(the offering of colors)
The attraction between one object and another is always chromatic, pertaining to rága or color. The word rága is derived from the root rańj which means “dyeing”. Anurága means to dye one’s mind with the color of that Infinite Entity. Nothing will result from dyeing one’s clothes with saffron colour only for show. Dye yourself within. People of some particular religious creeds think that dyeing their clothes or bodies with a particular color is a part of spiritual Sádhaná. But remember that is all useless, unless you are dyed within as well. Can a person become a shúdra only by wearing a dark dress, or a vipra by donning white garments? Mahatma Kabir used to say –
Mana ná ráungáile ráungáile yogi kápaŕá.
[Saffron and red do not a yogi make
With mind undyed he remains a fake.]
Dye your mind with His color. Those who have not done so cannot attain Him, for this very coloration is Prema or Divine Love. The differences in color are signs of distinction; without these differences there is identity. No external sign of Sádhutá or virtue is necessary. Became sádhu within. Behind the external show of virtuousness of many so-called sádhus exists a pharisaic state of mind. Preserve the true dignity of the word, Sádhu.
Múŕha múŕháye jat́á váŕháye masta phire jaesá bhaesá
Khalrii upar khák lágáye
Mana jaeśá to taesá.
[With shaven head or matted locks
And ashen body a Sádhu walks
With the swaggering gait of a well-fed buffalo.
And crude mind filled with thoughts mean and low.]
That is why I say that you must bring about a revolutionary change in the flow of your judgment and thought, and see how, after overcoming your fascination with external color, your mind becomes tinged with His glorious color. In Ananda Marga Sadhana, the method of withdrawing the mind from degrading tendencies, and absorbing oneself in the color of the Great, is called Pratyáhára Yoga (the yoga of withdrawal) or Varńárghyadána (the offering of colors). 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 colored with the color of that object. You can withdraw your mind from the color of that object and dye yourself in His color by offering Him the captivating color of the object that has attracted you: this is the real Pratyáhára Yoga. The word Pratyáhára means “to withdraw” – to withdraw the mind from its object.
The word Pratyáhára means “to withdraw” – to withdraw
the mind from its object.
The main object of the Spring Color Festival (Vasantotsava) is not playing with external colors; it is meant to offer Him the colors of different objects which have dyed the mind. When this practice of offering your own colors – your own attachments, becomes natural and easy, you will then merge in Him. Then you will have no need for any color, for you will become colorless – you will go beyond the reach of any color. 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.
Remember, you have to offer your own identity – 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. Hence in the Sádhaná of self-surrender the ego is expanded, not contracted. In the Mahábhárata, when Duhshásana was pulling the sari of Draopadii, she was tightly holding the cloth to her body with one hand beseeching lord Krśńa with the other. “Oh! My lord, save me!” But the Lord did not then come forward to save her from shame. When Draopadii found no means of escape, she then released her hold on the cloth and appealed to the Lord most piteously with both hands out-stretched, crying, “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.
God bless you.
Phálgunii Púrńimá 1956 DMC