3 steps to surrender
Onam, a festival celebrated in Kerala, is a 10-day celebration of peace and prosperity, colour and sound. The festival has its roots in puranic lore: The story of Vamana and the asura-king Mahabali.
Under Mahabali’s rule, prosperity reigned. Such was the grandeur of his kingdom that even the gods were jealous. Once it so happened that Mahabali chose to perform 100 yagnas (sacrifices), on the completion of which he would attain “Indrapadavi” (the throne of Indra). This would create an ethical dilemma for the gods for it would threaten the position of Lord Indra who had earned his right to the throne till the end of the yuga (era).
Lord Vishnu, to solve this problem, took the form of a dwarf Brahmin boy and visited King Mahabali on the completion of the yagna. Vishnu asked King Mahabali for as much land as he could measure in three steps as gift. Mahabali’s guru Shukracharya spotted something amiss and warned the king; yet, despite his guru’s warnings, the generous king could not refuse so meek a request. He allowed the Brahmin to take “three feet of land”. To everyone’s surprise, the little dwarf suddenly grew humongous. With his first step, he covered earth; second step covered swarg (heaven), and looked towards the king for his promised third step. The humbled king bowed down, offering his head for the third step. Thus, King Mahabali was pushed down into Suthala, a nether world. But, pleased with his devotion, Vishnu made him the ruler of the netherworlds for all eternity. It is believed that King Mahabali visits the people of Kerala once every year and his visit is celebrated as the festival of Onam.
From a spiritual standpoint this story has an interesting significance. King Mahabali represents the individual seeker; the yagnas can be viewed as an endeavour without ego, a form of self-purification. So the individual seeker in the initial stages performs karma-yoga (selfless service) to gain “Indrapadavi” or mastery over the senses. As he progresses on his path with total devotion and surrenders to the Lord, he develops detachment (vairagya) and renounces everything to the Lord. At this stage, the Lord takes away everything, for the demand of the seeker is Atma-samrajya — the inner kingdom of peace.
The Lord covers the entire earth with one step, which represents the surrender of the physical entity. The second foot covers the heavens and represents the surrender of the mind. The placing of the Lord’s foot on Mahabali’s head represents surrender of the sense of individuality at the Lord’s feet. Having totally surrendered to the Lord, the seeker is lovingly shown another world deep down below — the core of the seeker himself. This nether world shown to King Mahabali represents the inner world or the substratum —
the reality or truth upon which the entire world of plurality is projected.
Swami Tejomayananda, head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide, is an orator, poet, singer, composer and storyteller.
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