Distortion of Onam

Its become a pattern in Kerala to distort Hindu mythology and scriptures .

Hinduism is made to appear as a religion of superstition ,orthodoxy,divisiveness, gender restrictive and discriminating by caste .

Concerted studied efforts to belittle its thoughts and messages to make it appear as a pagan religion believed by men and women teeming with class differences and orthodoxy is becoming a habit .

Some are aware its but the opposite in its inner message but the idea is to create an impression itsnt so

Its probably beneath its surface sheen of rituals and customs temple worshiping and pilgrims one of the most broad minded theological concepts delving the most deepest in philosophy psychology logic and most accepting and all encompassing thought process in religions but without the habit of proclaiming it like others do

Amongst the many recent attacks on its beliefs is on the Onam festival in Kerala

Onam has been a celebration whose origin is based on Hindu scriptures though its accepted by all Keralites as a harvest festival

The story of Mahabali the wise and just king who ruled it is given moksha or salvation by the supreme for his devotion and fairness in life though through a ruse to control his ego

Designed distortion ts to make this an example of casteist dominance that existed in ancient Hinduism by the story of a cunning Brahmain Vamana cheat a lower caste Asura ruler ie Mahabali

Vamana is accused of cheating Mahabali the benevolent Sudra king and stamp him to oblivion !! and is made to appear of the habit in the dark casteist Hindu past

This year a nun from Kerala had made these remarks in social media and later made an apology once she knew many were angry and some could take legal action on her

A MP and a state minister too made the same kind of remarks in social media ,such posts evoke lot of support from progressive liberals of the pseudo secular mould and the evangelist forces in the state whose agenda is to divide the people by distorting their beliefs and inducing doubts on them

when one delves a bit deeper one comes to know Mahabali actually was a king and from the Asura clan ie in the puranas they were demons but nowhere does it tell they were lower castes who had fought Indra and Devas in a war after the search for the divine nectar Amrutha was taken by the Devas ,

He conquered Devas and ruled their lands

On the plea of the Devas lord vishnu took birth as a child to kashyapa and Aditi and grew up as a brahmin boy ,

Vishnu agreed to this as he knew Mahabali who was the great grandchild of Hiranyakashpu and the grandson of prahalada and was a just king but needed to quell his ego to reach nirvana the ultimate destination of any realized Hindu free of any more births

in the concept of Karma any remaining sin or vasana like the ego prevents a soul from attaining nirvana or moksha and needs further births and sufferings to destroy it ,

Vishnu wants Mahabali to negate the small ego by a ruse so he is given moksha in that birth itself

so he visits Mahabali during a sacrifice and as

ks for alms as a Brahmin is bound to do so in sacrifices as was the custom those days

Mahabali asks the Brahmin what he wants

Vamana replies that all he wants is three steps of earth

Mahabali immediately agrees though warned by Sukracharya his Guru who had realized that Vishnu was Vamana .

but Mahabali says hes blessed that the great lord himself had come to grant him eternity

Having heard him reciting the Vedas, the bestower of the wanted things (Bali) said to the Dwarf in spite of being obstructed by Sukra (the preceptor of demons), "Whatever (you) desire I shall give (you)". The dwarf asked Bali, "Get (me) three [footsteps] of spaces for the sake of the preceptor. (Bali) said to him, "I shall give (you)". When the water was poured on the hand the Dwarf became a Giant (and) measured the worlds of Bhuh, Bhuvah, and Svar [ground, sky, and Heaven] with the three strides and (sent) Bali to Sutala (a nether world) and (then) Hari (Visnu) gave the worlds to Sakra (Indra). Sakra (Indra) praised Hari (Visnu) along with the celestials (and) remained happy as ruler of the world.

— Agni Purana (unabridged), translated by J.L. Shastri, G.P. Bhatt, and N. Gangadharan (1998), Chapter 4, Verses 5-11

By the first step vamana covers all of earth and by second the skies and all other world as he has grown into a giant

now the question is why did Vamana use a devious method ?

did he cheat Mahabali ?

scriptures are never taken literally but interpreted in many ways .

After taking earth and heaven in two giant steps as part of three foot of land to him by Mahabali the king Vishnu looked at Mahabali in askance for his third foot promised to him .

Mahabali realized God was in front of him .

It was Mahabali who bowed down and offered his head for the lord to place his foot on .

Then he said to Bali: "O lord of Asuras, there is no place for the third step. Where shall I place the third step? Give me the ground." Laughingly Bali said with palms joined in reverence. He was accompanied by his wife.

The entire universe has been created by you, O lord of Devas. I am not a creator. Due to your fault it has become too small, O lord of cosmic identity. Still I have never uttered a lie, nor will I ever utter a lie proving me to be a man of truthful statement. Step on my back

— Brahma Purana (unknown translator, 1955), Gautami-Mahatmya, Chapter 4, Verses 48-52

By this he surrendered in every way with any bit of ego he had and attained Moksha or eternal freedom or nirvana .

The three foots themselves are not taken literally by the learned as in every scripture in Hinduism there are many interpretations literal and abstract for every thought and saying

The three worlds are The organ of speech is this world (the earth), the mind is the sky, and the vital force is that world (heaven).

These are the three Vedas. The organ of speech is the Rig-Veda, the mind is the Yajur-Veda, and the vital force the Sama-Veda.

These are the gods, the Manes and men. The organ of speech is the gods, the mind the Manes, and the vital force men.

These are the father, mother and child. The mind is the father, the organ of speech the mother, and the vital force the child.

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad with commentary of Shankaracharya (translated by Swami Madhavananda, 1934), Section 5, Verses 4-7[74]

Again the three foots covering earth sky and all worlds is not literal but symbolic of other hidden meanings to instill goodness in the living

He was said to be banished to Sutala and its believed he was allowed to come once in a year to see his subjects and that is Onam

Mahabali was not stamped forcibly as made out by some .

Its again a message to tell us to forego our ego and surrender to the almighty

not the idiotic caste story created to divide people by castes .

Castes came by professions initially but perpetuated and much maligned by humans by exploitation and discrimination and today by politicians to keep us divided

The almighty is beyond castes

In his cosmic creation humans and their idiocies are insignificant

its time those who use their own interpretation on other s beliefs to ponder well and do some search before they do so

again the fact that these worthies never dare do the same with the other religious beliefs as it doesn't fit in their agenda of dividing Hindus and ridiculing their traditions and heritage by shallow distortions .

Hinduism has never relied on militant imposition and violent replies to those who malign it but have done it over the ages by debate and education and correcting misinterpretations

but in these cases the motive is not realizing the truth it is the squelching of truth for achieving destruction of the ideals of a religion in a systematic manner

Hence this post is not to convince the perpetrators of such rumors but to convince those who are fair about the unfairness of such agendas .