Yesterday was Holi celebrations here where I live currently.
A long beautiful lawn. Pipes lining the roof, drizzling water like soft rain.
A loud DJ. People dancing, drenched, throwing colours at each other, laughing, screaming.
Children running wild. Elders forgetting they are elders.
A burst of colour and exuberance and life. It was beautiful. Truly beautiful.
The kind of beauty that makes you stop and just watch.
I stood on the side for a while and soaked it in.
Not the water. Just the aliveness of it all.
Then I went upstairs feeling very joyous. That was my Holi.
But something happened this morning that has stayed with me.
I was sitting in the society manager's office, just having some small talk with him, and a man walked in.
Neat uniform. Professional. He works with the security team here.
After the pleasantries, he said something very simple.
He said, _"I came to play Holi yesterday. I was desperately searching for somebody who would put colours on me. But nobody did."_
Just one sentence. Nothing dramatic.
No self pity. Just a quiet confession.
And it made me very sad.
Because what he was really saying, even though he did not articulate it in these words, was something much deeper.
What he was saying was... *my life is colourless. It is bland.*
*And I was desperately waiting for somebody, anybody, to come and bring some exuberance and joy and colour into my life.*
*And when I walked through that entire celebration and nobody did... I felt it.*
I have not stopped thinking about this.
Because if you look at it honestly, this is not just his story.
*This is the story of all of us.*
If we look at our lives internally, truthfully, without the decorations we put on for the world... it is a colourless, joyless, loveless, bland series of days.
We know this. We feel this.
But we do not say it. We just keep going.
And so we wait.
We wait for festivals to feel alive.
We wait for cricket matches to feel excitement.
We wait for promotions to feel worthy.
We wait for vacations to feel free.
We wait for a special somebody to walk into our life and finally fill it with colours and love and meaning.
We wait for the next Holi. The next Diwali. The next long weekend.
And in between the waiting... *we just survive.*
This is a very sorry state of affairs if you really sit with it.
Our entire life is spent waiting for colour to arrive from outside.
*And sometimes it does.*
For a day. For an evening. For a festival. And then it fades.
And we go back to the bland.
And we start waiting again.
But here is what I want to share with you this Holi.
This is not the only way to live.
You do not have to wait for somebody to put colours on you.
You do not have to wait for a festival or a special occasion or a special person to arrive to make your life feel alive.
*There is a way to experience the entire rainbow of life within yourself.*
There is a way to experience immense joy and bursts of love and celebration within, not as a peak moment that fades *but as a steady living fragrance that stays.*
That is what meditation and spirituality is all about.
Not philosophy. Not concepts.
Not sitting in a corner with your eyes closed trying to be peaceful.
It is about becoming so alive from within that you do not need external events to colour your life.
The colour comes from inside.
The celebration comes from inside.
The joy comes from inside.
And when that happens... something magical happens.
*Interestingly, once your interiority becomes celebratory, your external life also becomes celebratory as a natural consequence.*
Every moment becomes a celebration on its own.
Wherever you go, life starts throwing its colours on you.
It does not wait for a Holi.
The walk in the morning becomes colourful.
The chit-chat with your friends becomes colourful.
The stranger's smile becomes colourful.
The wind on your face becomes colourful.
Life itself becomes the festival.
*So this Holi, let us make a resolve.*
Not a small one. A strong one. A real one.
When we celebrate Holi, when we celebrate any festival, let us do it with full exuberance.
Full celebration. Drench yourself. Dance. Throw colours. Laugh until your stomach hurts. Do not hold back.
But at the same time, let us also resolve that this is not just for one day or two days.
That for the rest of the year, we will strive to make our life celebratory from within.
Through meditation. Through turning inward.
Through discovering the colours that are already inside us, waiting to be seen.
When you find that... you will never again desperately search for somebody to put colours on you.
*You will be the colour.*
Wishing you a very happy and meditative Holi 🌈
With love 🩷
*Yash from Yog Prachar* Sadguru
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