About Holi festival

Origin story of Holi colors

0:00I speak English, I understand Hindi but uh By the way Maharaj had done a PhD in chemistry from Russian but of course he did by in English so the language I don't know what chemistry does have to do with holy perhaps yeah sorry colours but

0:27I will tell a little story about Holly and that's uh that has something to do with chemistry, with the original chemistry. I was very happy to hear this quiz and answers. So perhaps you will like this little story.

0:49Krishna was black. You all know that Krishna was black. And his friends would always tease him, oh Shyam, you're so black, you're so black, you are so black. And you know sometimes little children they are very nasty.

1:07So at one point he came running to Yaśodā. And he was crying and crying and crying, Māyā, Māyā, Māyā, why was I born black? Can you born me again? Can I be born again?

1:24You know why Rādhā is so fair? Why is she old now? Why am I black? It's not fair. I want to be born again. Yasoda said to him, my dear son, I like you as you are. You are so beautiful.

1:43You are Sundar, you are Śyāmsundara. I don't want you to be different. But then Krishna, Krishna, he was a little pacified and little consoled by this.

1:53But then he again started saying, you know, why is she so fair, why is she so fair?

2:00And Mother Yaśodā she gave him little dye, little color. She said if you want her to be different color, just go to her and smear this color over her face. And she will become different.

2:17And if you want to be different, just take little golden color and put it on your face. And you will become golden.

Philosophical significance of spiritual colors

2:26So this is the original desire of the Supreme Lord. Actually behind this little story, which may see a little funny story from Raj. There is a great philosophy.

2:40As somebody said answering this quiz, that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Golden avatāra of the Supreme Lord, was born on this day of Holi.

2:51And it is said in our scriptures in Caitanya-caritāmṛta in particular that it is the Lord who wanted to take the mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. What are the scholars?

3:01Sometimes people don't understand what these colours mean. Colours, when it comes to the Supreme Lord, means his mood. It's a symbolic description of the mood of the world. Krishna is Shyam.

3:19Śyāmasundara means he is very difficult to understand. It also means that he has very deep love. This color of Śyāma is the color of Śṛṅgāra rasa.

3:39According to Bharata Muni, the great uh dramatist of uh the ancient India, he described the correspondence between the colors and the moods. Like we all know when we become angry we change our color.

3:57When we become angry, we become what? Red. No matter who you are, you may be Indian, you may be Russian, you become red. So every mood, every emotional state has certain color.

4:12So this color of Śṛṅgāra-rasa is śyāma. It's very deep, dark, dark black, like the cloud. But Krishna wanted to become like Radha. Rādhā is golden.

4:31And śyāma we know he takes the black color means it absorbs, it absorbs everything. And golden color means giving away. So Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is in this mood. Śyāma is in the mood of taking.

4:50He is accepting service, he is the Supreme Lord, he is Bhagawan, and we all have to offer him obeisances, offer him whatever we have. And Radha is in the mood of giving.

5:01She is the giving part of the Supreme Lord or of the Supreme Truths. Therefore she is golden. No, Sun is golden and sun is always giving, giving, giving, giving.

5:12Unlimitedly giving, giving heat, giving light, giving everything. So when Shyam wanted to take the color of Radha, it means that he wanted to change the mood.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the golden avatar

5:25He wanted to change the mood and turn into somebody who is giving. And he's coming as Caitanya Mahāprabhu with this golden colour, and he's coming on this day of Pūrṇimā.

5:38And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, according to our scriptures, is the most magnificent avatar of the Lord. He's always giving. He doesn't ask anything. He doesn't ask you, first pay and He's not a businessman.

5:53Or if he is a businessman, he's a very bad businessman. He just gives. He came to give and he came to give something which is very valuable. The most valuable thing which we need is love.

6:07Actually everything else which we want to have is just a means by which we want to get love. Why people want to be beautiful, why people want to be rich, why people want to be strong? Because they want love.

6:21They know if I am strong, if I am rich, somebody will love me. Maybe. But that's not sure.

6:31But ultimately Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu knows our most important need. Jaitanya Magramu knows our most important need. Our most important need is to love and to be loved.

6:42And he comes and he teaches us how to get this love and how to give this love. And he says that the most simple way to get love, to feel love of God, is to chant his holy name.

6:58Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Hare. He comes and gives this. And ultimately this is the means to transform our heart. Now our heart is black.

7:17But we want it to become golden. We want it to become giving. We want it to become very magnificent. So this festival of Holi is the festival of transformation.

7:31We want to be transformed and the means to transform ourselves is love and ultimately holy name of the Lord.

Original pastime of flower Holi

7:42And I saw these beautiful flowers for you to practice a little Holi. And there is another story which I will tell, a little story from Rāmāyaṇa, how Krishna was playing and gopis were playing this full play with Krishna.

8:05Once Krishna was sitting with Radha and they were sitting in a kunja.

8:11And you know kuñjas are little groves in Vṛndāvana where Radhā and Krishna are hiding away. And they were sitting and they were completely absorbed in love.

8:23Śyām was chanting Rādhā's name. He was chanting Rādhā, Rādhā, Rādhā, Rādhā. And Rādhā was chanting his name. Śyām, Śyām, Śyām, Śyām, Śyām. And they were totally completely absorbed in this and they forgot about the time.

8:39And you know their relationships are not exactly legal, somewhat illegal.

8:47So they became totally unconscious about the time and they forgot about the passage of time and they were just chanting and they were completely in samādhi. So the gopis, their girlfriends, they became a little worried.

9:01What will happen? So much time passed by and they're still there. And they were trying to, you know, to wake them up. So one would be how do this? They cannot enter, they cannot just, you know, wake them up.

9:16So one body, she just threw a little flower at the Krishna. But he didn't notice it.

9:22And another body threw another flower in the Krishna. And another body, and they started they started throwing and throwing and throwing and throwing and throwing. And Krishna is still sitting there.

9:34Brother, brother, brother, brother, brother. She just cannot do anything. And ultimately the flowers, you know, the mount of flowers became so big that it reached Krishna's nose and Krishna's mouth.

9:53And at that point he just couldn't pronounce anymore rather it

10:00didn't go out so at this point his samadhi broke, he looked around and he saw these, you know, flowers around him and he you know, and this moment when samadhi broke, he just threw all the flowers around.

Celebrating Holi across the world

10:18And this is how this full holi started, this uh flower holi started. So today is a very nice holi and uh you all here sitting in this nice warm temple. The day after tomorrow I'm going to Russia. There is a lot of snow.

10:41There is only one way to play holi in Moscow is just to throw snowballs in japa. There is no other way to do it. But anyway, we're still celebrating the same festivals there because

10:57at the mercy of Srila Prabhupada who came and gave us this beautiful culture. Thank you very much.