HAPPY HOLI 2006

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

Wishing You All A Very HAPPY

 

&

 

COLOURFUL HOLI !!!!

 

 

 

When love is in the air, you know it is time to celebrate Holi.

The festival does not recognize any bars of caste, class or creed. Drenched in

colours, everybody comes to resemble each other losing their original self.

This is the beauty of this festival.

Its uniqueness lies in the fact that this festival treats everybody at par, all

differences dissolve in the coloured water that flows in plenty in it.

 

 

 

 

There are several stories associated with Holi.

 

The Bhavishyottara Puran cites a story concerning a rakshasi (demoness) named

Dhundhaa, who harassed children and teenagers. To keep her away, people kindled

fires at various spots. Then the young and later everyone else chanted God’s

name and circumambulated the fires. Thus the Lord’s name and fire kept the

demoness away. In this manner, Satya Yuga’s king Raghu propagated the festival

of Holi. Furthermore it is believed that Dhundhaa manifests as disease in

children, during this period of seasonal change, when kapha (phlegm) increases

in the body. Fire is the Shakti, which protects one from disease. Therefore

wood of the Shami tree (Acacia suma) - symbolizing Agni deity - is burnt in the

fire to circumvent disease.

Another belief concerns Putna, the giant demoness who tried to kill the child

Krishna. When he vanquished her, the cowherds jubilantly burnt her body outside

the village. Henceforth the Holi festival came into being.

More renowned is Prahlad’s story. Hiranyakashipu, a demon king and father of

Prahlad, was a dissenter of Bhagwan Vishnu, whom Prahlad worshipped. Infuriated

by his son’s devotion, Hiranyakashipu attempted to kill him. In one attempt, he

instructed his sister Holika, to wear her miraculous sari, which could not

burn, and then sit in a fire with Prahlad in her lap. By the Lord’s wish, she

happened to wear the wrong garment and was immolated. Symbolically, maya, in

the form of Holika, was destroyed by Prahlad’s staunch devotion. Therefore to

eradicate our maya, we should offer unalloyed bhakti.

This day also marks Lord Manu’s birthday anniversary. Mankind is Lord Manu’s

offspring. He composed the Manu Smruti, a scripture regarded as a manual for

man’s life on earth.

Nar-Narayan Deva’s birthday anniversary too, is celebrated on this day. As the

fourth incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu, he is considered as the embodiment and

incarnation of brahmacharya (celibacy).

 

With Colours,

Anupam Jolly

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