India is a vibrant country full of festivals that are celebrated with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm throughout the year. Of all the Indian festivals, there are a few that is celebrated by all the people throughout, irrespective of their caste, creed or religion and Holi is one of them.
Holi the name itself brings out so many emotions from within, that is not parallel and adds colours to our monotonous life. People across India and in some parts of the world celebrate this festival by applying different colours on each other and sprinkling water through water syringes/guns that come in different forms. There are lots of mythological stories related to this festival, however in the present context, this festival has lost its sheen and glory and has merely become a day to chill out and make merry with friends like another holiday!
As a modern-day spiritualist, I feel that all of us can learn two important lessons from this festival that is celebrated for two days. On day one, when people hold a bonfire and offer prayers and throw cereals or parched grains, twigs, dried leaves, branches of trees into the fire, one must learn that by lighting the pyre, we also brighten the light within us through the practice of deep meditation and burn all our five vices along with our body perception that signifies “Holika” and liberate ourselves to attain our original identity, experiencing self as an eternal soul.
On day two, we all play with lots of colours. Now, one must understand that colours signifies our character, so in a way we all have different colours depending upon the nature that we have. The basic reason behind applying colour is to express joy and happiness, however but today that joy and happiness has made way for unruly inappropriate behaviour.
In essence the whole process of applying different colours to each other teaches us that we should make our life colourful, should experience supreme Almighty's company and spray scented water of his pure love on each other and become identical like him in form, colour and attributes.
(The writer is a spiritual educator and popular columnist for publications across India, Nepal and UK. You can write to him at nikunjji@gmail.com)
