Holi celebrations in India and abroad
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Holi Milan
Holi Milan: Celebration Of True Colours
Dadi Ratan Mohini The Times of India Mar 06 2015
The festival of Holi that is celebrated on Phalgun Purnima, the full moon day of the lunar month Phalgun, has three aspects to it. First, people make an effigy of Holika and make a bonfire of it. Next day they colour each other and enjoy Holi Milan in a playful and festive manner. The third and most important aspect is that all the gaiety symbolises letting go of the past forgive and forget.
The story of Holika reminds us of the divine protection of the pious Prahlad who had unflinching faith in God and of the death of his aunt Holika who was hell bent on killing him by misusing Brahma's boon bestowed on her not to be consumed by fire. (She sat with Prahlad on her lap in a raging fire that consumed her but left the child unharmed.) The bonfire signifies destroying one's own weaknesses and faults and purifying one's thoughts, deeds and words. Grains are thrown into the fire. When the grains are roasted, they cannot grow a crop. In a spiritual context, it means that if our actions are burnt in the fire of yoga, they will not give rise to vicious actions and, hence, there will be no crop of sufferings.
Any deed performed in the aware ness of spiritual wisdom cannot become a misdeed.Hence, Holika also symbolises that first we have to burn away our vices and attachment by having a loving and single-minded devotion for the Supreme Soul. God's direction to all humanity is to purify the seed of karma by roasting it in the fire of yoga.We will then become aware of who we really are eternal spiritual beings endowed with divine qualities of peace, love, bliss, joy and power.
The day after the bonfire people celebrate Holi with colours. That is, in order to get coloured by spiritual wisdom, one has to burn away the vices within. It is in the companionship of God that we realise our own true colours, our original divine virtues.
Knowledge also symbolises colour.A spiritually evolved virtuous person colours those who are in his company and inspires them too to connect to God and His goodness. It is only through one's blissful communion with God that we can experi ence divine bliss which is the underlying spirit of Holi celebrations.
The spiritual way of celebrating this colourful festival is first, to let go of the past. To forgive and forget beings and things that create hurt, pain or any kind of suffering is the true way to welcome newness in life.
Secondly, Holi inspires us to be holy because we are the children of God. Lastly , it reminds us about our true eternal belongingness with God; to be His children in the real sense and to reflect the original colours of peace, joy , love and truth which are inherent in every human soul. All true relationships that bring joy and fulfilment come from relating to divinity in the self and in each person. Holi Milan signifies the universal celebration of this spiritual love and brotherhood.
This divine bliss is illustrated in the tales of Krishna playing Holi with gopis. These tales are symbolic of the spiritual intoxication and inner bliss that is experienced by human souls when they get coloured by spiritual knowledge that is imparted by God at the confluence of end of Kaliyuga and beginning of Satyuga also called Sangamyuga. It is an auspicious time to experience divine love and bliss in the company of God.(Dadi Ratan Mohini is Jt. Chief of the Brahma Kumaris, Mt Abu.)
Celebrating Holi
Holi Hai You have an extended weekend. The weather is just perfect for a drive out of Delhi. So head for Brajbhoomi, the land associated with Lord Krishna’s childhood
MATHURA
Lord Krishna’s association with Mathura goes back to his birth. He was born in Mathura but brought up in Vrindavan. Legend has it that when he complained to his mother Yashoda about Radha’s fair complexion, she asked him to smear Radha’s face with colour. This marked the beginning of the festivities. Today, the weeklong celebrations are held with great fervour at Gulal Kund near Govardhan hill. Revellers apply gulal on each other and drench themselves in the waters of the lake. Young boys enact the story of Krishna’s childhood.
VRINDAVAN
Fifteen kilometres from Mathura is Vrindavan, the place that resounds with tales of the Lord’s mysticism and divinity. During Holi, celebrations and divinity coalesce to spread the message of oneness with Krishna and love for our brethren. One of the distinctive features of Holi in Mathura and Vrindavan is that the temples dedicated to Lord Krishna celebrate the festival on different days. The most important celebrations take place at Banke Bihari Temple where the assembled crowds chant the name of the Lord and his consort with passion.
BARSANA/NANDGAON
The birthplace of Radha, is the centre of boisterous celebrations during Holi. Located 15 km from Vrindavan, it is here in Barsana that Krishna teased his beloved and her friends. In present-day festivities, young men from Nandgaon, where Krishna spent many days of his youth, come to Barsana to play Holi with the women. Instead of gulal, they greet each other with sticks, hence the name lathmaar Holi.
According to tradition, the men must put a flag atop the local Radha Rani Temple with the women using every trick in the book to stop them. Making the men wear saris or lehengas, beating them up with sticks… everything is fair in this battle of the sexes. In a symbolic revenge on Lord Krishna for playing pranks on the gopis, the women continue undaunted. But there comes a time when they are exhausted. It is then that the men take over. They use buckets of coloured water to drench the women. Now it’s a fair deal!
Making Holi colours
MAKE YOUR OWN COLOURS: RED Sun dry rose petals in tissue papers and grind them to make a fine powder. YELLOW: Boil marigold flowers in water and leave them overnight. Strain and use the colour next morning. ORANGE: Add turmeric, marigold petals and sandalwood powder in water and bring to a boil. Let it cool before you use this bright yellow colour. GREEN: Powder sun-dried spinach, coriander and gulmohar leaves to make a fine green mix. PURPLE: Blend jamun juice with lavender oil and arrowroot for that royal hue. ROSE COLOUR: This is simple — mix powdered rose petals, some arrowroot and tea rose oil for that rich colour.
Holi and Sri Krishn
Divine Raas Leela Of Unconditional Love
Seema Burman
From the archives of The Times of India
Sharad means winter and mahotsav is festival. Though this is the month of Phalgun, it was in Sharad on a full moon night that millennia ago in Vrindavan a dance of love was performed by Krishna, a child of seven years, and the gopis. This came to be known as raas leela.
Swami Vivekananda said that the raas leela is an external expression of divine leela which takes place in the heart of each and every individual, between the finite and the universal soul. Unless we have unflinching love and faith, Krishna and his life would always baffle us.
Take for instance Radha’s love. So enchanted was Krishna with Radha’s love, pure and divine, that He wished to experience it Himself. Radha told Krishna to incarnate so that she could infuse ‘Radha bhava’ in that incarnation. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is believed to be Krishna’s incarnation with Radha Bhava.
Only those who become “mad” with love can understand the love of gopis who are the personification of unconditional love. Krishna’s intellectual friend Uddhava asked Him: “Are all paths of spiritual advancement equally efficacious or is any one of them more important than the others?” Krishna answered: “All other paths by themselves cannot reach me without the help of supreme love or devotion. Knowledge alone is not enough. It cannot purify the mind and without purity of mind what results can one achieve?”
Sages who had done rigorous tapasya in their previous births reincarnated as gopis and were waiting to merge with their beloved God in this raas leela.
Krishna is the ideal lover, householder and sanyasi who, even while being detached, shows the world that true love is unconditional. When Radha and the gopis want to know why Krishna can’t meet them just once, Uddhava says, “The Lord knows that distance will make you love Him with more intensity and that is the secret to reach Him, to remember Him constantly.” Worldly people find it difficult to understand a love so pure that it wants nothing, expects nothing.
Krishna has revealed all aspects of love to us. Devotees are permitted to love Him in any which way. They think of Krishna constantly and the result is they get merged with Him. Uddhava meets the village girls and offers to take them to Mathura where Krishna resides. They refuse, saying: “Our Krishna is a cowherd, He plays the flute, He loves the cows, wears no slippers. Bring back our Krishna, Uddhava.”
When he offers to carry their messages they reply: “Messages are sent for one who is away but for one who is entrenched in our soul, what message can we send?” Uddhava says: “Close your eyes and meditate on Him in your heart.” The gopis cry: “But Uddhava, how can we close our eyes? Look, there He is on the tree, on each leaf, now in the Yamuna, there grazing that cow, look around, Krishna is everywhere. Krishna is smiling at us, He is stealing our butter.”
Radha then becomes Krishna and dances with the gopis and plays the flute. Like Krishna she teases them, hides behind trees and runs away. Till now Uddhava had meditated upon Krishna in his heart with closed eyes but now he sees Krishna everywhere. A transformation comes over Uddhava who cries on seeing the gopis and bows to them in reverence. No wonder Krishna’s dance of love is unsurpassable and if one even witnesses an enactment of it one might understand the true import of divine love.
Today is Holi. It is also Sri Chaitanya’s birth anniversary
Holi-inspired festivals in non-Hindu communities
Germany
The Holi Festival in Germany: the brightest multi-coloured party in the world
Holi Festivals are currently taking Germany by storm. At a given point in a Holi Festival, several thousand young people throw brightly coloured powder at each other. This fun event has its origins in an Indian religious celebration held each spring. But what do Germany-Alumni from India make of this commercial take on their traditional festival?
In 2012, Jasper Hellmann, an events manager from Berlin, was in Delhi during the Indian month of Phalguna (February/March). Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by Indians dancing and enthusiastically throwing coloured powder and coloured water at each other. What Hellmann was caught up in was the Hindu festival of Holi, an annual celebration of spring, which sees people of all ages, genders and castes coating each other in coloured powder, or ‘gulal’. He recalls, ‘For a few days, everyone looks the same – and everyone is multi-coloured. I thought it was a wonderful idea.’
Back in Germany, Hellmann set up a company – Holi Concept GmbH – and laid the foundations for what has turned into Germany’s largest fun event. The ‘Holi Festival of Colours’ now attracts tens of thousands of young people every year. Detached from its religious roots, Germany’s version of Holi takes place in fenced-off areas between mid-May and late August, when the weather is good, rather than on the streets during spring, as the Indian festival does. Another difference is that the throwing of the coloured powder takes place on the hour, after a mass countdown, rather than at random times. And there’s other evidence of the German influence, too: Holi participants in Germany are not allowed to use Indian ‘gulal’ and have to buy special locally produced powder that meets stringent health and safety criteria.
Ukraine
Holi Colors Festival
In 2013 celebrated in the Druzhby Narodov Park
Visit To Ukraine, the authoritative Ukrainian tourism website, wrote in 2013
The most colorful event, which is eagerly expected by a lot of Kiev residents and tourists - Holi colors festival. Yes, the main feature of the festival will be paint. All the participants will be able to shower each other with bright colors, thus giving a smile, a laugh and a loud outburst of emotion around and the feeling that there is no monotony of everyday life and everything is bright and wonderful. For the first time this festival was held in India.
The festival program also includes competitions in wakeboarding, water battles and flash mob throwing paint, a master class in dance for children and art education, accompanied by animators and choreographers, show representatives of contemporary art and culture of different artists. The colorful festival of colors Holi will be completed with rock concert and an evening show.
Europe, Africa, South America and Australia
Holi Festival: community fun with a touch of exoticism
The Holi Festival trend has spread from Germany to cities such as London, Barcelona and Amsterdam, which all now hold their own festivals. Most of those throwing the yellow, blue, green and pink powder at each other are young women. The craze has even reached Africa, South America and Australia. In Germany alone, Holi Concept GmbH expects around 150,000 participants at events across 14 towns and cities in 2015. And that means good business, with tickets costing around 20 Euros and those essential bags of powder around 2 Euros each.
The Holi Festival clearly ticks a number of boxes in terms of what young people now want from a fun event. It creates an atmosphere of freedom and community. It combines the familiar tones of techno music on a show stage with a touch of exoticism. And it’s the perfect opportunity for taking the most amazing selfies and posting them on social media. In fact, the selfie trend is why Holi Festivals start in the early afternoon: that’s when the light is best.
