Holi and the Divine Invitation from Spring
THE HINDUS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS BLOG IS A SPACE FOR A HEALTHY EXPLORATION OF IDEAS PERTINENT TO OUR MISSION. THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS BLOG ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE OFFICIAL POLICY OR POSITION OF HINDUS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS.
By Punya Upadhyaya, HfHR Cofounder
One of the most important questions in India is well expressed in a famous movie – with a remix!
Holi is a fun festival popular wherever Indians live and love. As our worlds have expanded into confident diasporas and global leadership, Holi has changed and included more and more people and communities. This is one reason this blog is coming after the festival – I’ve been busy celebrating the old-fashioned ways – natural beauty, friends, great food and temple/guru darshan.
As we scan our worlds, we see many traditions celebrating this time of liminality where we all become closer to the Divine. This is a season for beauty and celebration, relief and love.
Many Jewish friends are celebrating Pesach or Passover. This freedom from slavery is not just from a temporal slavery; it is also always the freedom from the worlds, the realization that the plagues are always with us, and the celebration of God’s love for children. Many Christians celebrated Palm Sunday, a day of triumph and celebration. We have joy that despite all that has happened – and will happen – we can see genuine victory of the sacred. This is a time when the will of the sacred, the joy of the messiah, and the energy of the community align: a moment when we are all together with truth.
Soon we are about to celebrate the Qingming Festival in China, a celebration of loyalty, love, and human frailty. We revere the dead and thank them. It is interesting that this festival has a blazing fire as a central feature – just like the festival of Holi begins with the burning of Holika. The dead and unreal can be burnt away leaving only the loving and true.
And as the seasons turn, we are about to enter Ramzan (aka Ramadan), the time with the Prophet received his first revelations. Again, this is a time for great introspection – and great fun. In Bombay I remember going near Grant Medical College and the all-night food was off the charts! Again, the ultimate freedom is being celebrated when the divine once again makes freedom and truth available to all of us.
This is a season where we celebrate the generosity of traditions and faiths, where we celebrate abundance and generosity, where are experience—even briefly—the joy and love that the Gods and Goddesses offer us freely every day.
And to close – Bollywood loves Holi for good reason and we can keep the fun bouncing!