Lively celebration of Holi colors at Atlanta Vedic Temple- Atlanta Dunia -

Lively celebration of Holi colors at Atlanta Vedic Temple

By Dhirendra Sharma

Holi, the festival of joy and colors, was once again this year, celebrated with an envious zeal on 19th and 20th March at Atlanta Vedic Temple by all devotees and their large friend circles. This festival reminds us every year that the Truth Wins and the Untruth Always Fails in the final Agni (fire) test. It also tells us to Forgive and Forget the Differences and Accept and Enjoy the Virtues of each other.

On the first day, the 150+ crowd enjoyed performing Holi-dahan (burning) with all the righteous rituals, in which they enacted the legendary defeat of Holika-the-evil and victory of her brother Prahalad-the-embodiment of Truth on God, soul and Prakriti (nature). After this scene, the crowd moved indoor to enjoy the Happy Holi’s cultural dance, music & drama. The young artists of Arya Vir Dal, as usual shined in entertaining the audience. The night ended with a party on sumptuous food.

The next day, after performing the morning Dev-Yajna (a prayer to God to stimulate wisdom & bless qualities of selfless Devtaas), the crowd jumped into the fun of colors, where each color represents a virtue. Forgetting their age, beliefs and backgrounds, everyone soaked the other with colors (dry and wet), hugged and wished each other a Happy Holi. Then they picnicked in the beautiful spring-season-sunlight, with delicious food including Thandai and sweets – all courtesy of the temple’s devoted & tireless volunteers.

Now tired, they all left with prayers in their heart – wishing that "May this Humanity of Love, Respect, Care and Friendship,visible today, live in them every day of the year".

To view more glimpses of Vedic Temple Holi Celebrations, connect to us @ http://www.facebook.com/vedictemple