Has anyone thought about the REAL SIGNIFICANCE of ONAM?
The festival ONAM has such deep connotation.
Lets retrospect on this by beginning on the Avatar of Mahavishnu who plays a small role in the grand scale of things. The Avatar of Lord Mahavishnu this time is called "VAMANA" the first avatar in the treta yuga or second age. Please be aware that this is the first time Lord Mahavishnu is bearing a human form as an avatar.
Coming to the story ...
King Mahabali was known for his just rule, he was pious, always concerned about his people and was in everyones prayers. His rule over the kingdom was superfluous that the people stopped praying to the gods and started praying to him. King Mahabali, without knowing was elevated from a mere mortal to a god. His divinisation had started and the gods in heaven started to feel the threat. They all went to Lord Mahavishnu for help and they begged him. The lord said he will take care and went to earth as VAMANA, a brahmin who was no more than 3 feet in height. The lord visited him during a yaga, King Mahabali went all out to take care of the brahmin. The Brahmin was extremely impressed with the way he was being treated and blessed him to live forever. The King was so happy that he requested the brahmin to be presented with anything. The brahmin asked for just three paces of land. Before the king said OK, his guru stopped him and warned him of a foul play by the gods. He didnot heed to his advice and agreed to the request. The three foot brahmin grew into a huge person and with one measure of his feet he covered all of heaven and with the second he covered earth and hell and was looking for place to keep the third but there was nowhere to go, so the great King Mahabali bowed in front of the Lord and said please place your feet on my head. The Lord was so mighty pleased with his humility that he blessed him with a boon, The requested that he come back to his land once a year to check upon his subjects welfare. The lord being even more pleased blessed the King and placed his feet on the Kings head and completed his third stride thus completing the promise by the king to the Lord.
My look at this story -
King Mahabali was an Asura. Asura is a person who has more of negativity in him than the others. They indulge in worldly pleasures and take to violence to solve problems. This story is about an Asura who became a Deva. The story has the message staring right at you that anybody can attain brahman / nirvana and the lord does not show partiality. When King Mahabali realised that he was on the verge of attaining Nirvana a tinge of ego had cropped up. He tried his level best to overcome it and he was loosing the battle. So he asked for help from his lord, Lord Mahavishnu. The lord had promised to all living things that you pray to me and I will take care of you. That's what he did. The king prayed and the lord answered. In the grand scheme of things, the lord wanted the devas to cull their ego, especially Indra. He wanted the devas to realise that anyone can attain divinity and the lord is impartial. He is just to all. He does not differentiate.
When the King prayed to the lord, the role had started. The dice had been rolled, if you remember when the devas had gone to meet Lord Mahavishnu he greeted them with a smile. The significance of the smile is that he already knew why they had come to meet him and what the end is going to be. When the placed their prayers at his feet the lord agreed and thus the role of VAMANA had come into being. When Vamana had come to meet King Mahabali, the king knew that his time for salvation had come. Deep in his heart, he knew that the brahmin standing in front of him will help him attain brahman. The penultimate test that the lord put him through was when his guru reminded him of the foul play by devas. The king had already decided to surrender to the almighty and there was noting stopping him. When the lord covered the the entirety in two steps and queried to place the third the King was more than happy to bow before the Lord and surrender to him. Contrary to popular belief, the king was not pushed down to hell but he attained brahman. He joined the lord in his entirety.
I remember a scene in which King Mahabali is looking at the lord, when the entire world was seeing the brahmin the King was looking at Lord Mahavishnu who had taken his normal form. The king hugged the lord and cried tears of joy, the end of his journey was at the last pace. This was when the soul of the king was to merge with the lord.
The rest is history.
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