Onam – Maha Bali – Vaman – Vaman Jayanti, (1-Page Format)
A look beyond usual narration. The Real History has more dimensions.
Part 1 Onam: Benevolent king cheated and tricked by
jealous gods. Is anything amiss in the currently popularized version of the
story?
The popular story, current today, leads us to believe that
God became partisan and cheated a benevolent king, Mahaa[क] Bali.
In this story of distant past, there are three main players.
Mahaa Bali, Bhagavaan Vaaman, (the fifth[ख]
Avaatar of Vishnu) and Indra[ग] (King
of Devas who rules over the Swarga[घ]-Loka).
Let us see what seems to be unexplained or amiss from the narrations
surrounding them:
1) If Mahaa Bali was a good king, exiling him does not make
sense. 2) If Mahaa Bali was a bad king, giving him boons does not make sense.
3) If Mahaa Bali was good and bad at the same time does not make sense because
his subjects loved him unreservedly and no one shunned him including God the
Almighty. In fact, Mahaa Bali has a pride of place among foremost Vishnu-Bhaktas.
4) Irrespective of Mahaa Bali being good or evil, why that land possessed by
new owner, Vaaman, was re-transferred with political powers to Mahaa Bali’s son
prince Baanaasur[ङ]?
5) Why did Vaaman not retain control over the legendarily happy land? 6) Was it
not a mistake to trust and transfer the land and political power to son of
adversary? 6) Episode of abdication by Mahaa Bali and Power transfer to
Banaasur is very different from other historical[च]
transfers of power. In here, very strangely, the loser is happy, gainer is
happy, subjects are happy and the agency, which forced the change, is happy.
Mahaa Bali, goes off willingly, retains full respect, given ruler-ship of
another kingdom (Paataal[छ]-Loka पाताल-लोक), enjoys full protection (from God),
visits his ex-kingdom, is welcomed by everyone and even his adversary, the
instrument of change, Vaaman is also respected by all. 7) Is it not unusual
that Bhagavaan Vishnu took form of, nothing colorful but just a simple Brahmin
to entice Mahaa Bali? Remember, Vishnu had disguised himself as a beautiful
maiden during ‘samudra-manthan’ as an entrapment. 8) Was Bhagavaan Vishnu a deputy of Indra or
an accomplice in the crime that he decided to act upon Indra’s pleading? God
who takes care of everybody and everything is always fair. Is it therefore not
injustice to Him, if anyone was to assume that He got into action to rid Mahaa
Bali just due to unfair pleading by Indra? Surely, there could have been
another independent reason that prompted Vishnu to take action. It does not
make sense to believe that anyone, including Indra, could manipulate and rope
in Bhagavaan Vishnu.
Above eight points suggest that there is something more to
the story and that the take away message is different from what the popular
tale compels us to believe. There is always more than what meets the eyes.
Take contemporary history of recent wars, it is not easy to
pinpoint one single or one definite reason for the war, be it WW1, WW2 or even
as latest as Iraq War. Why did allied forces, led by US attacked Iraq? Official version at one time said that it was
because of stockpile of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. However,
that reason proved to be false and political analysts forwarded many
alternative theories. It could have been that the West wanted to exercise
control over Iraq’s petroleum assets or that they wanted to help Saudi Arabia,
who feared from increased military power of Iraq. May be, West feared Iraq may
go beyond after annexation of Kuwait and then the possibility of Iraq’s control
over Gulf waters (the main waterways that carry petroleum to the world). It
could also be that US feared marginalizing their greenback due to Saddam’s
insistence on selling petroleum to the world in non-dollar currency such as
Euro (thereby reducing Iraq’s dependence on USD and US). This shows us that one
or more than one or none of the known reason can be the real reason.
Similarly, Indra’s fear of losing Indra-Aasan[ज]
(Indraasan) may not be the reason or may not be the only reason, why was Mahaa
Bali exiled by Vaaman and why was he replaced by Banaasur.
From our experience with Hindu texts, we know that none of the
writers of Hindu texts has ever done injustice to the characters involved. When
they praise Raam, good qualities of Raavan are not forgotten and when narrating
Krishna, good qualities of Kamsa and Jaraasangh are not overlooked. When
praising Mahaa Bali, would they not describe his vanquisher, Vaaman? Hinduism
encourages its followers to be logical, to have no inhibition in investigating
until truth emerges. Hinduism does not oppose scientific enquiry.
If a good king is exiled instead of rewarded and if his
detractor is not condemned but deified, an intelligent person would investigate.
Especially because, those knowledgeable in Hinduism studies tell us that every
element, every process and every narration in Hinduism is for the sole purpose
of guiding humans to a ‘higher’ or ‘elevated’ life based on human dignity,
gratefulness, selfless service and freedom from wants. Conversely, therefore,
every process that has a potential of steering humans towards ignominy,
ungratefulness or selfishness is unmeritorious. Its torchbearers, especially, Avataars
have to set an example and cannot be cheats, jealous, partisan or unjust.
Part 2: Onam story, its currently popular common
narration
Onam is a Puraanic story of Mahaa Bali and Vaaman taken from Bhaagavat Puraan[झ]. It is
a history from early ‘Treta-Yug’, much before the Ramaayan[ञ] times.
King Mahaa Bali was a devotee of Bhagavaan Vishnu. His
country was peaceful and subjects were happy. He ruled with fairness and
kindness. Mahaa Bali was brave, generous and a man of character. He had
performed Aswamedha[ट]-Yagna.
Indra was jealous of him due to his superior abilities and virtues. He was
scared that Bali might stake claim on Indraasan. Indra pleaded with Bhagavan
Vishnu for help to save his Indraasan. To help Indra, Bhagavaan Vishnu takes
inconspicuous form of an innocent smallish looking Brahmin going by the name
Vaaman. He goes to Mahaa Bali and asks for land large enough for placing his 3
steps. Mentor, Guru, Shukra-Acharya forewarns Mahaa Bali about possible dangers
from Vaaman. However, Bali agrees to 3-steps land. Vaaman, then expands his
form into a super-giant and covers Bali’s entire kingdom in two pace. Vaaman
wonders where he should place third step. Honorable Bali recognizes Vaaman as
Bhagavaan Almighty and bows to Him. As there was no other place left, Bali
offers his head to Vaaman, requesting Him to place His foot on it for third step.
God is pleased with Bali’s gesture and gives him boons and then placing his
foot on Bali’ head, pushes him down to Paataal-Loka. Driven by love for his
subjects, Mahaa Bali requests that he, be allowed to visit his country once
every year. Vaaman agrees. In addition, He vows to protect him and gives him
the ruler-ship of the Paataal-Loka. With these boons, Mahaa Bali is still alive
and visits his subjects every year. His boon of yearly-once visit inadvertently
becomes a boon of long life, making him ‘Chiranjeev’[ठ] (चिरंजीव having a
long life just short of immortality).
Importance of Mahaa Bali in
the Sanskriti: It is interesting to
know that the all-important festival of Dipaavali is the last day of the Vikram
Samvat year, but the Bali-Pratipadaa day is the first day of the New Year, 1st
Kaartik. King Mahaa Bali has a special place in the hearts of people from
Kerala. Malayalees[ड]
consider Mahaa Bali as their ‘king’ from time immemorial. Therefore, in Kerala,
the festival of Onam, marking ‘annual-one-day-home-coming’ of Mahaa Bali, is
celebrated by everyone, Hindu or otherwise. Government of Kerala celebrates
Onam as ‘state festival’ (generally, secular Indian governments do not
celebrate religious festivals). People of Gujarat not only honor Mahaa Bali but
also his wife Vidyaavati on Gujarati New Year day, the Bali-Pratipadaa.
Importance of Vaaman in the
Sanskriti: Vaaman Jayanti is an
important festival for all Hindus, all over the world, as birthday of an
Avataar of Vishnu. In Kerala, however, as compared to Onam, the celebration of Vaaman
Jayanti is not very noticeable except among Hindu Malayalees.
Festival of Oman/Waaman Jayanti occurs in the month of Bhaadrapada
on 12th Suda (Bright-half-month), which roughly translates as month
of ‘Chingum’ in Kerala or Aug/Sept. The day, Mahaa Bali’s homecoming is
celebrated with appropriate Pooja, preparation of sweets, feasts, new clothes,
Rangoli designs and decorating homes welcoming the king.
Part 3: Real (or more complete) history, decodes the
puzzle
Those with ‘Darshan’ (‘दर्शन’ meaning, wider knowledge, understanding and
appreciation) of underlying Hindu thoughts understand narration of Puraans, a
bit differently. They neither add, delete nor modify but interpret a given text
from the benefit of wider understanding derived from having mastered several cross-connected
matters from the colossal volume of other Hindu texts.
The popular story, at best, is only a side plot, related
only to how Indra felt about Mahaa Bali. However, actual main story centers on
the fact that no lesser a person than God Almighty had to descend on earth as Vaaman
Avataar. Why? Unless there was, a real pressing objective needed to be
fulfilled, an objective that only He could take care of. Only a simpleton will
think that Bhagavaan Vishnu, the God Almighty can be ‘persuaded’ to do
injustice.
Bhagavaan declared the purpose of an Avataar in the Bhagavad
Gita, at Ch-4, V-8.
“परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम| धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे||”, (“Paritraanaaya sadhoonaam vinaashaaya cha
dushkrutaam | Dharma samsthaa panaarthaaya sambhavaami yugey yugey ||”).
Avataar has three objectives, one, to help activists engaged in selfless
society-uplifting activities, two, to neutralize those engaged in a conduct
that would result in societal-evil and three, to be a leader of society, become
a role-model and re-establish righteous conduct which can uphold a society in
peace and prosperity over a long time. If we were to take a cue from above
statement of Bhagavaan Krishnaa (an Avataar of Vishnu), it may lead us to
believe that perhaps the world-order was in jeopardy due to Mahaa Bali. If so,
if Mahaa Bali was somehow disrupting world order, he deserved to be exiled. Let
us examine further.
Mahaa Bali was great grandson of king Hiranyakasipu.
Hiranyakashipu → Prahalaad → Virochan → Mahaa Bali → Baanaasur
Bhagavaan Brahma had blessed Hiranyakashipu. He became
powerful and almost invincible king of his times. He thought, as a monarch, it
is he, who is sole provider of protection and prosperity to his subjects.
Citizens are able to live only because of him. His subjects did appreciate and
praised him, but thought he deserved more.
Though he was blessed by Bhagavaan and although he did himself worship
Him, in his mind, he felt a sense of jealousy when his subjects revered Bhagavaan.
The power and fame went to his head. Hiranyakashipu thundered, “What do you
miss in life that I do not provide? I provide you food, house, security. You
are living a good life because of me. Shouldn’t you appreciate me more? Think, whom
should you worship? Know which side your bread is buttered? He would not even
tolerate people sharing some love with God, he wanted unconditional total
surrender of people. Gradually, he made his country ‘God-less’ and people began
worshipping the king. No one missed God. It did not hurt anyone’s dignity to be
a sycophant.
There is a deep connection between belief in Bhagavaan and a
development of a virtuous and progressive society. (Hindu concept of God is different
from Western/Abrahamic concept of God. For this reason, the word ‘Bhagavaan’ is
used although for most purposes, it is okay to use the word ‘God’. Bhagavaan or
Hindu God, is an entity that exists in everyone including own self and
everything around. This understanding shapes worldview of Hindus and make them
good humans). The God ‘within himself’ produces sense of dignity for self. This sense of self-esteem produces an inner
strength for character building. Simultaneously, God ‘within everyone around’ makes
a Hindu respect everyone as creation of God. His respect of others restraints
him from harming others. A Hindu automatically, by default, develops sense of
responsibility towards own self and towards everything created by Bhagavaan;
people, animals, trees, mountains nature and the rest. (There are many major
differences between what Hindus mean when they use the word ‘God’ and what others
mean when they use the same word ‘God’. Interested readers might want to read
more about it here: http://nmsresolution.blogspot.ca/ ).
Prince Prahlad saw what was coming. He tried to explain his
dad, Hiranyakashipu. No God meant none to bite conscience for unethical or
unfair. No dignity meant it is okay to beg, borrow or steal; it is okay to do
anything, good, bad or ugly to meet an objective and it is okay to accept
crumbs thrown at him. A dog is an excellent example of a man without dignity. Master
may kick his dog and yet it will forget the insult, wag its tail, as soon as a
crumb of bread is thrown at him. In addition, dog will wag its tail and accept
anyone as master who offers bread. Self-respect or dignity is last thing on its
mind. It should not surprise anyone that in a Hindu temple, every animal but a
dog is allowed to enter. Hindu Sanskriti places highest value to human dignity.
(Do not misunderstand this as a discrimination; Dog has many other exemplary
attributes and are appropriately accounted for in the vast Indian Sanskriti. As
illustration, take Bhagavaan Dutta, who always keeps a dog with Him. Another
famous example of love for dog is from Mahaabhaarat, where, the Dharmic-most
Yudhisthir refuses to enter heaven when told that the stray dog accompanying
him will not be permitted to go him). Loss of human dignity is floodgate of a
thousand other evils. Human dignity deficient society ultimately reaches zenith
of materialism, consumerism, hypocrisy, exploitation, immorality, violence selfishness.
Powerful people mercilessly exploit and powerless people helplessly suffer. In
the end that society self-destructs, unless correcting forces such as, in current
story, Nara-Sinha and Prahalad help change the situation.
Prince Prahalaad, who also was leader of student union and
an activist, politely confronts his father, the king Hiranyakashipu. “Yes, we
are certainly thankful to you, but, you cannot make sun to rise, provide rain or
digest food in our stomachs. You are a King, people look at you for
inspiration. You are a role model; please do not insult God by asking ‘what he
gives?’ I love you father and people love you as a good king, but please be
humble. Worshipping God does not mean that they are insulting you”. Power-obsessed
person sees himself as the wisest, needing no advice. Arrogant rarely pays
attention to counsel. Ultimately, Hiranyakashipu reaches a point; he could not
anymore tolerate Prahalaad’s God-centric activism.
Hiranyakashipu saw his son as incorrigible rebel bent upon
turning his country against him. He makes several secret attempts to kill
Prahalad, but remains unsuccessful. In the end, he makes it official; he puts
Prahalaad on trial on the charges of sedition-for ‘war against the state’. He
wanted to punish his son in presence of all his courtiers. He wanted to prove
that, on sedition charges, he would not pardon even his own son. He wanted to
set example for his nation about his impartiality and the dire consequences to
the followers of Prahalaad. An iron pillar is heated up, Prahalad is made to
face glowing red-hot pillar. Hiranyakashipu then orders Prahlaad, “Hug that
pillar, it has your God in there”. That was the very moment, God, Nara-Sinha,
an Avataar of Bhagavaan Vishnu, emerges from the pillar. He saves Prahalaad and
destroys Hiranyakashipu. Prince, Prahalaad was then sworn-in as new king. He re-established
values; reintroduced God in the narrative. Under his rule, it was a brotherhood
of mankind under fatherhood of God. The society was happily contented and peaceful.
Prahalaad ruled for many years.
Prahalaad’s son Virochan was a good person but as he was a
poor administrator, by the counsel of good advisors, he hands over regime to
his son, Mahaa Bali, (Prahalaad’s grandson) who becomes a very successful king
and rules for many years.
Mahaa Bali was successful due to his vigor, understanding
and compassionate nature. He had inherited virtues from his grandfather. He
constantly thought of how to improve society and how to be helpful. He was
pained to see that Brahmins were poor and constantly struggling to make their
living. He knew the reason why Brahmins suffered. It was due to ancient customs
that forbade them from demanding price for their service and their consequent dependence
on unsteady quantum of Bhiksha[ढ]. It
struck to him as unfair that among the four Varnas,
(Brahmin-Kshatriya-Vaishya-Sudra), the Brahmins, who were most knowledgeable
and yet they led a most severe and frugal life. It was not acceptable to the
sensitive Mahaa Bali.
The ancient code of conduct and work culture in India was
defined by twin arrangements of Varna-Vyavastha[ण] and
Aashram Vyavastha[त].
Everyone took pride in living life based on his or her Varna and Aashram. It
was a self-sustaining arrangement based on human nature and objectives. As it
fulfilled both, the obvious and the latent desires of every individual, it ensured
long-term stability of society.
Brahmins had voluntarily accepted the tradition for they knew
that once you accept servitude and salary of any master, you would find it
virtually impossible to retain freedom of mind. That freedom of mind is of
foremost value to a Brahmin. More than anything else. (For example, Guru Drona
expresses sadness that he accepted government job and consequently could not
avoid many unethical things and insults as admitted by him in the Mahaabhaarat)
Therefore, among Brahmin community of yore, they valued independent living
accepting no salary and especially no servitude to government. They considered
hard and frugal life dedicated to selfless learning and teaching as a worthy
life. As per ancient codes of behavior and charters, while the rest of the
varnas were free to earn their livelihood, Brahmins had no avenue of earning.
They were expected not to charge fees for their only profession, teaching. They
had to depend on unsteady Bhikshaa and voluntary ‘guru-dakshinaa’ payments from
students. Moreover, the charter of Manu’s laws of administration specified harshest
punishments for Brahmins for the equal offence if committed by person of other
Varna. It was thought by the lawmakers that a person who knows and still does a
wrong thing is worthy of harsher punishment (Something like, how a police
officer would attract severe punishment than an ordinary person would for the
identical offence).
Mahaa Bali thought that it was too tough a life for Brahmins
and especially it can really become worse if the society around turns
insensitive and shuns providing Bhikshaa, the Brahmins would literally starve.
He therefore thought that ancient traditions should change and Brahmins should
enjoy life and luxuries as rest of the society. To take care of this, the
perceived ‘injustice’ to Brahmins, he established free hostels, organized free
meals, created well-equipped and well-stocked Yagna-Shaalaas, and provided a
lot of other freebies, awards and honorariums. Many welfare schemes were
organized for Brahmins. He thought of restoring ‘dignity’ of Brahmins by
providing everything to help them stop from going out for Bhikshaa and let them
concentrate on their core activity of learning and teaching. There was no other
time in the Indian history when Brahmins were more comfortable.
Steeped in voluntarily accepted ascetic life, most of the
Brahmins resisted life of comforts. However, with time, gradually, one after
another, they succumbed to the allure of readily available comforts provided by
the government. Comforts and freebies are habit forming and enjoying patronage
of royalty is very gratifying. It was but natural that the role a traditional
Brahmin played was seriously eroded. Core qualities of Brahmins, that they remain
unbiased, remain fiercely independent, remain upholder of virtues, remain
dedicated to a life of life-long learning-teaching activity, remain provider of
daily public-education etc. began getting compromised due to favors they began
accepting from royalty. They did not anymore think that accepting gifts, state
honors, doles and other freebies was loss of dignity. To repay kindness of
King, Brahmins avoided critical analysis of his work and began praising the
king and his rule. Sycophancy did not remain far behind. When the upholder of
values is corrupted, it does not take long for the entire society to become corrupted.
It is easy to go downhill but harder uphill, the morals and principles too are
easy to loose and harder to raise. With time, almost all the Brahmins were
happily leading a comfortable life, and relished respect bestowed upon them by
the King. There is an old saying[थ] in
Sanskrit; ‘सुखार्थीना कुतो विद्या?’ (‘Sukha-aarthina Kuto Vidyaa?’ - who seeks
comfort, how would he gain knowledge?). The core competence of Brahmins was to
learn, teach and guide all, without discrimination and fear or favor none. When
comforts became priority, level of struggle for acquiring knowledge took back
seat. Over a period, society lost its valuable knowledge asset and succumbed to
mediocrity followed by gradual loss of shin in all aspects of societal life.
General all-round corruption, moral degradation, greed, selfishness, rivalries,
crime, violence etcetera began to bite. When citizens observed that Brahmins
who had become ineffective and yet they were beneficiaries of government doles;
continued to enjoy royal patronage, gave rise to jealousy among other sections
of society. Discontent and tensions brewed. Mahaa Bali had to intervene on many
occasions to solve people’s problems. In the earlier times, when Brahmins were
uncorrupted, it was as if the society was on an autopilot mode and it
self-corrected and self-restrained. High morals were upheld by society owing to
inspiring Brahmins. Sadly, not anymore. The modifications brought about by
Mahaa Bali in the governance of Brahmins spelled a major disruption. His
sympathy was misplaced. If that was not corrected soon, it had potential to
ruin the society. A revolution in mindset was need of the hour.
However, there were a few Brahmins, who kept up ancient
tradition. Vaaman was born in one of those uncompromising families who lived in
poverty with pride and considered knowledge and activism for world’s good to be
the only worthy cause of their life. The ancient rishis and foresighted
administrators like Manu had very carefully designed the code of conduct and
that of governance of Brahmins. They had created a society which respected
knowledge and knowledgeable more than wealth and wealthy. They had made
Brahmins feel pride in use of minimum of world’s resources and give back
maximum to the world. A famous hymn, ‘Kaupin Panchakam’ कौपीन पंचकम् aptly
describes celebration of joys of thinking high and living plain. वेदान्तवाक्येषु सदा रमन्तो भिक्षान्नमात्रेण च तुष्टिमन्तः| अशोकवन्तः करुणैकवन्तः कौपीनवन्तः खलु भाग्यवन्तः “(I envy) how blessed is he, who has
just a loin-cloth to wear, just a morsel full of Bhikshaa-food and nothing for
tomorrow but who wanders in the realm of Vedas with kindness in his heart for the world around”.
(There are four
more verses in this 5-Stanza hymn, written by Shri Aadi Shankarachaarya).
Those few Brahmins struggled to re-establish righteous path.
However, they had many hurdles to overcome. First, it was hard to wean anyone
away from comfortable life in favor of inviting hardship. Second, the
perpetrator was a powerful monarch. Third, he was kind and generous with
everyone, although especially partial to Brahmins. And fourth, the doles to
Brahmins was an arrangement between two willing partners. King wanted to give
and Brahmins wanted to receive. When both parties are happy, how can anyone intervene? ‘मींया बीबी राझी तो क्या करेगा काझी?’ Thus the correction was very difficult
to accomplish. It was nearly an impossible situation. This
was the main task before Bhagavaan Vishnu. Task was not what the popular
narrative seems to suggest, that of saving Indraasan for Purandhar.
Under the circumstances, the only
sensible way lay ahead for Vamaan was to undertake a mega public education to
convince society and its rulers as to what needed to be done to save society from
ultimate immorality, corruption and general degradation. Precisely for this
work, Bhagavaan Vishnu is incarnated as a boy born to a Brahmin family in the
reign of Mahaa Bali. His parents named the boy as ‘Vaaman’ due to his smallish frame.
He gets educated and becomes an activist with a cause to restore original
societal order and to do away with freebie culture promoted by Mahaa Bali. The
story of Mahaa Bali-Vaaman episode is a message of reformation of the society.
On one hand, Vaaman admired the kind king and on the other,
he had to stop the public-appeasement policy of the king. Good government knows
the difference between ‘want’ and ‘need’. Waaman undertook a massive
public-education program explaining long term damage to the society, how the
freebies corrupt a society, how a paisa earned by own effort is thousand times
better than accepting a rupee thrown at him. Performing duty is honorable even
if it means having to do with fewer comforts. Dignity of a man erodes the moment
he begins accepting doles. A good ruler creates situation where citizen value
their self-respect, not feel ‘bribed’ and obliged by the freebies.
In India, from the time immemorial, everyone practices making
donations on some or the other event. They do it during children’s wedding, own
birthdays-especially on 60th, on certain festivals such as Holi and Deepaavali,
after any significant event such as birth of a child, death of parents etc. Thus,
almost every Hindu is a donor to some extent. Kings too follow the same
tradition. On that fateful day, king Mahaa Bali offered citizens to come for
receiving donations. Vaaman arrives in the court. The king welcomes midget
Brahmin. Mahaa Bali was intent on donating whatever be the request. When it was
Vaaman’s turn, amused at his small, child-like frame, king asked what he
desired. As the story goes, Vaaman asked for an area that can be covered by him
in three steps. Mahaa Bali’s advisor, Guru Shukraachaarya, also a learned
Brahmin, knew immediately with his sixth sense, that Vaaman was no ordinary
person but someone who would abuse king’s generosity only to destroy him. Mahaa
Bali is alerted to the dangers by Shukraacharyaa. He even makes a gallant
effort to derail king from accepting Vaaman’s request. However, in his extreme
goodness, despite warnings, Mahaa Bali went ahead and promised to fulfill
desire of Vaaman. Once the King is tied down to his promise, Vaaman expands his
form into a giant being. It is said, He become so huge that He could cover
entire kingdom in two steps. With no space left for taking His third step, Vaaman
asks the King as to where shall He place His foot for the next step. Mahaa Bali
realized that Vaaman was God Himself. He is overwhelmed that God almighty had
come to him to ask for something. He is thrilled, overjoyed, he humbly bows to Vaaman,
in recognition of His Godhood. Vaaman gives him enlightenment. King realizes
where he went wrong despite his best intentions. He voluntarily asks for
punishment and be put to death and request the Giant to take the third step by
placing his foot on his ‘arrogant’ head and crush it. With that gesture,
Bhagavaan Vaaman was very touched. He asked King to ask for any boon that he
desired. Mahaa Bali loved his people so he asks for one simple boon, “I will
miss my countrymen, hence please allow me to visit my kingdom once every year”.
God agrees. Mahaa Bali is exiled ‘pushed’ down to the bottom strata of 14-layered[द] Hindu-‘world’, into the Paataal-Loka. The simple boon asked by Mahaa Bali, turns
out to be a great boon because, in the process, inadvertently, Mahaa Bali
became ‘almost immortal’. Mahaa Bali has to remain alive to visit his subjects
every year and thus he has that rare distinction of being among only 7 such
individuals who are classified, not strictly as immortal but as ‘Chiranjeev’ (चिरंजीव) having a
long life.
Vaaman coroneted Baanaasur, the son of Mahaa Bali as new King
and sent Mahaa Bali in exile. Baanaasur reverses dole culture. Key element,
that a populist policy could be reversed, was intensive and extensive public
education, involving arousing human dignity and sense of duty among people. It was
not easy. Vaaman had to work on five-fold difficulties. One, as Mahaa Bali was
not an evil king, he could not be publicly denounced, punished or killed to
remove him and forced policy changes. Two, on the other hand, as Mahaa Bali
genuinely loved his people including Brahmins and wanted to help them, (even
though his actions were harmful to the community in long run) and essentially, Mahaa
Bali’s heart was clean, he deserved neither physical harming nor dishonoring. Three,
He had to undertake long-term public-education, including that of Baanaasur to
change their mindset against dole-governance. Four, replace Mahaa Bali in such
a way that he will not interfere in governance. And five, to ensure Mahaa Bali
remains a respected person over millennia. A tall order, certainly. Vaaman
succeeded in his task, We till date, worship Vaaman and lovingly honor Mahaa
Bali.
Part 4: Real Onam deciphered
Onam is a great
festival like no other. In popular literature fashioned by Western writers and
their copycats in India, foolishly or ignorantly, call Onam as ‘Harvest
Festival’, whereas in reality it is a festival to recall the momentous day to
welcome a generous and honorable king of character and substance. However, more
importantly it marks a day that ushered in societal reformation and began
reclaiming human dignity. It simultaneously celebrates ‘victor’ and ‘loser’,
where the ‘victor’ Bhagavaan Vaaman does not see Himself as victor and the
‘loser’ Mahaa Bali does not see himself as loser. Both are appreciative of each
other. Onam uniquely celebrates two opposite poles in one single event. It
celebrates heart as well as head; it celebrates motherly-laxity and
fatherly-discipline. It celebrates equality of every human and yet recommends
becoming equitable to everyone. It celebrates the spirit of making donations
with spirit of rejecting freebies and doles. Mahaa Bali holds one pole and Bhagavaan
Vaaman, the other. Onam represents balancing two schools of thoughts.
In the end, Mahaa Bali concedes his actions as innocent
error of judgment made out of love for citizens of his kingdom and voluntarily
accepts exile as his own chosen ‘punishment’, paving way for re-establishment
of a more desirable world order. Vaaman Jayanti is celebration of remembering
importance of remaining steadfast in performing duties (Sva-Dharma), equitable
justice to everyone and rejection of freebies and doles, contrasting with
freebie-driven governance of Mahaa Bali.
When we celebrate Onam or Vaaman Jayanti with proper
understanding, it unleashes a potential of ushering in our own self-development,
building character based on human dignity and Sanskritic-insight. Kerala comes
to mind the moment we utter Mahaa Bali, Onam or Vaaman Jayanti. Its tourism
department has coined a very apt phrase[ध] for
Kerala, ‘God’s Own Country’. It honors two significant incarnations of
Bhagavaan Vishnu; the fifth Avataar Vaaman and the Sixth Avataar Parshuraam.
Kerala would do well to think beyond cliché jealousy story and remember
missions of Avaatars, especially Vaaman, who came to vanquish Mahaa Bali for a
good reason, a reason that looks topical even today.
Part 5: If the popular Onam story has been unfair and it
defies logic, why does it continue to remain in the current narration?
There are five main reasons: 1) Greek and Roman legends
depict their mythological Gods as egoist, jealous and partial. The Testament
(Both new and old) clearly state in Ten Commandments that ‘I am a jealous God’.
Thus, a large population familiar with Western literature expect God to be
jealous and therefore do not see anything wrong in the Onam story. (those well
versed in Hindu Sanskriti, know that God is never jealous. He is always fair
and impartial) 2) In the Puraans, some of the stories related to Indra Deva
does show that he gets jealous and scared of those who are powerful and
virtuous lest they claim Indraasan. However, be careful, Indra is not a God; he
is a person, of extra-ordinary caliber, appointed by Gods as ‘Indra’ to look
after functioning and balancing of natural elements and forces. Not dissimilar
to an executive who is appointed by a business owner. Indra is the title of the
executive who occupies seat, the Indraasan. Every executive needs to take care
of his seat in order to do full justice to his task and not waste away his
investment of time and energy at the job. Therefore, it is not unnatural if an
executive feels a little possessive about his seat, often it is for securing
better future of business he is asked to run. Just as in any business, the
appointee who initially appears capable, may prove himself to be unfit for the
job, so has it happened even in the administration of heaven. Ancient Hindu
Sanskriti is witness to sackings and appointments of candidates on the
Indraasan. Puraanic history tells us that God sacked Nahush from the position
of Indra and replaced him with Purandhar as the new Indra. An unsuitable man
can destroy years of good work of previous executive, so if Indra defends his
Indraasan, it is understandable. 3) All those forces who would like to show
Hinduism in poor light would be happy to perpetuate the story of ‘unfairness of
Hindu Gods’ to show that their ism is better than Hinduism. They uncritically
hails Bali and preach, if not hatred, dislike for Indra Deva, Vishnu Bhagavaan,
Bhagavaan Vaaman et al. 4) Many Hindus are naïve or uninformed about their
Sanskriti heritage. They do not know that most translations of ancient Sanskrit
books into English was done by those who were not India’s best friends, that
English language does not have proper equivalents of Sanskrit words and that
current uninformed writers have copied and recopied their work from erroneous
material. Thus, what we are reading is an erroneous triple-distillated material
that smacks of a demagogue portraying a partisan, unfair or jealous God. 5)
Onam story is more significant to Malayalees due to Mahaa Bali’s association
with the state of Kerala. Since independence, for last 6 decades, communists
and left of center socialists parties are running the government of Kerala, who
prefer as state policy, the freebie model of governance. They are therefore natural
proponents of ‘freebie’ story.
[क]
King Bali is addressed as Mahaa Bali. ‘Mahaa’ is an adjective. It means ‘Great’
or ‘Big’. Adding ‘Mahaa’ to any word or noun signifies importance. Viz. Mahaa-Raaja=Great King, Mahaa-Bali=Great
Bali, Mahaa-Yogi=Great Yogi
[ख]
Bhagavaan Vishnu has taken nine Avataars as of now and tenth expected in
future. They are, in the chronological order: Matsya, Kurma, Varaaha, Nara-simha,
Vaamana, Parasuraam, Raam, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki.
[ग]
‘Indra’ is not a name of an individual but it denotes a position, a post. A
king of all the Devas is known as ‘Indra’. He rules the ‘Swarga-Loka’ (heaven).
From time to time various individuals have occupied the chair of Indra, known
as ‘Indraasan’. The post of ‘Indra’ is given to fearless and fair administrator
who has performed a thousand Ashwamedha Yagnas (Even one single ashwamedha
Yagna is not easy for an extraordinarily brave man) and possessor of divine
virtues and intelligence. Name of the current ‘Indra’ is Purandhar.
[घ]
‘Swarga-Loka’ means Heaven. However, the Heaven of Hinduism is completely
different entity than Abrahamic Heaven.
[ङ]
Baanaasur ruled for several years on the guidelines of good governance he
learnt from Waaman. He is said to have ruled for several thousand years.
Pleased with his Tapasyaa, (तपस्या), Bhagavaan Shiva was very impressed and gave him enormous powers and
promised to help him every time he thought he needed His help. He became
invincible. His power eventually went to his head. That proverbial truth ‘Power
corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ became true and in his later
life, he became such a nuisance to his own people that he had to be disciplined
by divine intervention. (The word, Tapasyaa, has no exact equivalent English
term, hence it is recommended to use the same Sanskrit term. However, following
partial definition provides somewhat acceptable meaning as applicable to above
article is: ‘Hard work dedicated to a worthy cause’)
[च]
The manner of transfer of power in case of Mahaa Bali was unusual when compared
with what is known to us from History. Most transfers of power have happened
only after some bloodshed; blood-less transfer-of-power in itself is uncommon.
British government did exile and placed many kings, sultans and sheikhs under
‘house-arrest’ but it was done at gun point and had placed their sons/brothers
as new rulers in last century or two in India and in Arabia. The outgoing
rulers never relinquished their power willingly. In contrast to the ‘under
duress’ and unwilling transfer of reigns, Mahaa Bali handed over reigns
willingly. In the last century, in Iran, the Shah of Iran was exiled but he
could never return to Iran due to hostile new government very unlike Mahaa
Bali, who is welcomed back every year. In the USSR, Gorbachev relinquished his
powers but broke his country in several pieces before going out, unlike Mahaa
Bali whose country remained intact in the hands of his successor. Another
striking difference is that the rulers who are exiled invariably end up
despising those who were instrumental in pressurizing transfer of power but the
history of Mahaa Bali tells us that Vaaman, who engineered the abdication, is
looked at with tremendous respect. Last, but important difference between
Vaaman’s legacy and that of others discussed above lies in the fact that those
agencies that forced changes had always a selfish purpose of achieving
political or commercial advantage whereas Vaaman did not have any personal
selfish motive behind exiling Mahaa Bali.
[झ]
Puraan is a class of ancient holy literature. They are historic accounts stated
in story form. There are tens of diferrent Puraans. The Bhaagavat Puraan covers
life and times of Avataars of Bhagavaan Vishnu.
[ट]
Ashvamedh Yagna is a sustained campaign that involves unifying all kingdoms
ruled by various different kings under one ‘federation’ with the most powerful
king as its head. At the end of the successful campaign, a monarch performs
Ashvamedh Yagna. Only an extraordinarily brave king can accomplish this Yagna.
[ठ]
अश्वत्थामा बलिर्व्यासो हनूमांश्च विभिषणः। कृपः परशुरामश्च सप्तैते
चिरजीविनः।। Seven persons having very long life, still said
to be alive from times immemorial, Ashwathamaa, Mahaa Bali, Vyaas, Hanumaan,
Vibhishana, Krupa and Parashuraam
[ढ]
Bhikshaa looks similar to begging however, it is quite the opposite. Bhikshaa
means, going to the door of someone and accept, unreservedly, whatever is given
and use that for surviving that day discarding whatever is left and repeating
the same routine next day. If the given food is not enough, the Bhikshuk has to
happily starve, no buts and ifs. It is a
tough vow, but all the Brahmins of the yore were happy to comply.
[ण]
Varna-Vyavastha is erroneously identified as Caste-system by the Western
Indologists and accepted uncontested by copycat Indian ‘intellectuals’. It is
work-culture based group identity arrangement. The word, ‘Vyavastha’ means
‘arrangement’. It broadly identifies four groups namely,
Braahmin-Kshatriya-Vaishya-Shudra
[त]
Aashram-Vyavastha is a guideline that roughly means dividing life in four
different pursuits. Learning in childhood until about 25 years of age,
house-holder’s life after approximately the age of 25, Semi-retired life
helping society between approximately 50 and 75 years and renouncing everything
after the age of 75 years and living a life of hermit
[थ]
From the epic Mahaabhaarat,”विद्यार्थीना कुतो सुखम, सुखार्थीना कुतो विद्या“.
Wise minister, Vidura explains in section entitled ‘Shanti Parva’
[द]
As per ancient Indian texts, there are 14 worlds including the earth on which
we stay. 6 are above and 7 are below ‘Bhu-Loka’ (Earth). In descending order,
from top most to bottom most, they are:
Brahma-Loka, Tapa-Loka, Jana Loka, Mahar Loka, Swarga-Loka, Bhuvar-Loka,
Bhu-Loka (Earth) Atala-Loka, Vitala-Loka, Sutala-Loka, Talaatala-Loka, Mahaatala-Loka,
Rasaatala-Loka and Paataala-Loka.
[ध]
An Advertising agency, ‘Mudra Advertising’ working for Kerala Tourism
Development Dept. had coined the phrase ‘God’s Own Country’. Their Creative
head, Walter Mendez, sitting in the agency’s Ahmedabad office invented that
phrase after learning about ancient history of Kerala. Bhagavaan Parshuraam
threw his axe from Gokarna (in present day Karnataka) to Kanyaakumari (in present
day Tamilnadu). The land that came under the arc circumscribed by the throw of
axe was to become the territory of Kerala.
