Happy Holi !!!

regarding Holi on 21st-22nd march 2008...

Hiranya Kashipa had the arrogance to think that there is no powerful person than him because he has the boon from the Lord. he thought he has tricked Lord into giving him boon and got what he wanted. He first asked Lord that he should not have death. Lord said, 'that is not possible because in the creation, birth and death are two sides of the same coin. Therefore if we have accepted birth we need to accept death too'. Therefore Lord asked him to choose any other boon. At this time Hiranya Kashipu asked for the boon that he can not be killed by man or beast, inside the house or outside, in the day or in the night like that he intelligently thought for relief from all possible pairs of opposite. Lord happily granted. This has leaded him to think that he has tricked Lord because he thought how can there be any thing apart from these opposites. But then the Lord Nrusimha the Lord of Man-beast appeared to him in the 'sandhi' or the middle of all, which is middle of day and night middle of house and outside the threshold etc and neither on earth nor in the sky on his lap, the Lord eliminated him without any weapons as lion does not naturally use any weapons.
Lot of these puranik stories has philosophical significance.
Pair of opposites is the way intellect always works. For intellect, if one is good the other must be bad. Intellect is based on the world outside. For the intellect only yes or no. There is nothing like the middle way. This is one aspect. the other aspect is best of the material world is gold which is known as Hiranya and one who has covered himself with gold in other words one who is only seeing the material world is known as Hiranya Kashipa. His son is Prahlada, which suggests one who is extremely happy naturally. Father could not understand son how he can be happy without any attachment to money. Another important thing is where there is intellect there is no emotions and the harder the intellect the lesser the relation ship, there is nothing like father and son. Therefore blinded by the intellect Hiranya Kashipa does not see it is his own son who is happy. Due to the ego of intellect the father is now jealousy of his own son's happiness. Son told father that the cause for his happiness is the devotion or surrender to Lord. How can an arrogant person think there can another person who is Lord higher than himself? Especially when he has been successful even to misguide god in getting his boon. He tries to give problems to his son thinking that his son will be frightened and will come round to accept him as the Lord out of fear and there is no other lord who is greater than him. Intellect always compares and wants to be the best. Intellect never thinks of conquering out of love. Hiranya kashipas sister is Holika, who is kind to Prahlada. Hiranya Kashipa wants to take advantage of her nearness to Prahlada too.
Holika is the manifested form of god for the purpose of preserving the harmony of the creation with joy and festivity. That Holika has to go with Gold, so cutting the long story short Holika sacrifices herself for the sake of saving Prahlada. Prahlada is saved from the raging fire due to harmony or Holika. The philosophy behind this story is Harmony is the secret of creation the Lord and not the arrogance of intellect. Lord does not exist in extremities. He is an experience beyond all forms of pairs of opposites. He is the principle of Samanvaya or Harmony. Therefore he eliminated Hiranya Kashipa in the sandhi Kala or the time between day and night, by the form which be in between Man and animal at the entrance of the building neither in nor out side.
In the context of Hiranya Kashipa who has power and its arrogance and there is no emotions, even son is not important then how can he care for sister Holika. Holika is only a person useful to him for taking care of his interests.
We must learn a lesson that if we use our sadhana for the sake of power and not for the sake of peace and humility like the way Hiranya Kashipa wasted, the power corrupts us and destroys us. Hiranayna Kashipa was a great spiritual sadhaka but unfortunately his direction has been on Power and not on peace and harmony. A person who sees power can not see God's presence but a person who sees peace finds god every where. That is how the conversation goes on between father and son.
Father says show me where is your god. Son smiles and says why do you say show me he is every where and there is nothing which is not Him. Father asks can you show me the god in this pillar. Son says, 'when I said every where it also means this pillar too but if you have the eyes to see god, then only you can see him there'. Then he prays to god saying show His form in this pillar. At that time all the objects around there were eagerly waiting let the king ask for showing god in them so that they are too eager to manifest god in them. The chance came to Pillar and from there he manifests. Why is it pillar and why not any thing else? It is because pillar also means that which is absolutely stable and which is the support for the whole building. Lord showed therefore he is the support of all the creation by manifesting and eliminating Hiranya Kashipa. Holi therefore indicated a festival of joy for the victory of heart over head. Especially this comes at the time of exams for the youngsters so that they should for a day give rest to the hard intellectual work and enjoys mixing with all the people.

Wish you all a very Happy Holi!!!