Guest guest Posted March 25, 2007 Report Share Posted March 25, 2007 Dear Holi Revellers in TBP, Love and Love alone.... Here is a posting received from a different digest on Holi. Kindly read, remember and enjoy. Love and Love alone... P. Gopi Krishna ===== HOLI - What we can learn from? Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata Sun Mar 4, 2007 7:12 pm (PST) STORY: HoliHoli It is a time when we rejoice in the victory of pure, divine. The story - in a simple, condensed way - says that: Prahlaad was a young, beautiful, pure, divine devotee of God. However, Prahlaad's father, Hiranyakashipu was a powerful king, who believed that everyone should worship him. King Hiranyakashipu was an ambitious ruler, one who wanted absolute power so that he would be worshipped as God. When this wish was made known, the King's own son, Prahlaad, refused to obey his father. Prahlaad was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu, and it was only to his Lord that he gave allegiance. The proud King was enraged by Prahlaad's disobedience and decided to punish him severely. At Prahlaad's refusal to worship him as God, due to his single-minded love of God, his father decided to have him killed. He tried many tricks but failed. Lastly he asked his sister Holika for help. It was believed that Holika was immune to fire and would never be burnt. Holika, had been given a special shawl as a boon from God for various austerities she had performed. When she wore this shawl, she could not be burned by fire. So, Prahlaad's father and his sister devised a plan in which she would wear her shawl and hold Prahlaad tightly in her arms as they sat in fire. In this way, Prahlaad would be killed, but she would emerge unscathed. However, as divine plan works, a strong gust of wind came and blew the shawl off of her, as well as carried pure Prahlaad to safety. Holika was burned in the fire of her own evil. Moral of the story: This legend signifies the victory of good over evil, of devotion surpassing ambition. One of the great obstacles in life to our spiritual progress is the difference between what we do or say on the outside and how we really are on the inside. Holika had performed certain austerities by which she was entitled to this boon from God. On the outside, she was " pious. " But, on the inside she was not pure. Prahlaad, on the other hand, was a simple, pure, loving devotee of God. This is what saved him. This inner purity and inner piety is what truly save us, what truly make our lives divine. We earn merits out of our abilities and sacrifices but we do not know how to apply them. Secondly, we do not know whom to associate with. She associated with evil minded ambitious person and her boon turned in to curse. She applied her merits to gain name, fame, supreme power and trample upon the subjects and not to serve them. That invited her end. So many of us go to temple, do the rituals, offer money to the priests, and chant a certain number of malas. Then, we go out and act in selfish, unpious, dishonest ways. These may not necessarily take the form of big transgressions. It may simply be the way we speak to our children, or to our loved ones. It may simply be the way we try to cheat those with whom we do business. It may be the way we sit and gossip about others. All the rituals and puja in the world cannot make up for a lack of piety, honesty and compassion. The goal of going to temple is not just to perform rituals; the goal is to become spiritual. God is happier with pure, innocent, devoted Prahlaad than with all the austerities and rituals performed by his father and aunt. Let us truly pray to God that on this day " I " may become holy. Let us pray that " I " may become pious, pure and devoted as Prahlaad. In that way our lives and our hearts and our souls will be forever protected, forever sheltered at His holy feet. Let us also pray that our " eye " may become holy, that we may be granted the divine vision by which we behold Him in all whom we see. Let us pray that through our holy eye, we never are led toward anger, greed, lust or jealousy. Gopi Krishna <gopi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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