Entering the Bankey Bihari Temple during Holi was beyond anything I could have imagined. Bihari means enjoyer, or Krishna the enjoyer, and there is tremendous joy and worship to be found. The first image here is my favourite. When I looked at it later, there was something about the reaching. In this case they are reaching toward Krishna for a blessing. It evoked for me the idea that we are all in our own way reaching out, be it for blessing, acceptance, or maybe love.

The crush of people and the bursts of colour are so amazing.

It’s not just coloured dye that is being thrown, from time to time it’s flower petals that come raining down.

A handful of dye creates an explosion of colour.

As much as this is a festival of colour that welcomes springtime, here in particular it is also a time of great devotion. The man in the middle of the image below illustrates this.

I was privileged to get the vantage point I did on an upper balcony. Cameras in the temple are not welcome and to point one at Krishna is totally unacceptable.

In the next shot you see worshipers holding up various objects. These are offerings that they will attempt, through great effort, to lay at the feet of the icon.

In our travels over the years there have been few peak experiences. Walking the Kora at sacred Mt. Kailash in Tibet and being at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad are two. I will now have to add celebrating Holi in Vrindavan.

I’ll be posting some additional street scenes in part 3 of the Holi blogs. Remember you can enlarge these by clicking.

All the best.