Spiritual import of colour festival
Namaskar,
In our Ananda Marga spiritual parlance, the term colour means bondage, or the attachment of the mind. For example, anything and everything in the world has some sort of vibration, or colour. When attracted, the mind gets dyed in that colour. For instance, if someone is attracted to rasagolla and must eat that sweet whenever he goes to the market, then the colour of rasagolla will stain his mind.
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Colour means a stain on the mind
The basic premise is that humans get coloured by all kinds of colours, i.e. stains on the mind. And when the mind is stained, that mind is in bondage. When the mind is not attracted with any color and is just attracted towards Parama Purusa, then the mind is colourless.
That is why in Guru Puja, sadhakas offer their mental colour - all kinds of attractions, weaknesses, and attachments - to the Supreme Entity. If the offering is made with sincerity, that weakness or attachment will fade away, and the mind will become calm, serene, and blissful. That is very close to the stage of colourlessness. When the mind is completely coloured then the sadhaka becomes one with Parama Purusa.
Ultimately, the unit mind and the Cosmic Mind are the same, only due to one's mental colour the unit mind is not becoming one with the Cosmic Entity. In order to become one with Him, we celebrate varnarghyadana, i.e. colour festival, and offer our mental colours to the Divine Entity - Parama Purusa - and try to become one with Him.
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Proportionate to your self surrender
Ananda Marga ideology states, "You must bring about a revolutionary change in the flow of your judgment and thought, and see how, after overcoming your fascination with external colour, your mind becomes tinged with the His glorious colour. In Ananda Marga Sadhana, the method of withdrawing the mind from degrading tendencies, and absorbing oneself in the colour of the Great, is called Pratyáhára Yoga (the yoga of withdrawal) or Varńárghyadána (Guru Puja: the offering of colours). All people have a particular attraction for one or another object or activity and as soon as they become attracted to an object, then their minds become coloured with the colour of that object. You can withdraw your mind from the colour of that object and dye yourself in His colour by offering Him the captivating colour of the object that has attracted you: this is the real Pratyáhára Yoga [Guru Puja]. The word Pratyáhára means “to withdraw” – to withdraw the mind from its object." (1)
Ananda Marga ideology states, "The main object of the Spring Colour Festival (Vasantotsava) is not playing with external colours; it is meant to offer Him the colours of different objects which have dyed the mind. When this practice of offering your own colours – your own attachments, becomes natural and easy, you will then merge in Him. Then you will have no need for any colour, for you will become colourless – you will go beyond the reach of any colour. Your unit-ego will become one with the Cosmic Ego. Whichever way you look you will see only Him in His ever-surging glory. There is no “I” nor “you”. By an everlasting, mutual pact the final curtain will have fallen on all clashes of “I” and “you”. At that stage, if you call Parama Brahma as “I”, you are right in calling Him so; if you call Him as “He”, you are equally right; and if you call Him as “you”, again you are correct. The extent of your attainment of Him will be proportionate to your self surrender." (2)
Story
Ananda Marga ideology states, "Remember, you have to offer your own mind – not money, rice plantains or other crude objects. The give-and-take of crude things is a business transaction. If you want to attain the bliss of Brahma, you must offer your own self. If you want to have the Great “I”, you must give away your own little “I”. You have to give the full sixteen annas, (the full rupee). Giving fifteen annas and holding back one anna will not do. You must completely surrender. To attain that Infinite One with the help of your mental concentration and strength, you have to surrender yourselves. But, remember self-surrender does not mean suicide. On the contrary, your soul will have its full expression. Your existence will not become contracted, for contraction is inert in principle….“O Lord, I surrender my all to you. Do what you think is best”. And the Lord immediately rescued her. That is why I say that you will have to dedicate yourselves to His feet wholly and unreservedly. You will earn godliness in proportion to the extent that you surrender yourselves, and finally, after merging that acquired godliness of yours in His Entity, you will attain eternal bliss." (3)
Conclusion
By His above teaching the point is very clear that our colour festival is not about coloured powders and flowers per se. Rather, Baba guides us that the real import is the psycho-spiritual approach of offering the colours (i.e. attachments and obstacles) of one's mind unto the lotus feet of Parama Purusa.
https://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/
Namaskar,
In Him,
Dyuti
References
1. Subhasita Samgraha - 3, Vibration, Form and Colour
2. Subhasita Samgraha - 3, Vibration, Form and Colour
3. Subhasita Samgraha - 3, Vibration, Form and Colour
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