Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals : 12-15.

12/01/2017
Chapter -12. Yajna – Quintessence of the Culture of India-15.
Deepavali message given on the 25th of October, 1973.

There is a third aspect of it which is called Bali Padya, the day following Amavasya. It does not look that the Bali Padya festival is directly connected with Lakshmi Puja or Naraka Chaturdasi. But it has another background altogether, namely, the blessing Narayana, in His incarnation as Vamana, bestowed upon the demon-king Bali Chakravarti, whom He subdued when He took a Cosmic Form in the Yajnasala of Bali, the details of which we can read in the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana.

Bali Chakravarti was himself a great devotee, an ideal king and ruler, and having submitted himself to being thrown into the nether regions by the pressure of the foot of Narayana in the Cosmic Form, it appears he begged of Him to have some occasion to come up to the surface of the earth and then be recognised as a devotee of Bhagavan Narayana Himself. This recognition, this hallowed memory of Bali Chakravarti, is celebrated on the first day of the bright fortnight following the Amavasya. Bali Puja and Bali Padya are two of the terms used to designate this occasion, the day following Amavasya.

Swami Krishnananda


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