Lalit Garg
The ultimate and immortal goal of this life is merging between devotee and God and becoming one color. That's why Holi is the unique confluence of this soul and spirituality. Holi is a unique festival of getting drenched in the colours of love, mutual harmony and fun. Whether the colours of this festival have faded due to the Corona pandemic or because of unsocial spirit, runaway, selfishness and narrow-mindedness, there has been a change in the tradition of Holi. The storm of circumstances has also affected the happiness of Holi, yet when life seeks an excuse to present the fun and happiness in itself, then nature gives us a colourful festival like Holi. The biggest feature of Holi is that by celebrating it, we increase love, unity and goodwill among the people by establishing human qualities in the society. The spirit behind celebrating this festival is to enrich the dignity of human relationships, to give a new dimension to the recognition of life values.
Holi is such a festival, for which not only the mind but also the atmosphere is ready. Holi has special significance not only from a religious point of view but also from a cultural point of view. Keeping the glorious tradition of this festival intact, let us create a conscious atmosphere where we are all one and remove the dirty layers of the mind so that all the faces reflected in the mirror of the undivided mind are ours. Despite the polluted environment, all the colours of life did not fade away. How naive are we that we are erasing our culture and ideal traditions. By burning their own house, they themselves are creating a spectacle. After all, we are those people who have spread the gunpowder of their selfish interests on them by laying deep and long tunnels of hideous elements like violence, injustice, exploitation, terror, insecurity, kidnapping, corruption, anarchy, atrocities under the holy land of the country, without any thinking about the consequences, without looking at the possibilities of the future. Then how will the common man's ideal be able to remain safe. In the midst of these dark and complicated situations, festivals like Holi make us ready to wait for our light and fulfill our wish for light.
The question is, how permanent is this state of happiness, which becomes an obsession during the days of Holi? The melodious mentality in the melody of Dafli (musical instrument) and the chimes of Dandiya Raas limited the usefulness of a festival like Holi to only this scope, which can be called instant happiness, while it is expected that this tradition of colours should be given a long life. The main aim of this festival is to create affection and respect, love for others, friendship and harmony. This should be built on which human beings can be inspired to do something new, communicate love and energy in mutual relationships.
It is said that love and hate are two sides of the same coin. Love is a feeling full of positivity and energy; on the contrary hate is full of negativity and anger. Why does it happen that those whom we love at one time, we end up hating after some time? We have a loving relationship with many; the festival of Holi gives new dimensions and new colours to these relationships. We always want the happiness of those we love; there is no grudge or annoyance in our heart. Having them in our life is enough for us. American author and thinker Daniel Cardwell says, 'We always love with our hearts. On the contrary, the feeling of hatred emanates from the mind.' Holi is a festival of feelings attached to the hearts. It refines the mind and soul.
Holi of Braj is unique in the cultural tradition of Holi festival. Braj's Holi is special and unique. In other parts of the country Holi is celebrated for one or two days but in Braj Holi is celebrated for 50 days. In Braj, on the day of Basant Panchami, Holi sticks are planted at the places where mass Holi burns and wood, sticks etc. start gathering there. From Basant Panchami itself, Abir-Gulal is used in the decoration of God in the temples and the voices of drums start resonating. The drums start thumping on the Chaupals of the village, the cymbals and the strings are chirped and the reverberations of Holi are heard.
Holi has a special significance in the tradition of Indian classical music and folk music. The songs of Hindi films have also not remained untouched by the colours of Holi. A unique confluence of seven notes is seen with the colourful colours of Holi! While playing with colours, happiness, love and enthusiasm fills the mind and automatically the body and mind get excited to dance. It becomes difficult to stop the foot with the rhythm and cadence. The colours tell their effect, the melody and the rhythm go on immersing everyone in their melody! Dhamar is closely related to Holi in classical music. The beauty of Holi songs can be seen in Dhrupad, Dhamar, Chhote and Bade Khayal and Thumri too. Many beautiful bands performed on Holi, Dhamar and Thumri along with Kathak dance are very popular even today - Chalo Guiniya Aaj Khele Hori Kanhaiya Ghar. Similarly, beautiful descriptions of Holi are also found in Dhrupad, another part of music.
Various rich colors of Holi are also seen in literature. Muslim poets like Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, Amir Khusrau and Bahadur Shah Zafar have also written beautiful compositions on Holi which are popular even today. In modern Hindi stories, Premchand's Raja Hardol, Prabhu Joshi's different matchsticks, Tejendra Sharma's Holi once again, Om Prakash Awasthi's Holi is auspicious and Swadesh Rana's Holi will see different forms, dimensions and perspectives of Holi.
Various types of sports are played in the festival of Holi, children bring wood and sticks from outside the village and pile them up. Holika is worshiped duly with full material, the sinful demons are destroyed by the hymns, and chanting of mantras. Holika Dahan removes all evils. The huge adjustment of the festival of Holi has become a confluence of diversities in the changing environment, while celebrating this festival, it seems that after losing everything, the divided mind is standing alone in the hope of getting everything again. Because on this occasion, there is a tradition to drench your favourite friends, loved ones with colourful atmosphere by pouring color, gulal, which has been going on for years. In a way, this festival is a unique occasion to share happiness. Hiranyakashipu's sister Holika had the boon of not burning in the fire. So she entered the fire with her nephew Prahlad in her lap. But by the grace of the Lord, Prahlad came out alive safely and Holika was burnt to ashes. Therefore, the festival of Holi symbolizes the 'Victory of Truth over Untruth' and 'Victory of Virtue over Wickedness'. Thus the festival of Holi symbolizes the victory of truth, justice, devotion and faith and also the destruction of injustice, sin and demonic tendencies.