Holi, the Festival in India that heralds the arrival of Spring is on 17 March 2014.
Indian Philosophy and Hinduism are replete with Allegories.
The stories and legends bespeak of this.
It is also a fact that most of the so-called Legends are real, Ramayana,Mahabharata.
Even the names of Gods are indicative of quality or an attribute of Human Nature, or more precisely the attribute through which the Human Mind can Conceive of God or Reality.
Examples.
Shiva-Auspiciousness,
Vishnu-Protector, One who supports, the word Vishnu is from the Sanskrit word ‘Jishnu’ That which supports.
‘Visnum Jishnum Vashat kaaro’ (Vishnu Sahasra Nama)
Krishna-One who is Black.
Rama,_One who is dear to All.
Kama-Unquenchable Desire.
It requires some back ground of Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy to understand and appreciate these terms.
Te Bhagavad Gita , on the process of destruction of Individual says,
‘Krothaaath Bhavathi Sammohaha Sammohaath Smriti Vipramaha,
Smrithi Dwamsaath Buddhi Naaso,Buddhi Naasaath Pranasyathi’ ( Bhagavad Gita-Chapter 2)
Out of desire arises Anger,Anger breeds faltering of Discriminating Power,this leads to destruction.
The term Moha is a mild form Desire, Kama.
The root of all misery, as Buddha says, is the desire to cling to objects.
Attempting to satisfy the cravings of desire leads to misery , as pouring of Ghee leads to More Fire.
To eliminate misery, attain contentment through Happiness elimination of desire is advocated by Hinduism.
The Powerful Desire is called Kama.
To achieve auspiciousness(Shiva), which is a state of Desire less State Kama has to be eradicated or burnt.
The impure things can be eliminated or destroyed by the following Natural Forces.
1.Water.
2.Air(Wind) and
3.Fire.
What can not be got ridden by water is removed by Wind and that which can not be destroyed by Water and Wind is destroyed by Fire.
Fire or Agni is the Ultimate Sustainer, Purifier and Destroyer.
The day of Holi, which heralds the arrival of Spring in India,is symbolic of this.
Legend has it that Lord Shiva burnt Kama, the Lord of Lust with His Third Eye.
The Third eye in Hinduism represents Wisdom or the opening of Real Knowledge.
Holi is the celebration of Auspiciousness and removal of Desires and the heralding of Contentment and Happiness.
”
After dakshayAga(1), shakti took the form of the daughter of the mountain king himavAn called pArvatI. From the early childhood she was devoted to Lord shiva and started penance for getting married to the God shiva. Lord shiva was however staying as dakshiNAmUrthi (2) making the sages sanaka, sanandana, sanAtana, sanatkumAra realize the Ultimate Truth.
In the meanwhile the celestials were put to deep hardship by the demons lead by sUrapadma, simhamukha and tharaka. This was a curse on them for attending the dakshayAga. sUrapadma had the boon that none other than the son who is the power of shiva could kill him. As Lord shiva was teaching the path of Bliss to the sages and pArvati doing penance, the celestials were desparate for the solution which is the son of Lord shiva. Out of the desperation, they lost the sense of what they were doing and sent forcibly the kAma (cupid) to induce lust in God for pArvatI.
kAma, whose arrows never failed elsewhere, was sure that he was getting into trouble. However out of pressure from the celestials (devas) he went to the abode of Lord shiva and shot an arrow that would kindle lust on the God. kAma has been vested with the power by Lord shiva to induce lust in all creatures – lives in order to maintain the reproduction as a system, so he was successful. Will that logic work on the One Who is beyond all these principles, the One Who has no pleasure out of external things? The arrow of kAma failed to induce lust in God. As the Lord opened slightly the third-eye, kAma who shot the arrow was burnt down to a heap of ash. Unperturbed the Lord continued the explanation to the sages!
This incident of burning off kAma is called kAmadahana or Holi. The posture of God burning kAma is called kAma dahana mUrthi (3) and is one of the 25 mAhEshvara mUrthis ”
Citation.
Related articles
Leave a Reply