The Grey line

THE GREY LINE
UTKARSH SINGH

Origin of Holi
Legend goes that Lord Vishnu had assassinated the younger brother of the
demon lord, Hiranyakashipu. Apart from avenging his brother’s death, the
demon king had the ulterior motive of ruling heaven, the earth, and the
underworld by defeating Vishnu. Powered by a boon granted to him, Hiranyakashipu
thought he had become invincible. On his orders, his whole
state started praying to him, dismissing the gods. But his son, Prahalad,
maintained his deity to be none but Vishnu. Angered, the tyrant king decided
to kill Prahalad with the help of Holika, Hiranyakashipu’s sister,
who was immune to fire. A pyre was lit and Holika sat on it, clutching
Prahalad. But Prahalad emerged from the fire unscathed, whereas Holika
burned to ashes. Hiranyakashipu, too, was eventually killed by Vishnu.
Even today, the story of Holika is re-enacted by actors on Holi. Bonfires
across the country are lit up to celebrate the burning away of the evil spirits
and the triumph of good over evil.

The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human
being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Good and evil in our contemporary world
There are many realities which go on simultaneously and there’s no LINE
between my own and the rest. All our mind thoughts are egocentric and we
only believe what fits with our picture. With all this our world is split between
thinkers, there are some who associate themselves with labels like liberals
or conservatives, communists, capitalists, with politics, with religion,
with race, with boundaries etc. People have this sense of stereotypes, of associating
things and it’s the only way to function in their day to day activities.
Everyone has their own vision and believes according to them.
But where has that got us, where are we standing right now with so many
differences. Right now, people are separated so much from the outside world
and even with themselves and the truth is lost, maybe there is no such thing
as truth, afterall we all have our different realities. However that’s not the
issue, I believe it’s really beautiful that people have their own thoughts and
perceptions. But even that is extinct in these times.

As the corrupt media being our only source of information of the outside
world and the environment of our inner world with social media on top
of our heads. Futhermore, all our insecurities, our stereotypes, our differences
of thoughts, we are being manipulated by the people in power.
Power is one of the greatest problems, for it has every means to change
the system but will never do because of the craving for power.
People are being shut who speak against them. People are being stripped
of their basic rights. People justify terrible acts against people who don’t
belong to their own stereotypes and carelessly spread their own propaganda
without being aware of it.
I’m still a 22 year old and I was recently introduced to this barbaric, horrifying
world who is constantly questioning his freedom to himself, to
this society and to this world.

इस बेख़बर दुनिया में िफर से अनजान बनना चाहता हु.
बहुत जवाब ढूंढता था अब सवाल बनना चाहता हु |
Shri Radhavallabh Lal Temple, Vrindavan