The Kerala Onam

4 September 1979, Onam, Brindavan

Professor Kasturi's English.

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IT is the bounden duty of (devotees) to preserve and protect the rich culture and heritage of this country which has been the birth place of many great spiritual leaders, and whose past is resplendent with the glory of prowess in music, arts and science. Alas, this glorious land of (Mother India) is now bedevilled with problems which are mostly the result of ego, jealousy, hatred and selfishness. Only by removing such traits can the glorious past of this great land again be brought back to life. The story of the festival , is that of , who was an embodiment of (sacrifice), but who suffered from traces of (egoism). However due to the predominance of other virtues, was even able to overcome the ill-effects of and bury it deep in hell through the grace of Lord , who appeared before him in the form of a ( ascetic) named .

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proved himself far superior to was dedicated to rule his subjects by the observance of and strict adherence to the principles of . He was the son of and the grandson of . So it is not surprising that possessed rich traditional qualities of . Once after obtaining the permission of his , wanted to perform a great (sacrifice) called . means the totality of (five elements), (five senses) and (five regions or sheaths) of the human body). It is the victory over such a which the word symbolizes. is so called because he is ruler of the (senses), and the ruler of the in man is the (mind). The nature of the interplay of is such that it is possible to gain as well as to lose through it. wanted to rule Heaven, but wanted nothing of the sort. used to propitiate and beg in order to achieve what he desired, but Himself descended in the form of to beg from . Thus proved himself to be far superior to .

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belonged to the famous which was founded by (representing or man) and (representing the feminine or Nature). It is through the union of this and that the progeny known as (in the form of ), the embodiment of , was born. The was located on the banks of a sacred river called , which represents life. will always be found on the banks of flowing life whenever the (purity of mind) and (purity of heart) predominate in man. It is due to the fact that all (resolutions) could be realised at this sacred that it has come to be known as . , after the successful completion of his with the help of and , brought them to reside at this for some time. It was at this , too, that attained (liberation).

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The spreading of (nature of ) is known as (nature of expanding to the three worlds). The aspect of is represented by the : '.' The and constitute the . It is wrong to conceive of these three (worlds) as existing one on top of the other and thus capable of being reached by climbing a ladder, as it were. In fact the three are intertwined with each other and one exists within the other.

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Real meaning of the 'three worlds' The real meaning of this kind of geometrical configuration of the three is that the pancha indhriya, and (five senses, elements and sheaths) aspects of man's (body), is ; the aspect of or is ; and the microscopic state of (bliss) represents . So it can be said that the three worlds, , and , are nothing but the , and (essential nature of body, mind and bliss) respectively and the totality of these three represents the . Again, these three aspects of can be understood in terms of the three states of an individual, viz., the one you think you are, the one others think you are and the one you really are. Hence only by proper can one transcend from through to . The attainment of is known as (liberation), and it represents the stage of complete mergence with the Lord. Since it is a state where the aspect of (attachment) is made to disintegrate, it is known as (+, ).

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Remember by practising his ideals was an embodiment of (renunciation) and he personified the aspects of (principle of charity) and (righteousness). Since is a festival day to be celebrated in memory of the re-appearance of in his (microscopic subtle form), it is imperative for everyone to remember and practise the ideals for which he stood when he was alive. It should be remembered that , as portrayed above, should be visiting us every day and not just once a year. But we forget this because in our daily life we leave ample room for the cultivation of undesirable traits such as greediness, selfishness and egoism, which in present-day man are reaching gigantic proportions. It is precisely due to this kind of a situation that the world periodically gets plunged into wars. 's life-message is that the above mentioned traits in man should be eliminated at all costs, thus rendering the heart pure for the Lord to reside in it.

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Another important aspect of 's life is his demonstration of the fact that the quality of (selfless sacrifice) should be an integral part of one's (actions). All beings perform actions, but only man, if he so desires, can act, making sacrifice an integral component of his actions. Again, the existence of this trait in man is possible because of his ability to think and reflect. Unfortunately man uses these God-given faculties to enunciate theories and to preach, but never to practise what is preached.

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Sacrifice everything and attain liberation Thousands of have come and gone and people have been preaching for years as to what signifies. Yet the heart of man remains impure. practised what he preached, whereas his revered , , did not, as was evident when he intervened to stop from giving away everything that he possessed to . Preaching and practising are like the two eyes. Since only preached and did not practise, his one eye was symbolically made ineffective. A man with a dual mind is half blind. In our lives we must be Balls and not . We should realise that in order to get one thing, something else must be sacrificed.

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demonstrated through his (sacrificing nature) that if one sacrifices everything, one will attain (liberation). The real sacrifice involves two things: First, to realise the cause of our bondage in this life, and second, to sever this bondage. Man mistakenly thinks that wealth, a family etc., are his bondages, and that by severing connections with them he will be able to sacrifice everything and become eligible to attain . But these are not the real bondage of man. His real bondage is his ignorance in identifying himself with his body. He who cuts off this bondage as did, will attain . For cutting off this bondage a purification of the heart is very necessary. Purification of the body with soap and water and by applying perfume does not result in the purification of the mind. In this , (constant remembrance of God) is the easiest way to purify one's mind; and surrendering to God with a pure mind is the surest way to attain . offered two of his three aspects, namely, (his body) and (his life), for two feet of space demanded by . As for the third foot of space required by , offered his (soul) aspect to the Lord, thus surrendering to Him completely. That is why the Lord placed His third step on the heart of and pushed him into Hell, thus completely pushing all trace of 's ego into the bottom-most layers of the Universe. was thus delivered from the bondage of birth and death.

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The essence of the message of The word has another meaning, which is, charge for service rendered, or tax. We pay money to the department which supplies water, knowing fully well that it is not responsible for the creation of the water. But what charges are we paying to the Creator of water? Nothing. Yet we wish to get His Grace. How is it possible to get His Grace without giving or (tax)? The tax which the Lord expects is devotion and purity of heart. This is the essence of the message of . is not to be treated as a festival which comes once a year, but as an event, the message of which should become a way of life for everyone. The three events which symbolizes should always be kept clear in one's mind: (i) The Incarnation of Lord as the (ii) The attainment of by and, (iii) The (mergence) of with the Lord.