Holi - A Festival of Religious Harmony & Social Cohesion

Bharat is one of the ancient countries of the world. It has great heritage of glory and elevated way of life. The number of festivals celebrated here is hardly comparable to festivals celebrated by other countries. Twelve months in a year is filled with thirteen big festivals, writes Dr. Jayadeba Sahoo.

Many people abroad also consider Bharat as a great pilgrimage place and hold the soil of Bharat in great respect. Bharat is well known for festivals and by tradition one festival or another is celebrated almost daily and well known for being the land of deities with palaces and lifestyle of legendary beauty.

‘Holi', is one of the greatest festivals in India. People celebrate this festival with lot of enthusiasm and zeal. The auspicious festival of ‘Holi' had been reduced to an annual ritual hardly reflecting its true significance.

If ‘Holi' is celebrated with the correct understanding of this esoteric Truth, then it will render immense benefit to the humanity at large. Purity of means is as essential as honesty of purpose. Means should justify the end, not the vice-versa. In fact, purity in practice always begets peace and happiness. The festival of 'Holi' conveys this universal message in many ways to mankind. Without harmony, there can't be peace. Human harmony with the self, nature, fellow beings and with society is the basis of universal peace and happiness. The basis of harmony, in turn, is in becoming 'being' or 'soul' conscious rather than 'human' or 'body' conscious. When we identify merely with 'humus' (in Latin for 'soil') or 'human body', worldly possessions, position and relations, then our perception, visions, values, attitude and actions get circumscribed and narrowed down. Our consciousness gets bogged down by a set of social conditioning, bias, prejudice, pride, ego, lust, jealousy or hatred. This gross or mundane mentality becomes the breeding ground of all negativity, vices, disharmony and discords in self and society.When we become 'soul' or 'being' conscious, the horizon of our perception, outlook, mindset, character and conduct expands to become universal, holistic and harmonious. We go beyond the consideration of all limitedness, caste, creed, community, sex, race and religion and we embrace everyone and everything under the sun with equal love, affection, care and concern, as we would have done the same for our self, our near and dear one. The joyous spirit of 'Holi' in true sense envisages and encompasses this universality of perception and when people put it into practice by remaining in soul consciousness, they can widely promote essential unity in diversity and universal brotherhood of mankind under the spiritual fatherhood of one incorporeal Supreme Being.

The celebration of 'Holi' which is supposed to arouse and spread soul consciousness rather than gross entanglement, if observed in proper perspective, can help the self and others to collectively connect and commune with the Supreme Cosmic Energy- the eternal source of pure and positive powers for self & world transformation, for holistic health, harmony and happiness.The festival of ‘Holi’ in spiritual sense stands for the victory of virtues over vices, light over darkness, mind over matter, subtle over the gross, love over hatred and divinity over the demonic. It is not merely a playful game in colors or colored water. It is much more than mundane indulgence in fun and frolic for a day or two. Rather, it is a common socio-cultural and spiritual platform for contemplating and creating meaningful avenues for healthy and harmonious inter-religious, inter-community, inter-caste and international interactions, understanding, cooperation and peaceful co-existence.

evout devotee Prahlad inspires us to look within, introspect and remain in love full intellectual connection with the Supreme Soul for developing inner powers, divine strength and support so that we can burn and sublimate the Holika like evil traits and devilish proclivities in the sacred fire of Holy Communion with the Almighty.With the practice and powers of such spiritual wisdom, human values and RajYoga meditation on God, the forces of good and similar minded people can unite and take up collective measures face and finish Hiranya kashyap like divisive and destructive cult of violence, cruelty, religious intolerance and bigotry in the long run.

This we can attain when we make Holi Mangal Milan by forging link and fostering friendship with like minded people from all religious groups and communities and by getting united and committed as brother souls under fatherhood of Supreme Soul, to the common minimum agenda of defeating and eliminating the vicious cult of hatred, violence and vices for restoring a benign culture of peace, non-violence, benevolence and for re-establishing a single religion of humanity for the entire mankind.

Dr. Jayadeba Sahoo is Associate Professor, Department of Education, Rajiv Gandhi (Formerly Arunachal) University, Itanagar- 791 112, Arunachal Pradesh, India.