and Taxes,” Available online. http://www.metroactive.
com/papers/metro/11.22.95/yogi-9547.html. Accessed
August 16, 2005.
Holi
The Holi festival takes place on full Moon day in
the Indian month of Phalguna (February–March)
in most North Indian areas. It is very ancient,
probably celebrated (with the name Holika) before
the Common Era began.
One early form of the celebration was a rite
for married women to celebrate the happiness and
well-being of their families. In some areas today,
the rite acquires sexual and erotic elements that
may point to an origin in spring fertility rites.
Sexually explicit songs may be sung and men may
brandish penis-shaped objects. One of the names
for the Holi festival is Kamamahotsava or the cel-
ebration for the God of Love.
The most popular feature of the Holi festival
is the throwing or shooting of colored water on
everyone. Celebrants wear white garb so that all
the varied colors are visible. In villages it was not
uncommon in years past for men to imbibe large
quantities of bhang, a potent marijuana drink.
Three stories are told to explain the festival.
In the first it is said that Holi is the day that SHIVA
opened his third eye and turned the god of love
into ashes. In another story Holika, the sister of
the demon HIRANYAKASIPU, took PRAHLADA on her
lap to kill him that day, but the devotee of VISHNU
survived unharmed. Finally it is said that there
was an ogress Dhundhi who troubled children in
an ancient kingdom, until the shouts of the mis-
chievous boys of the town (something heard often
on the festival of Holi) made her run away, since
she was, through a curse, made vulnerable to the
taunts of children.
Further reading: Meenal Pandya, Here Comes Holi: The
Festival of Colors (Wellesley, Mass.: MeeRa, 2003); H. V.
Shekar, Festivals of India: Significance of the Celebrations
(Louisville, Ky.: Insight Books, 2000).
Holm Community See LOZOWICK, LEE.
Holy Shankaracharya Order (est. 1974)
The Holy Shankaracharya Order was founded in
1974 by Swami Lakshmy Devyashram (d. 1981),
a disciple of Swami SHIVANANDA SARASWATI (1887–
1963). Swami Lakshmy had started on a spiritual
path alone when she met the late Shivananda,
who taught her the techniques to enter samadhi
(the highest state of mystical consciousness). The
meeting occurred in a vision, which convinced
her that she should travel to the Poconos and con-
tinue under his tutelage there. In 1969, she took
the vows of the renounced life and was ordained
by Swami Swanandashram into the Holy Order of
Sannyasa, the same spiritual order in which Shiva-
nanda had been ordained.
In the early 1970s, Swami Lakshmy estab-
lished contact with the ancient SHANKARACHARYA
ORDER headquarters at its monastic complex in
Sringiri, India. In 1974 she was selected Maha-
mandaleshwari or great overlord of the Holy
Shankaracharya Order in the United States. By
this time a small group of Indian Americans had
begun to attend services at the temple’s property
in rural Pennsylvania. Having purchased property
in Virginia, she began building a second ash-
ram-temple there, completed in 1977. In 1978,
Jagadguru Shankacharya Abhinava Vidyateertha
Maharaj traveled from his seat at the Shanka-
racharya Order at Sringiri to visit and satisfy
himself of the accomplishments of the Ameri-
can Shankacharya Order. Subsequently, additional
Indian families began to accept the leadership
provided by Swami Lakshmy.
Responding to a request by the order in Srin-
giri, Swami Lakshmy established a shakti peetam
(monastery), called Sri Rajarajeshwari Peetam. As
Swami Lakshmy attracted students to her teach-
ings the ashram grew, and new instructors and
teachers were ordained. They serve the order as
guides for the different activities and programs
developed to serve others. In 1978 a Hindu Heri-K 190 Holi