05:03The woods were set on fire.

05:06But something very unexpected happened.

05:09What?

05:10The little kid survived.

05:12The woman got burned, reduced to ashes, it was a miracle, just happened.

05:22In some descriptions it is said that there was a very special cloak that she was wearing.

05:30It was fireproof.

05:31It was supposed to not to catch fire and she was wearing it and the kid was not wearing it.

05:38But right when the woods were being ignited, there blew a fierce wind and the cloak that

05:46the woman was wearing went to the kid.

05:51So the woman got burned and the kid got saved.

05:54But these explanations or justifications are not important.

05:57What is important is that the innocent kid survived and the scheming woman got burned down.

06:06Now the king got really furious.

06:09Not only has he lost his sister, his ego too has been very badly hurt.

06:15So he got a really hot and burning column of iron.

06:27It had been heated to a very high temperature and he told the kid, embrace it as you would

06:31embrace your God.

06:33Let me see how your God saves you now.

06:36Go and hug that column, that pole as you would hug your dear God.

06:41And if there is God, he would save you.

06:44So the kid said, fine, daddy, I have just passed one test, I am ready for the next one.

06:50If fire itself could not hurt me, what would a hot pole do to me?

06:56So the kid goes to the pole and hugs it and from the pole emerges a very special creature.

07:04It was half lion, half man.

07:06It is called as Narsingh.

07:07Narsingh means man, Singh means lion.

07:11A creature that was half lion and half man.

07:14And what time was it of the day?

07:17Dusk.

07:18Neither day nor night.

07:20Do you see where the plot is leading to?

07:23What?

07:24Day and night emerges.

07:27Yes.

07:28In the beginning of the story, we remember that the boon that the king had attained was

07:33that he can be killed neither in the day nor in the night.

07:39And what time is it of the day right now?

07:42Dusk.

07:44And the king can be killed neither by a beast nor by a man.

07:48And what is the creature that emerges?

07:50A beast and a man.

07:51So neither a beast nor a man.

07:56And he had been blessed that he can be killed neither inside a building, a house or a palace

08:04nor outside.

08:06So the beast goes to the king, picks him up and takes him to the threshold of the entrance

08:12of the palace, neither inside nor outside, right at the entrance.

08:19And carrying the king in his lap, the beast sits down.

08:23It's not a beast.

08:24It's Narsingh.

08:25Narsingh Bhagwan.

08:26Narsingh is worshipped.

08:31So the king is neither on land nor is he in water or in air.

08:35He is somewhere in between.

08:36He is in the lap of Narsingh.

08:42Now he can be killed neither by a handheld weapon nor a missile, a projectile.

08:48So how does the beast kill him?

08:52Using his sharp claws.

08:55And this way the king got killed, the kid got blessed, and this festival celebrates

09:03the innocent faith of Prahlad, that little kid, faith that saved him from all the sinister

09:13plots and all the power of the mighty king and people rejoice, people celebrate.

09:24Only a few people remember the central idea.

09:32You are asking me about the symbolism.

09:34You see, people work hard, the king worked really hard and he kept austerities, he forced

09:51even God to come down and bless him.

09:54So it would have required a very special effort.

09:56It was a mighty project.

10:00But then what did he want from God?

10:02But the extension and continuation of his own mortal self.

10:07And what is the lesson we get from there?

10:10That even if the ego works hard, all it seeks is its own continuation.

10:18The fellow tells Brahma, please ensure that my mortal self is never annihilated.

10:24I do not die.

10:25I should not die in the day.

10:26I should not die in the night.

10:27I should not die inside nor outside.

10:31Mortal gratification, continuation of the body, continuation of the ego.

10:34So even if the ego seems to work very hard, it is always for an unworthy purpose.

10:40So the message to all those who work very hard in their lives is, do not merely work

10:46hard also.

10:47See, why at all are you working so hard?

10:51Second thing, even if the ego does get power, it utilizes it, rather misutilizes it for

11:01some nefarious end.

11:04So the king got power and that power could have been very well used for something constructive,

11:10something creative.

11:13But what did the king use it for?

11:18For self.

11:19And he became utterly demonic and he became a tyrant and he declared that no God should

11:26be worshipped, only the king should be worshipped and that's what the ego does.

11:33Only thinks about itself and gathers power and misutilizes it.

11:38So the lesson to all of us is, before we go after power, we should ask, what do you want

11:45to do with that power?

11:47Being powerless is better than having power in the wrong hands.

11:59Then something to learn from Prahlad.

12:02You see, he had blood relations, very intimate relations with the king.

12:06The king was his father.

12:08But he kept the truth and real godliness above all relations of the body and blood.

12:16It's a great learning in detachment, it's a great learning in truth.

12:21No relation of the body, no relation of the blood is higher than the one fundamental relation

12:27we have with the truth.

12:29Look at Prahlad.

12:30He says, I do not care so much for my father, I rather care for the truth and it's such

12:38a great and difficult thing to say.

12:43But Prahlad did that and that's why you have this timeless festival now, it's continuing

12:50since such a long time, centuries after centuries we see it.

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