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"Prahlad’s mantra to appease Lord Vishnu was 'Om Namoh Bhagwate Vasudevaaya', which is also the mantra my Beloved Master Shri Tarneiv Ji has taught us. An ancient mantra for Lord Krishna Ji, which connects me to this story from childhood,” actor Rahul Dev told The Free Press Journal.

Actor Rahul Dev shared his childhood memories of Holi with us of growing up in Delhi, along with the spiritual connection he has in the current context. The actor also spoke about the one aspect which we should be careful about- incidents of misbehavior towards women.

"Holi has a lot of memories from childhood & my younger days, spent at Delhi. I distinctly remember this legendary song from Bachchan Saab’s movie Silsila (1981), Rang Barse Bhige Chunar Wali. Every year that song would play, till date its popular and people enjoy playing it & dancing to it! Delhi's been a party place, as a lot of people stay in farmhouses and the entire place is done up & becomes colourful for the occasion. Throwing each other in the pools is commonplace and the activity gets quite boisterous.

There are memories of my mother, who taught me about the story behind Holi. How the demon king Hiranyakashipu considered himself to be god himself owing to a boon, and his son Prahlada, was a devoted follower of Lord Vishnu, something which made Hiranyakashipu furious. He asked his sister Holika, who was immune to fire owing to a Divine Chaadar given to her, to help him kill Prahlad by holding him while she sat in a burning fire. However, Lord Vishnu intervened and in the unexpected Holika perished in flames while Prahlad who kept praying to Lord Vishnu remained unscathed. Then during twilight, when the furious king hit a pillar with his leg in rage, from it appeared Lord Narasimha, a half-man, half-lion form of Lord Vishnu, who killed Hiranyakashipu on his lap with bare hands. Hiranyakashipu had a boon according to which he couldn't be killed by neither man nor animal, neither during the day nor at night, neither inside nor outside, neither on ground nor in the air, nor by any weapon. But Narasimha killed Hiranyakashipu during twilight (neither day nor night), placing the king on his lap (neither ground nor air), sat at the doorway (neither inside nor outside) and used his claws (not a weapon) to kill him.

Prahlad’s mantra to appease Lord Vishnu was 'Om Namoh Bhagwate Vasudevaaya', which is also the mantra my Beloved Master Shri Tarneiv Ji has taught us. An ancient mantra for Lord Krishna Ji, which connects me to this story from childhood.

In a larger perspective the story drives home the fact that whenever the world is in disarray due to any suffering, calamity or otherwise(most recently coronavirus), order is restored by the Great Lord by always providing a solution. So the first few lessons in spirituality were taught by my late mother. As kids we would participate in Holika Dahan, what i would look most forward to was the prasad, besan ki barfi, and i would love eating it. These are some of my childhood memories, and the large difference being that, i have lost both my parent’s my younger sibling Mukul last year & my late wife in 2009.

Its thanks to my beloved Master Shri Tarneiv Ji's Grace, the journey continues with firm commitment towards Him, my son Sidhant, my sister, Mugdha and work.

The thing i have seen observed in Delhi the past and it continues, is misbehaviour towards women. I absolutely abhor that aspect, being a teetotaller, i have nothing against people who drink, but do resent it when people get so drunk, that they start taking liberty in misbehaving with women.

Hope this changes soon, Happy Holi to the readers!