Happy Holika
Dahan & Chhoti Holi – Varanasi Travel
(
the Second Online Travel,Varanasi )
Holika Dahan on Sunday,
March 28, 2021 Holika Dahan Muhurta - 06:37 PM to 08:56 PM Duration - 02 Hours
20 Mins
There was once a
demon king by the name of Hiranyakashyap who won over the kingdom of earth. He
was so egoistic that he commanded everybody in his kingdom to worship only him
but to his great disappointment, his son, Prahlad became an ardent devotee of
Lord Narayana and refused to worship his father.
Hiranyakashyap tried several
ways to kill his son Prahlad but Lord Vishnu saved him every time. After numerous unsuccessful
attempts, the demon king thought of taking help from his sister, Holika, who
had a boon by Lord Brahma which said she would not be burnt in a fire.
Lastly, he asked his sister, Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her
lap. For, Hiranyakashyap knew that Holika had a boon, whereby, she could enter the
fire unscathed.Treacherously, Holika coaxed young Prahlad to sit in her lap and
she herself took her seat in a blazing fire. The legend has it that Holika had
to pay the price of her sinister desire by her life. Holika was not aware that
the boon worked only when she entered the fire alone. Prahlad, who kept chanting
the name of Lord Narayana all this while, came out unharmed, as the lord
blessed him for his extreme devotion.
As the
legend depicts that anybody, howsoever strong, cannot harm a true devotee. Those who dare torture a true devotee of God
shall be reduced to ashes. Even today, people enact the scene of 'Holika's burning to ashes'
every year to mark the victory of good over evil. In several states of India,
specially in the north, effigies of Holika are burnt in the huge bonfires that
are lit. There is even a practice of hurling cow dungs into the fire and
shouting obscenities at it as if at Holika. Then everywhere one hears shouts of
'Holi-hai! Holi-hai!'. The ritual symbolises the
victory of good over evil. People sing and dance around the fire. People also
perform parikrama of fire. People burn fires on the occasion of Holika
Dahan to eliminate their ego, lust, greed, anger and jealousy. Let’s burn our all bad things, in our life with this
Holika Dahan. We, at the Second Online Travel, Varanasi . wish you all a very
Happy Holika Dahan.
नमस्ते नरसिंहाय प्रह्लादाह्लाद दायिने
हिरण्यकशिपोर्वक्षः शिला-टङ्क-नखालये
इतो नृसिंहः परतो नृसिंहो
यतो यतो यामि
ततो नृसिंहः
बहिर्नृसिंहो हृदये नृसिंहो
नृसिंहमादिं शरणं प्रपद्ये
I bow to Lord Narasimha, who
protected Prahlad from the evil. I bow to Lord Narasimha, who eliminated
stone-hearted Hiranyakashpu with his sharp claws.Lord Narasimha is omnipresent.
He is here, he is there. He is inside and outside. I bow at the feet of Lord
Narasimha, the protector of the good.
Ramesh
Verma CMD, the Second Online Travel, Varanasi , Uttar Pradesh
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