In plain words
Among them the plantain pāyasa has become very famous. They offer it to God, light lamps and pray. “All of you, stay clean and pure and pray to God. In this way I will surely come once a year,” Emperor Bali too promised the people. In the faith that Emperor Bali will surely come today to see them, the people of Kerala wait for this holy day with great eagerness. ‘As the king, so the people.’ Emperor Bali loved the people dearly. The people too loved him as much. Today's Onam is the very sign of the close bond and kinship between Emperor Bali and the people.
The inner meaning of the three feet
In sacrifice, Emperor Bali was truly an emperor indeed. ‘Bali’ does not mean offering up something or other; it is nothing but the sacred nature that gives up all one has! “Not by action, not by offspring, not by wealth; by sacrifice some have attained immortality.” Come what may, Emperor Bali would not break the word he had given. True to the word he had given Vāmana, he gave three feet of ground. To keep that word, he gave himself. That is, he offered himself up on the physical, the mental and the spiritual levels. That itself is the inner meaning of his offering his head. The moment God set His foot on Bali's head, Mokṣa came to him. True to the word He gave, God sends him to the people every year. That is why, even to this day, the people have not forgotten Emperor Bali.
Kerala is a holy land, a land of Dharma, a land of sacrifice. They lack nothing, whether wealth and grain or food and drink. Indeed, the rains begin in Kerala itself! Only from there do they come to all the other states. In Kerala there are so many great scholars. Kerala is the birthplace of charity and of Bhakti to God. That is why people of all regions admire Kerala greatly.