Kerala, the land known as the God’s own is famous for its diverse culture and festivals. One such wonderful festival of the land is “Onam”. Onam is a festival that brings in the felling of oneness in the hearts of all Malayalis. For a day everyone tries to unite as Malayalis erasing the other division of caste, creed, religion etc.
Onam has a mythological story to back it up. They say it is to commemorate the visit of the asura king Mahabali, who was the ruler of Kerala and who was sent to pathala by the vamana Avatara of Lord Vishnu. Mahabali’s reign is said to be a reign of equality, happiness and oneness. Deceit, treachery and evil was nowhere to be found.
Whether this story is a truth or a lie or just a mere construct, it doesn’t matter. The important factor about this story is that there exists a great dream in it and the attempt to realise that dream. A land full of happiness, fellowship and oneness, a land without evil and definitely something every human in the world wants to realise.
Today’s world is a fast moving reality. Everyone is running a rat race. Where to? No one knows. In this madness we forget the goodness inbuilt in us. We fail to see the other. We forget to show love and kindness. If this madness was an overload truck going down a steep descend, then Onam is the brake to the vehicle. We stop for a moment and we listen. We come together and celebrate. We try to see those and that we have ignored till now. Nature, our loved ones, fellow beings, happiness, togetherness, kindness, mercy and so on. The understanding that Lord Mahabali will come to visit us on this day drives our quench for a happy day in Onam.
However, this beautiful reality called Onam is slowly getting deformed every year. A festival which used to be the occasion of happiness has now turned to be an occasion to consume maximum amount of alcohol. Onam that was the brakes has become the commencement of a new race of Alcohol consumption. From the great notion of Mahabali visiting to enquire the wellbeing of the people, it has become an occasion where now people start to think Mahabali shouldn’t come to see the pitiable situation of the society. What Realisation of the kingdom of God is a great duty of every Christian. Kingdom ethics is something worth following and establishing. Why then our Onam does not become the realisation of this ethics? Why doesn’t it become the establishment of the Kingdom of God? In Jewish concept of Jubilee year as seen in Leviticus 26, we see the image or the essence of the spirit of Onam. An occasion that brings restoration, isn’t that really what Onam should be?
No matter what you sell, you must celebrate Onam was once said by someone to showcase the importance of the festival. But today, this motto has become the inspiration for borrowing money, mortgages for momentary pleasure. A false identity for one day would give you happiness or relief but isn’t Onam really something more? Isn’t going beyond this false reality and making your dreams real? Onam must not become an opiate of the people. But must become an inspiration to be good and realise it. Jesus heals even on the Sabbath to make it complete, so, would Onam be really complete if the suffering is still suffering and poor is still poor? Would Mahabali be really happy with his visits? These are some serious issues.
Another important aspect now is that the Malayali is no longer a Malayali. It is dressed in some western or multinational culture. I wonder if the King would really recognise his people. He would certainly be happy to see the eradications of many social evil and would also appreciate this individual freedom. But I wonder what would be his reaction when he sees many more evil that we have created and bondages we mended for one another. Let us safely assume that after these many years his eye sight must have weakened and he won’t be seeing all these miseries because if it is the other way around, then we would see new stream coming up in the land. The streams of the tears of the King. Bible introduces to us a parable of the Master / King who went on a voyage after entrusting each of his 3 servants with talents. One got 5, the other 2 and the last one 1. Talent as per NRSV bible is equivalent to $ 60,000/- at the time of Jesus. RSV says its wage a labourer would get for his 15 years of work. Whatever it is, it isn’t small. When the master returns, he finds that two of them have utilised the talent as he expected and the third one didn’t. Question we must ask ourselves is, what would Mahabali thing when he returns or visits every year?
Look at the world around you, look at what have you done. Is this the same world that is said to be left behind by Mahabali? Has the world remained the same or has it deteriorated? The answer would be that it has deteriorated. So what should we do? We should start from the scratch. Scratch the rust of, scratch till the Gold appears. Clean yourself and that would automatically clean the world. Seeing a dream is good. It gives us an aim, a hope to live for. However, now it is the time that we wake up from the dream and work to realise it. Is it too difficult? It is, but it isn’t impossible.
My Mahabali is Jesus. He doesn’t visit me on Onam every year as he is with me always. So I can’t remain asleep or remain confined in a rat trap running a stupid rat race. I have to move. I have to act. My question is would you do the same? Who is your Mahabali? What is your Onam? For the people and ourselves let us complete the beauty of Onam and be agents of change, not just today but all the days of our life.
Onam has a mythological story to back it up. They say it is to commemorate the visit of the asura king Mahabali, who was the ruler of Kerala and who was sent to pathala by the vamana Avatara of Lord Vishnu. Mahabali’s reign is said to be a reign of equality, happiness and oneness. Deceit, treachery and evil was nowhere to be found.
Whether this story is a truth or a lie or just a mere construct, it doesn’t matter. The important factor about this story is that there exists a great dream in it and the attempt to realise that dream. A land full of happiness, fellowship and oneness, a land without evil and definitely something every human in the world wants to realise.
Today’s world is a fast moving reality. Everyone is running a rat race. Where to? No one knows. In this madness we forget the goodness inbuilt in us. We fail to see the other. We forget to show love and kindness. If this madness was an overload truck going down a steep descend, then Onam is the brake to the vehicle. We stop for a moment and we listen. We come together and celebrate. We try to see those and that we have ignored till now. Nature, our loved ones, fellow beings, happiness, togetherness, kindness, mercy and so on. The understanding that Lord Mahabali will come to visit us on this day drives our quench for a happy day in Onam.
However, this beautiful reality called Onam is slowly getting deformed every year. A festival which used to be the occasion of happiness has now turned to be an occasion to consume maximum amount of alcohol. Onam that was the brakes has become the commencement of a new race of Alcohol consumption. From the great notion of Mahabali visiting to enquire the wellbeing of the people, it has become an occasion where now people start to think Mahabali shouldn’t come to see the pitiable situation of the society. What Realisation of the kingdom of God is a great duty of every Christian. Kingdom ethics is something worth following and establishing. Why then our Onam does not become the realisation of this ethics? Why doesn’t it become the establishment of the Kingdom of God? In Jewish concept of Jubilee year as seen in Leviticus 26, we see the image or the essence of the spirit of Onam. An occasion that brings restoration, isn’t that really what Onam should be?
No matter what you sell, you must celebrate Onam was once said by someone to showcase the importance of the festival. But today, this motto has become the inspiration for borrowing money, mortgages for momentary pleasure. A false identity for one day would give you happiness or relief but isn’t Onam really something more? Isn’t going beyond this false reality and making your dreams real? Onam must not become an opiate of the people. But must become an inspiration to be good and realise it. Jesus heals even on the Sabbath to make it complete, so, would Onam be really complete if the suffering is still suffering and poor is still poor? Would Mahabali be really happy with his visits? These are some serious issues.
Another important aspect now is that the Malayali is no longer a Malayali. It is dressed in some western or multinational culture. I wonder if the King would really recognise his people. He would certainly be happy to see the eradications of many social evil and would also appreciate this individual freedom. But I wonder what would be his reaction when he sees many more evil that we have created and bondages we mended for one another. Let us safely assume that after these many years his eye sight must have weakened and he won’t be seeing all these miseries because if it is the other way around, then we would see new stream coming up in the land. The streams of the tears of the King. Bible introduces to us a parable of the Master / King who went on a voyage after entrusting each of his 3 servants with talents. One got 5, the other 2 and the last one 1. Talent as per NRSV bible is equivalent to $ 60,000/- at the time of Jesus. RSV says its wage a labourer would get for his 15 years of work. Whatever it is, it isn’t small. When the master returns, he finds that two of them have utilised the talent as he expected and the third one didn’t. Question we must ask ourselves is, what would Mahabali thing when he returns or visits every year?
Look at the world around you, look at what have you done. Is this the same world that is said to be left behind by Mahabali? Has the world remained the same or has it deteriorated? The answer would be that it has deteriorated. So what should we do? We should start from the scratch. Scratch the rust of, scratch till the Gold appears. Clean yourself and that would automatically clean the world. Seeing a dream is good. It gives us an aim, a hope to live for. However, now it is the time that we wake up from the dream and work to realise it. Is it too difficult? It is, but it isn’t impossible.
My Mahabali is Jesus. He doesn’t visit me on Onam every year as he is with me always. So I can’t remain asleep or remain confined in a rat trap running a stupid rat race. I have to move. I have to act. My question is would you do the same? Who is your Mahabali? What is your Onam? For the people and ourselves let us complete the beauty of Onam and be agents of change, not just today but all the days of our life.