The Onam festival and the story of Bali

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Light and Love

 

Hiranyakasipu is described in the Puranas as a demonic ruler. He denied God

and terrified his subjects. While he asserted that God is nowhere, his son

Prahlada affirmed that God is everywhere. As a consequence, God was nowhere for

the father, though He was everywhere for the son. Prahlada's son Virochana was

the hero of the story behind the Onam festival. He was named Bali,

Balichakravarthi (Bali, the Emperor). Being the grandson of the devout

Prahlada, Bali too was engaged in the glorification of God and in the material

and spiritual uplift of his subjects. There was no trace of poverty in his

empire.

He decided to celebrate an elaborate sacrificial rite called Viswajith,

which would propitiate the Gods so much that, with their blessings, he could

extend his beneficent rule over the entire world. The Lord utilised this

opportunity to shower Grace on him. He incarnated as Vamana and proceeded to

the sacrificial altar in the form of a mendicant student, just initiated into

spiritual life. Bali was happy to welcome Him. When Vamana was asked, which

gift he would accept, He replied that he needed only three feet of ground,

measured by His feet. Bali was surprised at this answer. For a short second, he

doubted the intention and identity of the strange visitor. His preceptor, Sukra,

warned him against promising to agree. But, Bali stood by his word. He permitted

Vamana to measure for Himself the three feet of ground. The Lord had

incarnated to bless Bali, not to destroy him. So, when He had measured the

Earth with one stride and the sky with the second, He placed his foot on Bali's

head and accepted the Emperor as the third foot of ground. That foot released

Bali from the recurrent cycle of birth and death. But Bali made one last,

lingering wish, which the Lord agreed to fulfil. He prayed, "Allow me to come

to the Kerala I ruled over, one day in the year, so that I can see people I

love and the land cherish in my heart." Onam is that day. The word Sravanam,

when it is applied to this month, has become Chingore and when applied to the

star with which the moon is associated this day, has become Onam - Sravanam,

Vanam, Onam. Bali chose for his annual visit the day of the Sravanam star, in

the Sravanam month.

It is a holy day, when they prepare delicious sweets and offer them to the

Lord. Everyone wears new clothes (Ona-Kodi), every home is decorated with

festoons, garlands and floral designs. The atmosphere is fragrant with incense

from every domestic shrine. Villagers spend the day together in dance and

song.Lamps are lit in front of each home; they are placed on door sills, held

before temples by rows of children. The lighted lamp symbolises the jiva

(individual) whose self is but a tiny flicker of the Cosmic Light. Old and

young, rich and poor, are all equally immersed on Onam Day in grateful

adoration of the Lord and of Bali who earned the grace of the Lord by

sacrificing his ego.

The lesson that Onam imparts is the following. A lifetime spent without

devotion to the Almighty Lord is apitiful waste. Ridding oneself of

identification with the body and its adjuncts, one must involve oneself with

the Spirit. This alone can reveal to him his reality, the Atma. Once the Atmic

core of oneself is contacted, it needs only one step more to discover that all

else have the same Atma as their reality.

God is the seed which has expressed itself as Nature, of which the human

body is a part. Just as in every fruit that the tree yields, the primal seed is

evident, Paramatma (the Cosmic Consciousness) is the core of every being too.

This is the Message that the Onam festival and the story of Bali conveys to

mankind. (Excerpts -compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 18. "The Royal

Road to God," Chapter 18).

Namaste - Reet