The Tao of Jake.: Holi- Festival of Colors!!!

This last weekend in March we celebrated the coming of spring in the traditional Indian way. We went to the Hari Krishna temple for Holi, the festival of colors.

Needless to say, it was packed! I've never seen so many people!

It was a spirtutal and fun experience. Basically a giant hippie-fest. I've never been around so many loving and friendly people

Hiranyakashipu is the great king of demons, and he had been granted a boon by Brahma, which made it almost impossible for him to be killed. The boon was due to his long penance, after which he had demanded that he not be killed "during day or night; inside the home or outside, not on earth or in the sky; neither by a man nor an animal; neither by astra nor by shastra". Consequently, he grew arrogant and attacked the Heavens and the Earth. He demanded that people stop worshipping Goda and start praising him.

Despite this, Hiranyakashipu's own son, Prahlada, was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. In spite of several threats from Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada continued offering prayers to Lord Vishnu. He was poisoned but the poison turned to nectar in his mouth. He was ordered to be trampled by elephants yet remained unharmed. He was put in a room with hungry, poisonous snakes and survived. All of Hiranyakashipu's attempts to kill his son failed. Finally, he ordered young Prahlada to sit on a pyre on the lap of his demoness sister, Holika, who could not die because she also had a boon which would prevent fire from burning her. Prahlada readily accepted his father's orders, and prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. When the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as Holika burnt to death, while Prahlada survived unharmed, the burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi

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In the celebration and for the coming of spring, colors are thrown (traditionally colored powder and water) But, here in Utah we only throw colored powder. It's a great, loving, togethernesss feeling that is all about love and the triumph of truth and freedom... the triumph of Love over everything!

We went down into the crowd next to the stage on the second day and lets just say it's high energy down there, people were crowd surfing and it's the place you want to be if you want to get plastered in color. Watch the final throwing of the holiday and see for yourself!