Phagwah explained

By Swami Bhajanananda
PHAGWAH, or Holi, as it is popularly called, is unique, and is the Hindu Festival of Spring. India is called the cradle of different civilisations and cultures, and the seed-bed of many festivals. The Phagwah, or Holi, festival is unique among all these, as it represents the social and religious values of the Hindu people.

Phagwah in Sanskrit literature is described as “Vasant Utsav”, meaning ‘spring festival’. In North East India it is called Phagwah, but in all other parts of India it is known as Holi. Phagwah is etymologically based on the word ‘Phalgun’, the name of the month which begins from Mid-February and ends Mid-March. This is the last month of the Hindu Year, or Hindu Calendar. The first month of the Hindu Year is called “Chaitra”, which falls in Phalgun. On this joyous occasion, people ring out the Old Year, as it is with the traditional Western Old Year’s Night celebration, and herald the coming of the New Year with great joy. This is done through the celebration of the Phagwah, of Holi, Festival.

This grand festival is also based on the legend of Prahalad and his father, the demon king Hiranyakashyapu, who had a sister by name of Holika. Holika, the Aunt of Prahalad, offered to help her brother, the wicked king, to destroy the innocent and divine child Prahalad by sitting in a bonfire with him.
Because of his love, devotion and adoration for God (Lord Vishnu), Prahalad suffered all sorts of persecutions from the hands of his own father. Despite these tribulations and untold miseries, he did not give up uttering the hollowed name of God. Fire, water, wild elephants and the venom of poisonous snakes did not harm Prahalad because God walked with him in all of his difficult moments. Thus the all merciful Lord rescued his devotee from many dangers and difficulties. However, even today, throughout the Hindu world, a bonfire is being made to symbolise the destruction of Holika and to remind us that those who molest or distress the devotees of God will eventually be punished by their own actions. The story is well known: that Lord Vishnu, in the form of Nar-Simha (man-lion), killed Hiranyakashipu and re-established righteousness by installing the virtuous Prahalad on the throne of his father to rule the Kingdom.
Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavat Gita, Chapter: 4. Verses, 6 and 7:
Whenever there is decay of righteousness and there is exaltation of unrighteousness, then I myself come forth for the protection of Good, for the destruction of evildoers, for the sake of firmly establishing righteousness; I am born from age to age.

Lord Vishnu came in his fourth avatar (i.e. Nar-simha) and destroyed the wicked King, thus fulfilling what Bhagavad Gita has declared in the abovementioned verses. Prahalad here represents a believer of Supreme power, which exists everywhere in the world. This power is a spiritual one and is based on true faith in God. Hiranyakashyapu, on the other hand, represents the materialistic power, as he regarded himself as Supreme and had no real idea of God. The story shows the triumph of spiritualism over materialism.

The story of Prahalad is significant in its message, especially to the youths of today: that waiting for a special time in life to turn to God is procrastination beyond any reasonable judgment. More things are wrought with prayer than the world dreams of.

God will take care of our anxieties, and restore in us faith and confidence in those who turn to Him. Such self-confidence will build today’s youths morally as well as spiritually, and establish in us character, caliber, and the capacity to be ideal men and women of today’s society.

We look for scientific answers even in religion today. Hinduism provides answers to all of Man’s questions. What man shall sow with the new ideas, the new opportunities which science is showering upon him does not depend on science itself, but upon what man wants to do with them; and this, in turn, depends upon his scale of values.

It is here that religion can become a dominant factor. Religion and science do not oppose each other: Science supplies matter, Religion prescribes matter. Without science the world would be poor, without religion it would be barbarous. Religion enhances our idea; science gives it in a practical shape. Religion and science maintain the balance of power, and reinstate in man a state of mental equilibrium. Religion gives tone to life and helps us to develop the proper attitude towards life. It gives an ethical outlook which leads to the proper embellishment of life.

Religion is generally understood to define man’s relationship with God; but, really speaking, it defines all types of relations: between man and God, between man and man, and between man and his surroundings. Thus religion is all-comprehensive and embraces life in all aspects. Therefore Holi, or Phagwah, the Festival of Spring, recreates Man’s identity with Nature.

The story of Prince Prahalad reminds us that the drama of life is the enacting of the lessons of wisdom and innocence that mould and shape out lives and our personalities from the earliest years of our indentured fore-parents, who brought these festivals such as Phagwah from India to such lands as Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname, Jamaica, Mauritius and Fiji, etc.

The saga of life is to be proud that we belong to such ancient culture and tradition, which had influenced our attitudes and decisions; for we, too, like our foreparents, are garnered by the ideals of our rich civilisation and culture. Holi, or Phagwah, transcends all barriers of creed and sectarianism in true spirit of inner holiness in everyone.

May our divinity, or inner holiness, unite us in spiritual fraternity everywhere. (Bharat Sevashram Sangha Canada)