ONAM CELEBRATIONS, AUGUST 26th TO AUGUST 28th

This period also experienced a major event in the Prashanti festival calendar- the celebration of Onam by devotees from the state of Kerala in India. Onam is a festival of major importance to the Malayalees (residents of Kerala). Swami has explained that it is a festival that celebrates Lord Vishnu’s advent as well as the transformation of Bali Chakravarthi. Lord Vishnu approached Bali in the guise of a Brahmana boy and asked him for a gift of three paces of land, but verily wanted to take the three worlds. Though warned of the consequences by his preceptor Sukracharya, Bali Chakravarthi declined to go back on his word. Thus unmindful of the consequences, Bali upheld truth and attained eternal life. The Kerala devotees thus find a special significance in celebrating this momentous festival at the Divine Lotus Feet of Swami, the Sathya Swaroopa Himself.