Meditate on the Beauty of Holi Festival, Holy Relationships and Colours – “We are Collectively Bound”

Let’s Meditate on the Beauty of Holi Festival, Holy Relationships and Symbolism of Colours – “We are Collectively Bound” in Sahaja Yoga!

The Holi Celebration known as well as The Festival of Colours will start soon – and many of us that practice Sahaja Yoga Meditation enjoy it and participate to it because it is totally “sahaj” in spirit as well in its traditional expression. My family was fortunate enough to take part to such an amazingly joyful and fun celebration in India at an International Yoga Seminar

** my daughter Abi is in the photo with an ad-hoc made friend

and the colours we’ve used there were natural and eco-friendly (some of their ingredients had medicinal properties as well, just to mention turmeric here). In plus the colours were vibrated by our yoga teacher so we were able to feel the cool vibrations inside when we joyfully were splashing each other with the colours, while dancing and singing. Everyone felt like children that are having the coolest fun possible while we also experienced the mighty awareness that this collective gathering is auspicious and blessed by divine forces that were watching over us.  The general laughter and noise did not diminish the individual meditative state because the cool vibrations were strongly felt inside and outside like a touchable healing dance of Kundalini .. Beautiful experience.

We are sharing quotes from Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi – the founder of Sahaja Yoga meditation and our beloved spiritual teacher – that should provide you with a deep feeling of “Holi-ness”. You can enjoy a video too!

BBC’s short video on Holi Festival, matching the Sahaj wisdom shared below:

Shri Mataji surrounded by families celebrating the Holi festival in India

“So this is one thing that you make everyone understand that we are all collectively bound, and then you will not feel hurting anyone, or troubling anyone, or saying anything bad… you cannot commit mistakes, and then you do not feel guilty. But if you are not collectively conscious, then you will do it: you will hurt others. You will torture others. You will take advantage of them…

This is the way in Sahaja Yoga: we establish that Holy Relationship. And moreover, one has to see that this holy relationship gives you joy, happiness, and pleasure. It is not just a holy relationship of some force or some sort of a thing. The relationship is in the heart, and is felt very much and when you feel it, that relationship, that sweetness of purity, of holiness, flows. So one has to understand this relationship is to be kept very clean, beautiful, and absolutely open – there should be no formality in it...” says Shri Mataji 

Subtle Significance and Yoga’s Chakras’ Inter-Connections for the Roots of the Holi Festival

“Then the colors are all representing your chakras (subtle energy centres) . These are all the chakras as you know. Every chakra has got different color. So what happens? These colors just get distributed in the air, in the atmosphere. During Holi time you are representing those colors which are completely permeating into the atmosphere. So this is another thing when you play colors. When you color another person, you are just expressing that your chakras will be blessed. Red color is of the Mooladhara (first chakra known as root chakra). All those colors that you use here are of different chakras. So just you are making the whole expression of your love that let it be you become completely filled with red color, means Innocence. Because as a child in the womb of the mother just sees the red color of the mother, color of the blood.

So like that you see different colors are spread on the face (during the Holi festival :-)). And [abhira?] is the green color of the Guru tattwa ( ‘Guru principle’ in Sanskrit language). Like that all these colors have got significance that they are the colors of your chakras which you are spreading all over to your friends, to your other brothers and sisters who are Sahaja Yogis. So it has that symbolic expression that you are spreading your – actually the essence of your chakras, the basis of your chakras, the colors of your chakras, the fragrance of those chakras to other Sahaja Yogis. You just permeate, permeating.. I don’t know in Hindi language if there is a better word like in Marathi ‘ud-har’, udahr.”

“Then He (i.e. Lord Krishna) would dance the Raas. Ra means shakti (‘power’ in Sanskrit) and Dha means dharana--‘the one who bears’. Shri Krishna made everyone dance .. Also He found a very beautiful way of playing Holi, by mixing colors in vibrated water so that they become completely drenched with vibrations. It was his thought and his play… There is such beauty in Holi; our love and friendship for one another grows with vibrated water. Whatever negative feelings we have should finish. We should play Holi with purity of feeling and a complete absorption. There should be no feeling of sin in it and the heart should have no bad feeling. This was how the festival of Holi was celebrated. But now we see a complete degradation and change of such a beautiful festival. These days in Gujarat they dance the Raas all drunk. Raas is rhythmic and musical. It is not that you go on beating, singing loudly out of rhythm, and falling over each other. The attention must be absolutely pure.

At the time of dancing Raas, a person’s whole attention is on the rhythm and melody of the dance, and that is how his attention becomes purified. This festival of Holi was made by Shri Krishna (in Sahaja Yoga we know that he is also called ‘The Lord of Yogabecause he was the master of the Vishuddhi Energy Centre) so that human beings would see the whole world as Leela (play in Sanskrit).

Paula and Holy enjoying their holy sisterhood in Halton Sahaja Yoga collective

By coming into Sahaja Yoga you have become Leelamay (playful). You get completely absorbed in music and enjoy it. You have love and pure feelings for one another. You do each work with great beauty and morality. …because you have reached the Vishuddhi level (known as the Throat chakra/ subtle energy centre).. you live together with Love for each other. At Vishuddhi (5th chakra) you have become collective, you have got love and universal brotherhood. When you become universal then your caste, creed, countries all drop away. (*)”

“As it is, today is also a very auspicious day which we call as the Holi. They play Holi on this day and show their love and oneness among themselves. This is the time when we have to really understand the value of love, of respect of others, because so far we have based all our theories and all our ideas on the principle that human beings cannot love each other: they are always trying to overpower others or to hate others, or to grab things from others. Such a wrong idea we had all these days, and that’s why all the organizations that were created to obstruct it also got contaminated with it. The only way one can really understand what we are is by knowing yourself.

Kruti and Ana-Bianca – yoginis from Halton – are enjoying their holy relationship

When you know yourself you are surprised that what is the greatest thing for you is to love and to be loved. You enjoy that collective love so much when you are absolutely overcome your baser self. In Sahaja Yoga it is so simple. It works in a very simple manner. It’s very Sahaja, but to grow into it is very important, and I am so very happy to see so many of you from all over the world, from Delhi and also from all over India, enjoying that love among yourselves and understanding among yourselves. I never expected that in my lifetime I’ll be able to see all this beautiful world of love, trust and peace. But today really I must say it shows what we are capable of doing. We human beings, so–called, are very selfish, self-centered and only worried about ourselves: that is what is said”. (*)

“I mean whatever is the extroversion, whatever is outside, must express your inside. ..We have fun. We have music. We have everything, but everything should be done in a dignified manner. Even dancing, I was saying, learn some rhythms. ..There should be gentleness. There should be understanding of the rhythm and rhythmic patterns.. because your whole expression is the expression of God Almighty. (*)’

Who started the Sahaj Culture?!

“So He (Lord Krishna) is  the one who started Sahaj culture. He said ‘let us enjoy, we must have enjoyment, Nirmala Anand – pure joy’. How do we have pure joy by? – He had this rakhi bandhan by which, apart from your wife, everybody is your sister or mother. I must say it is quite true about Indians. Not in the north so much because of Islamic influence, but in the south it is so. In Maharastra it is so. And then he started also this Holi, in which you should play with colors, maybe to get rid of the color barriers we have, maybe.In America it is a very good idea to play with colors and put someblack on the whites and some whites on the black and they can see for themselves how stupid it is to fight in the name of color. 🙂 (*)”

“On Holi we should burn all those things which spoil our attention and damage the Agnya (the 6th – Third Eye Chakra). Then this attention will clear out and we will celebrate Holi with joy and understanding. …When your attention goes to Vishuddhi then you see the Shakti-Power of Shri Krishna, Shri Radha , who is Allahad Dayini, the Giver of Joy. Just by seeing her people feel joyous. She is the Allahad Dayini Shakti which is in flowers, in children; and it can awaken in you. Till the depth comes this Allahad Dayini Shakti will remain verbal. Think about the combination of these two. It is very important for us to get depth within and to give joy from that depth is equally important.” (*)

(* – all above  represent extracts from various talks offered by Shri Mataji, the founder of Sahaja Yoga meditation – during Holi Celebrations or while teaching on various Chakras. Fyi: Radha and Krishna represent the “deities” =subtle/divine powers-principles-aspects that govern the centre of Vishuddhi chakra. America represents the Vishuddhi chakra of our Mother Earth)

Enjoy a Taste of Canada‘s Holi Celebrations!!

VIDEO #1  ** Connections between Holi and Jewish Traditions

Enjoy HOLI “self-made festival” in Canada

** Yogis on the streets of OAKVILLE (Halton region)

So many Holi Cards keep pouring from friends all around. Yesterday we’ve posted one from Navin, sahaja yoga practitioner and fashion designer from UAE.  Today, because it is already March 1st when the beginning of Spring is celebrated in some countries by offering bouquet of flowers to dear ones, let’s enjoy the Holi card from Narang family from Mississauga: Drop a comment, let us know if you’ve “felt” and enjoyed the Holi festival via our article! Thank you 🙂

This Post Has 18 Comments

  1. adrian

    “on colours”… colours are magical… we see colour yet take for granted they are inherent in the pureness of white light. So our Love for colour is in recognizing the Divine within… so to bath ourselves in colour is to immerse ourselves in Love… and then we truly see colour as the beauty within… so simple.

    1. adrian

      Shri Mataji’s quote…”The only way one can really understand what we are is by knowing yourself”…

      Love is pure…
      Pure white…
      That is the illusion…
      Contained within are all the beautiful colors making up that white light…
      … that is “knowing yourself”
      … you already ARE
      … beautiful within
      And now that you know yourself
      … just BE yourself
      and celebrate…
      LET yourself shine your rainbows
      Happy Holi.

      1. adrian

        A quote from Hamlet…

        “To thine own self be true”

        Shakespeare must have known something of Sahaj… or perhaps he just knew.

  2. Shivangi Mankad

    Fantastic and very colorful like our Sahaj love! Thank you so much for bringing so much joy through the articles and videos.

  3. Bhola Sharma

    So wonderful so interesting, & so Sahaja holly life !!!
    Really great.

  4. abhinav

    Really enjoyed the holi video. We wishing you all a happy Holi we always get very good vibrations from your emails

  5. Sasanka Shekhar Swain

    01Mar2010
    Good to have the knowledge of ancient scriptures which gives perfect understanding of HOLI. Our Sahaj connection with ‘colours’is amazing. How ‘simple’it is, once we understand ‘Kundalini’. Thanks.-Shekhar.

  6. Rajiv

    This really gave me “Allahad”. Thanks for sharing the wonderful information.

  7. Navdeep and Sandra

    Happy Holi to everyone. Having our Mother in our hearts brings all the colours of the Spirit together. Last year we celebrated Holi with the Gurgaon collective, in India, and it was so much fun, and the kind of experience that you want to have, at least once.

  8. Raj

    Just watching the videos fills my heart with joy and a desire to be there in the midst of all the colours and festivities -to be drenched in the vibrations of joyous collectivity….
    A Very Happy Holi to All My Brothers and Sisters Worldwide!
    Raj

  9. Elsie

    The Festival of Colours Such joy represented in this festival. Colours which incorporate healthy ingredients like turmeric. It is a wonderful article. One can experience joy along with the meditative state. this is truly awesome.

  10. Rabi

    Amazing colourful article. Happy holi Haltonian collective.May the colours of our mood grow brighter with our joy and wisdom as we grow in this family.

    What I recall as a child we were told in India that this holi festival is marked by the onset of a seasonal change from winter to summer. At this juncture several germs and bacteria and mirobes or virus thrieve due to this conducive change. Thus human beings also are affected with a several diseases. The Gulal and Abir that is a mixed colours made out of herbal clay stones and also it contains micaceous elements. These admixture help the germs to be warded off like the negativity that we ward off by other rituals. Especially during childhood we used to hear a lot many people used to suffer from Chicken pox or measels long before all these immunization vaccines were in vogue. These colours on body shielded and helped us to combat these ailments. But with times these natural products had been replaced with a artificial flavours and colours and elements. That now caused several disease insted of reducing them.
    But we used to enjoy as children and also adults. In India this festival makes things brighter as it lits up our moods.

    There is yet another myth attached to this festival. It relates to one of teh advent of Shri Vishnu’s incarnation on earth when He came as a half Lion and half human form called as Narasimha.the fifth in line. His advent is significant due to a child who happened to be a very ardent devotee of Shri Vishnu. He was called Prahlad. He was born to a rakshas or demon family. But with time as he grew his devotions became more profound and his undaunted devotion towards Shri Vishnu made him a very attractive yet powerful child and later became the cause for the destruction of an invincible demon Hiranyakashasyapu. But that is another mythological folk lore.

    Now the significance of the day before the holi festival is that in india in collective people burn all old garbages and wood logs which are stray. So as the story goes …it was just the day before the holi celebration his (maternal side) aunty ‘Holika’was called by the demon Hiranyakashyapu to finish Prahlad by ascending to the pyre set. It was believed that she had received special boon from God, that she would never be burned in fire. So she sat along with Prahlad in her lap shielding him so that Prahlad would be finished and she would remain unburnt. But with the illusionary design(maya) of God at the end of the day Prahlad’s aunty was burnt to ashes and Prahlad remained untouched.

    Thus the day before this festival Holi is dedicated to ‘Holika’ (the aunt of Prahlad). Who was burnt. That is why it is called as ‘Holika Dahan’ which means ‘burning/lighting of Holika’ which also means that we must burn our ego and negativity(like the demonic plastics and all unnatural products that are a slow means of destruction to humanity) the day before holi and then receive our Self realization playing with colours of joy with in protocol

    1. Anjali

      Dear Rabi ji, Thank you for enlightening us on this festival of Holi. So many things are to be realized from within when we celebrate these festivals.

      Happy holi to everyone in the world. May the differences in “colors/race” disappear and may we all be just drenched in the beautiful 1000 colors of the lotus on our sahastrara.

  11. Elizabeth

    It would make such a difference in the world if we did this every year in North America.

  12. Roger 9 g

    Nice nice… great!

  13. Antoinette Wells (de Kalbermatten)

    Joyous and lovely! I particularly liked the link of the colours of ‘holy’ to the chakras!
    And the videos!

  14. Angie

    Such beatiful!!!! So subtle the meaning of Holi…and so important to share every day sahaj knowlidge.

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