Traveling

Holi Festival

Here I am, still in Rishikesh.

I have forsaken morning yoga class for a philosophy course at a nearby ashram- Swami G is fabulous.. and just so I don't mislead you, his "name" is Swamiji- which basically means "professor" or so. He was in the army for 20 yrs then fell in love with a woman at an ashram but because she had already chosen to live her life as a nun, he realised he couldn't be with her... so he decided to give everything up and to also live a spiritual life in the ashram. He loves and respects and cherishes her so much- it's so beautiful to see him talk about her.

The classes are really interesting- they centre mainly on the Bhagavad Gita, but go into many aspects of spiritual life in the modern day. The early morning classes, after having a cappucino, def make me miss university...

He explained the significance and history behind the festival that will be going on tonight and tomorrow morning. The festival in which I dart thru the street terrified at getting targeted. It is one of the 'best' festivals in India, so I am very fortunate to be here for it. I still don't want to take part in it. Here yu go.
And I apologize because I don't remember all the names of the gods and goddesses, so I will just give you the gist.
There is a boy who worships a god, he may even be an incarnation of him/it. His father actually hates this god very much and so tries to kill the boy. The father pushes him off the top of a mountain and the boy survives, he puts him in boiling oil, the boy survives, whatever he does, makes no difference, the boy just will not die. The father's sister (Holika) finds out that she has a special 'boon'- she can sit in fire and not be burnt. She has meditated for many many years and has been awarded this 'boon'. She tells her brother, look, i'll sit in the fire and pull the boy to me and he will burn for sure. She does this, and the boy survives but she starts to burn- she asks the god who gave her the boon why this is happening and he says 'you should only be using your power for good, never bad'. So she dies. The festival is named Holi after her, and tonight everyone builds huge fires (there are pyres everywhere) in celebration of her death. Then to continue the celebration, tomorrow people buy the bindi powder by the buckets and go around throwing the powder on everyone in the streets- the colors are beautiful- bright purples, oranges, reds, yellows, greens- and they also throw water on everyone passing by. Swamiji said that they celebrate this way because the mind likes to see colors and experience different things- but I don't feel the need to have colored powder poured on me and then doused with water- but i suppose that may just be my western mind getting involved. Silly Western mind.

To come her to the internet cafe, I had to walk down an aley. at the end of the alley were a bunch of men with a snare drum just marching around, coming towards me, and they were covered in color. Covered from head to toe. They were green and pink and orange all at the same time. So I ran back to my room and left by the other exit.
Don't think I'm ready. And apparently the Indians really love to target the Westerners. Maybe I'll sleep in tomorrow.
:)

posted by jjoollee @ 1:56 AM