If ajnÍna and its family – avidyÍ (ignorance), asmitÍ (egoism), rÍga (attachment), dvesha (aversion), and abhinivesha (the will to live) are not consigned to the bonfire of Holi and God is not realized, whatever has been achieved will be left behind in just one stroke of death. Bhole BÍbÍ says,
होली अगर हो खेलनी, तो संत सम्मत खेलिये ।
संतान शुभ ऋषि मुनिन की, मत संत आज्ञा पेलिये ।।
“If you want to play Holi, play it in accordance with the Saints, O children of auspicious Rishis and Munis! Don’t disregard the command of Saints.”
We are the descendants of Rishis and Munis. Our origin is the Self, Supreme Self. Being children of God, we can be like God. So from today on, our life should be such that our ego, desires and worries are reduced to ash in the fire of discrimination.
...make such a firm resolve
The tale of PrahlÍd and HolikÍ passed like a dream in the course of time. The entire world is nothing but a dream. Everything passes leaving only the tales. Set Self-knowledge as the only goal of your life, love your Atman alone, and be engrossed in meditation on the Self without believing this fictitious dream-like world to be real and getting embroiled in this passing world. All the rest will be destroyed like the celebration of Dhulendi. All that has passed is destroyed, all that will pass will also be destroyed and what is passing is also getting destroyed, but the Supreme Self that enables us to see all this is verily Truth, One, OmkÍra; He alone is True throughout the ages, He alone is True here and now, and True He shall be.
So make a firm resolve: ‘I will become steady in Self-intoxication and in the peace and knowledge of Truth-nature Supreme Self.’ Offer the oblations of attachment, aversion, desperation, disappointment and delusion to the fire of Holi. Don’t become a slave to the desires but become the Lord of desires by cultivating zeal, wisdom, patience and cheerfulness. You may not become ‘Asharam’ by name but you should be the ‘Lord of desires in your life’.
Light the bonfire of Bramha-vidyÍ
Celebrate Holi in the way mentioned by the Upanishads, Maharshi Veda VyÍsa, Guru NÍnak-Ji, Saint Kabir-Ji, Sant Bhole BÍbÍ-Ji, Swami RamaTirtha-Ji, Swami Vivekananda-Ji and others. Your Holi & Dhulendi becomes meaningful when you celebrate it by destroying ignorance as instructed by saints and shÍstras.
Though attainment of innocent and natural joy is the objective of this festival, wayward people invading society turned this festival into a cause of some evil consequences. Holi is the day to live with natural spontaneous love arising from non-dual nature by removing the difference of great and small, differences based on race, education, and wealth. Congratulations for that!! May your life be full of this love. May this Vedantic innocent love with self-restraint be showered on yours and your neighbour’s children coming into contact with you. Double congratulations for this!!
होली हुई तब जानिये, संसार जलती आग हो ।
सारे विषय फीके लगें, नहिं लेश उनमें राग हो ।।
हो शांति कैसे प्राप्त निश दिन एक यह ही ध्यान हो ।
संसार दुःख कैसे मिटे, किस भाँति से कल्याण हो ।।
Real Holi is celebrated when the world seems to be a burning fire, when all objects of sense pleasures seem tasteless and there is not even a trace of attachment to them.
When the mind is preoccupied day and night with only the thought: ‘how to attain peace, how to remove sorrow and how to attain salvation’?
The misery of birth and death, the misery of old age, the misery of attachment and aversion... all are born out of AvidyÍ. AvidyÍ means the darkness of ignorance. Bring the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge and it will vanish. Therefore, light the bonfire of BrahmavidyÍ so that the night of AvidyÍ and its whole family can be destroyed.
Play Holi but with the colour of PalÍsh
Play Holi with the flowers of PalÍsh (Butea frondosa). Chemical colours are very hazardous to the body and mind. Black contains lead oxide, which damages the kidneys, red contains mercury sulphite which causes cancer, violet contains chromium iodide which causes asthma & allergies. All chemical colours have adverse effects causing one or another deadly disease, but PalÍsh has its own purity. The colour of PalÍsh flowers increases immunity. PalÍsh has the potency to increase tolerance to heat and balance the seven dhÍtus of the body. It has the efficacy to eradicate 80 types of vÍta related diseases.
Attain the happiness of mind along with health
Holi is the festival of seasonal changes. After Holi one should take a salt free diet for 20-25 days and eat 25-30 tender leaves of margosa (neem) along with 1-2 black pepper seeds for the safety of health throughout the year.
In addition, the Holi festival shouldn’t be celebrated without remembering PrahlÍd. PrahlÍd was always cheerful. In the word PrahlÍd there is a prefix (Pra) + (hlÍd) meaning exultation. One who remains always exulted. One who is unified with his soul, who trusts God is “PrahlÍd” & the one who trusts the body is “Hiranyakashipu”. If you trust the body then you will suffer from unrest, misery and so on, whereas if you trust ÀtmÍ-ParamÍtmÍ all these will come and go but you will wake up in their knower witness-nature.       
REF: ISSUE350-FEBRUARY-2022