The Moral of Onam
Today was Onam, a festival normally celebrated across Kerala. In Ashram too, we had onam celebrations, and during Satsang, people from Kerala performed various art forms.
Guruji told the story about Onam in Satsang.
Once upon a time, there was a king in Sounth India, named Mahabali. He was so generous, and he used to donate anything to anyone at anytime. He was known as 'Danveer' Mahabali. With time, he started taking pride in this quality. Often, when people aquire good qualities, they become arrogant and start taking pride in their qualities.
Lord Vishnu decided to teach Mahabali a lesson. He took the avatar of a dwarf, called Vamana, and came to Bali and asked for three foot of land. Though Bali's Guru warned him against satisfying the desire of Vaman, Bali decided to give Vamana what he asked for.
Soon, Vamana became very huge - and with the first footstep he measured the entire world, and with the second, he measured the entire sky. And he asked Bali, "Tell me where should I put my foot next?"
At that moment, Bali realized about his own ego. He realized that he is not the giver - and divine is giving through him, and he is just an instrument. Once he understood this truth, he bowed down to Vamana, and showed his head requesting the divine to take care of his givership and ego.
People celebrate Onam to remember this - that There is celebration only when there is no doership and ego.
Posted in: on Monday, August 27, 2007 at at 10:28 PM
