In Holi Company

In Holi Company —Coloring is fun but getting colored is even more fun!

In my childhood, I used to wait for the festival of Holi, because I used to enjoy splashing colors on others. That was the only day we kids were allowed to fool around. We even used to fill small balloons with colored water and then throw them at strangers. We would go to the house of a friend who lived by the roadside, and then hurl our water balloons at passers-by from the terrace. Most people wouldn’t mind, since they too would be in a festive mood. However, occasionally, someone would get mad at us and complain to my friend’s parents about how we had ruined his clothes with our colored missiles. In the evening, we would fly kites. I remember those days with nostalgia. There was so much innocence and euphoria in that celebration even though I never understood the actual significance of Holi, until my early teenage years.

That was when I became aware of the terrorism and disintegration of the political set up in north India where I grew up. What had once been known as ‘Heaven on Earth’ started feeling like ‘Hell on Earth.’ For years, I could not celebrate Holi because of the fear of bomb blasts and communal riots. There were times when I did not even feel like celebrating Holi. If you had been in my situation, you wouldn’t have felt like it either. How can anyone when there is rampant killing of innocent people all around you, almost daily? I could only see ‘the sinister’ playing Holi… with the blood of innocent people.

I never celebrated Holi like I used to in my childhood… until yesterday! 🙂 Usually, Amma is away in North India during Holi, but this time, to the great delight of all the ashram residents, she was here!

As darshan was about to end, I saw a few people going up to Amma with bowls of colored powder. Some people started pushing me and asking me to move to the front. Not knowing what the excitement was all about, I stood still. But then someone pushed me so hard that I found myself standing right in front of the Divine Mother. When Amma had finished giving darshan to the last person and was about to get up, a devotee garlanded Amma. As soon as her eyes fell on the colors, her eyes lit up mischievously.

Amma looked at all of us. Like the small, naughty Krishna, Amma asked for a pichkari (a big water-pistol filled with colored water). One devotee dabbed Amma’s cheek with little red color (gulaal), making Amma look even more captivating. Seeing Amma’s look of joy, a few others came forward to dab Amma’s face with other colors. Soon, Amma’s cheeks were covered with many different colors. She looked like a beautiful flower! There was a small pause as everyone was waiting for what Amma was going to do next. And then the real fun started… Amma started smearing the faces of everyone around her with different colors. The momentum started building up. Soon the pichkari was brought. Amma filled it with colored water, and out went the streams of colored water, landing perfectly on the faces around. Suddenly, a flashback reminded me of my childhood days during Holi. I used to only enjoy putting colors on others, but now for the first time, I was experiencing the bliss of being splashed with colors. It felt like we had been transported back in time when Krishna was having fun with the gopis and gopas.

One of the couplets of Kabir, a well known mystic, says

Laali mere laal ki, jit dekhun tit laal,
Laali dekhan mei gayi, mei bhi ho gayi laal

Wherever I look, I see the redness of my beloved
In the search of redness, I too became red

The process of dyeing was so familiar to Kabir that it often reminded him of Divine Love and the Divine Dyer. The red color represents Divine Love. In this couplet, Kabir tries to seek the manifestation of his personal dyer (the Lord within) outside of him also. He finds that the Dyer was not restricted to any one place. He sees the Dyer’s work everywhere. Everything was red. And in the process, Kabir says, he too became red.

Holi symbolizes Oneness, disregarding distinctions of caste, color, creed, sex or religion. When everyone is smeared with color of divine love, there are no such distinctions. If humanity could understand this simple truth, the world would be a much better place to live in.

On the one hand, there is so much suffering owing to economic poverty in the world, and on the other, there is the poverty of love. Only the Self-realized Masters are said to be capable of alleviating both kinds of poverty. Needless to say, these masters are the ones who are the richest in the real sense. And so much is the abundance of that peace and joy in them that even if they keep on spreading it, their reservoir of peace and joy doesn’t dry up. We are always hankering after something or the other. If only we could seek the right thing!

According to a legend, when Lord Krishna was a young boy, he asked his mother why he was so dark-skinned whereas Radha was so fair. His mother, Yashoda, playfully suggested that he should smear colored powder on Radha’s face and thus change her skin to any color he liked. Captivated by the idea, Krishna proceeded to do so and, thus, came into being this holy play of colors. As they say, history repeats itself. Yesterday, our Krishna (Amma) was coloring the faces of all the Radhas around Her by flinging handfuls of various colors. Everyone’s face was lit up with joy. There were technicolored hair, eye-glasses, faces and even teeth all around Amma.

After some time, Amma started singing the new Punjabi bhajan with a pulsating beat, ‘Khol Darwaja Sheranwaliye’ [‘Open the doors, O Divine Mother’]. Towards the end of song, Amma called out, “Jai Mata Di!” [“Hail the Divine Mother!”] several times. Everyone responded by responding with the same prayer “Jai Mata Di!”

Amma’s expressions were full of joy and amazement. It kindled the childhood memories so much, that after a long gap, I again felt the same euphoria of celebrating Holi. In fact, I felt that it was the best Holi I had ever celebrated. Amma then started singing another bhajan, ‘Ayi hai holi’ [‘Holi has come’]. The song is about the pathos of separation that the gopis of Vrindavan felt, wishing Krishna was with them to celebrate Holi. But the way Amma sang the song, it sounded like a song of union sung in blissful joy. At the end of the song, Amma called out “Hari Bol!” several times, which everyone echoed joyfully.

The divine clouds of Divine Love (Red), Prosperity (Green) and Auspiciousness (Yellow) engulfed the surroundings, while Amma mesmerized us with her enchanting lilas [divine play], with the sole purpose of quenching our thirsty souls and creating the right atmosphere for our hearts to blossom and spread the spiritual fragrance.

Mysterious are her ways! I bow down to you, Amma, the embodiment of Love and Compassion.

I wanted to write this blog yesterday, while the memory of the amazing celebration was still fresh. I  decided  that I should not wipe off the colors from my face or change my white clothes (which were multicolored then) until I wrote the blog. For various reasons, I could not write yesterday.  However as I am writing today, memories are still fresh. I have neither taken my bath nor have I changed my clothes. Thank God you can’t smell me on this blog!
Anyway, may the Holi colors go deep inside and become permanent. May our lives remain colored with Amma’s Divine Love forever. It’s time for me to take a bath now. Happy Holi to all of you!

– Kalidas