The Cosmic Dancer
The images displayed here are a part of a personal journey where I search answers to some fundamental questions about life, its meaning and purpose and then later my understanding about nature of ‘Reality’. This quest is taking me to every nook and corner of India meeting sadhus, monks, philosophers, scientists and charlatans alike.
Constant interaction with these brilliant scholars made me understand that the concept of a ‘Creator God’ proposed by organized religions was a childish one. It had failed to fully comprehend that unconditioned, non-dual, eternal omnipresent force. God is not a glorified ‘personality’ sitting somewhere in the universe, directing lives of its people or attending to minute details of its day to day operations. We need to understand that the Universal Mind does not exist separately along the universe but in it and as it.
The universe was not arbitrarily created by any outside intervention but is self- born and is governed by the eternal Law of Cause and Effect. The impressions of all objects in the universe lie dormant within the inner depths of the Universal Mind, until they become active by the working of Karma. They are then projected in our familiar space-time dimension which we know as the material world. The universe is not only self-actuating but also self-determining.
Krishna as a character has fascinated me right from my childhood. My family had a huge statue of Him playing a flute in our ancestral house in Old Delhi- India. On every Janmasthmi, the day Krishna was born, the whole family got together to sing devotional songs which echoed right through the moonless night. His black marble statue was bathed with milk and new clothes adorned. His impact on our family went to such an extent that all names in our family are based either on Krishna or His immediate family.
Now let me first tell you some things about Krishna. He may be an enigma to someone agnostic like me but He is God to millions, who go ecstatic even at the mere mention of His name. This great exponent of the theory of Karma in the Bhagwat Gita, Krishna has influenced Indian thought, life and ethos in myriad ways. His impact has not just been on religion and philosophy, but has seeped into literature, poetry, painting and sculpture, dance and music. I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that the whole Hindu psyche is under the grip of this one man alone.
Mischievous Krishna once stole the clothes of some gopis who were bathing in the river Yamuna and hung them on a tree. Gopis on the other hand were madly in love with this young prankster. They would run up to cuddle him while he played his flute.
There was one gopi named Radha that captivated Krishna. While all the village damsels yearned for Krishna, He was in love with Radha. Radha was extremely beautiful, pure at heart and the way she danced when He played the flute was a sight to see. She was the daughter of Vrishabhanu who lived in the nearby village of Barsana. She was ten years older to Him and was married.
Both the villages of Barsana & Nandgaon celebrate “Holi ” with extreme enthusiasm, remembering Krishna’s love for their beloved Radha. In fact, it was Krishna who started this tradition by first
applying colour on Radha’s face .Women of Barsana even after thousands of years still want
revenge for Krishna’s pranks whereas men of Nandgaon till date are full of mischief and eager to tease the women of Barsana
This celebration of love has been happening year after year for thousands of years in both these villages (which stand nearby to each other ) in the form of HOLI.
Madhur Dhingra
