Inviting the Higher Intelligence into our offering - Tirūvonam Āśamsakal

Replete with festivities, boat rides, kathakali performances, beautiful kollams and sadhya, Tirūvonam is here again!

The festival celebrates prosperity and abundance to its fullest! Music, artwork and food are at their vibrant best. In many ways, even nature is at her fullest during this time and the festival is but a reflection of this.

Bhāratīya Paramparā has always given prime importance to inner spiritual growth. This is described through beautiful stories, which are actually pregnant with philosophical and spiritual wisdom. Often, while we are in touch with the outer form, we seem to forget to reflect on their deeper essence - the tattva behind these stories. What is the deeper essence of Tirūvonam?

We may be aware of the story but it is useful to revisit it. Mahābali, the great Asura king, had amassed wealth and riches. He had come to rule the three worlds - Bhū Loka, the heavens (Satya to Bhūvar Loka) and the nether regions below (Ātala to Pātāla Loka).

He performed a mahā-yajna or an offering for the devatās which was extremely grand and powerful. The air was filled with the divine Vedic chants, the aroma of delicious food and the abundance of nature. However, they had an unexpected visitor - a young Brahmin boy of about eight years old. His face shone with brightness and all the attendees were drawn to him.

The little boy greatly lauded Mahābali for the grand festivities that had been organised. Mahābali was pleased and paid his respects to the young boy. Mahābali was curious to know who this young boy, resplendent in form and presence, was and where he had come. The little boy replied saying that he was Vāmana Murty, son of Mātā Adītī and Māharishi Kaśyapa.

Mahābali was extremely pleased to know this! He asked the little boy to ask for anything that he desired - cows, riches, land, food, anything at all! Nothing was too much or impossible for the supreme Mahābali to give - the Brahmin boy just had to name it and he would be flooded with gifts and riches. Vāmana Murty humbly folded his hands and said he was a Brahmacāri boy and did not desire much. All he sought was three footsteps of land.

Mahābali, extremely amused at this pithy request roared with laughter and granted his request.

All of a sudden, the young boy grew in size - so huge that his head touched the skies! He took one step covering the entire Bhūloka (Earth) and Nether regions. In the second step, he covered the heavens. Mahābali’s entire kingdom had been covered in just two steps! He was left transfixed at this wondrous phenomenon! He realised that this was no ordinary being but MahāViśṇu himself! He bowed down in humble surrender and asked Vāmana Murty to complete his last step by placing his foot on his head!

There are several layers of meaning that come forth from this seemingly simple story. Unfortunately, it seems that the festival has been reduced to just materialistic celebrations of indulgent eating. If we look deeper, we will be able to appreciate that there is so much more that we can do to celebrate this festival!

The Bhagavad Gīta talks about three types of Dāna (offering or charity) - Sātvika Dāna, Rājasika Dāna and Tāmasika Dāna. Sātvika Dāna refers to offerings that have been offered as one’s duty, being offered to the right place, time and to right person. Rājasika Dāna on the other hand has been described as offerings which are given with the intention of receiving something in return, therefore, leading to mental agony due to expectations. Tāmasika Dāna has been described as that which has been offered without a sense of respect or with contempt/malice while offering. This is said to bring extreme sorrow to not just the giver but also to the recipient.

We will be able to note that though the act of charity is often considered to be extremely pure, the underlying intentions or motivations driving such an endeavour have been given paramount importance. Rāja Mahābali thus exhibits the lakśaṇa (characteristics/properties) of one who is into Tāmasika Dāna because he was doing it from a space of arrogance, pride and contempt. It seems that he was driven by Asuric qualities - those that tend towards hoarding, contempt, excessive indulgence and so on.

Mahā Viśṇu or Vāmana Murty comes as the Higher Intelligence to wash out the Asuric qualities in the great Mahābali so that his true potential of selfless giving may emerge through the process. This is thus a story of deep transformation from contemptuous charity to humble offering.

From the Sāmkhyan cosmic world-view, we understand that there are three types of Dukhā or sorrow that we experience in our lives - Ādi Daivika, Ādi Bhautika and Ādhyātimika.

Ādhyātimika Dukhā refers to the sorrow and suffering one causes to oneself on account of one’s limiting tendencies and conditioning. Ādi Bhautika Dukhā refers to the sorrow created because of one’s interactions with one’s environment and external factors. Lastly, Ādi Daivika refers to the suffering caused by factors that are beyond one’s perception capabilities.

The three steps of Śri Vāmana Murty also seem to represent these three Dukhās that exist. The only way one can cross the ocean of sorrow is by a humble surrender to Nārāyaṇa much like how Mahābali humbly bowed down his head to Śri Vāmana Murty.