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Chapter
20: Lord
Vâmanadeva Covers all
Worlds(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Bali, the master of the house, thus being advised by the family priest fell silent for a moment oh King, and addressed after due consideration his guru. (2) S'rî Bali said: 'What your grace told me is true: the economic interest, the sensual pleasure, the reputation and the livelihood may never be a hindrance for a householder to engage in dharmic actions. (3) How can someone like me, an heir of Prahlâda, out of greed for possessions as an ordinary cheater refuse to give a brahmin what he has promised him [*]? (4) There is nothing more irreligious than untruthfulness. Just as mother earth has told us: 'I can bear everything, but not a person who lies to others.' (5) I do not fear hellish conditions, nor poverty, nor an ocean of distress, nor a fall from my position, nor death as much as I fear to cheat a man of God. (6) Of what use are the riches and such that one has to give up when one leaves this world behind? Are they not meant for pleasing the man of God then [the sage, the priest, the brahmin etc.]? (7) While heartening the good of all people, saints like Dadhîci, S'ibi and other great servants of God have given up on matters most difficult to forsake, up to the point of their very lives. Then what objection would there be against donating the land? (8) Time takes away all the possessions of persons like the Daitya kings who, willing to sacrifice their lives, enjoyed this world oh brahmin, but the reputation they achieved in this world time does not take away. (9) Oh learned sage, it is easy to find people who not afraid to fight are willing to give up their lives on the battlefield, but people willing to give with devotion away what they accumulated to a visitor of holy places when he arrives, are not that easily found [compare B.G. 17: 20]. (10) It is the glory of the munificent ones, they who are famous for their mercy, to become poor by satisfying the needs of the poor, not even mentioning what it means to them to satisfy knowers of the spiritual purpose like your good self. I will give therefore this celibate one whatever He wants. (11) All of you fully aware of the Vedic way of offering, are with the different attributes of the greatest respect in worshiping the Enjoyer of the Sacrifice. Whether He is Vishnu who came in order to bless me or else came to bring me down, I will give Him oh sage, whatever land He desires. (12) I will not even retaliate when He fearfully posing as a brahmin boy, deceives me as an enemy and arrests me despite of my innocence. (13) If this person here is really the one glorified in the scriptures, He will never give up His reputation, whether He takes all the land after having killed me or rests in peace being killed by me.
(14) S'rî
S'uka
said: '[Bali,] the highly elevated and divinely inspired
character thus being fixed on truthfulness then was cursed by his guru for being such a disrespectful
and obstinate disciple [see B.G. 10:
10]: (15) 'You who so
stubbornly
consider yourself learned going against my instructions, have in your
impudence towards me proven yourself as a shameless ignoramus. Someone
like you will soon loose all his opulence!' (16) [Even] being
cursed this way by his guru he, as a great personality did not abandon
his
truthfulness and donated after first offering water and duly having worshiped Vâmanadeva [the land
he had promised]. (17)
Vindhyâvali,
Bali's
wife,
that
moment
came forward being decorated
with a pearl necklace and brought a golden pot filled with water to
wash the Lord's feet. (18) He, the worshiper
of the most beautiful pair of feet, personally washed them and took in great
jubilation the water on his head
that purifies the entire universe.
(19) That
moment
a
shower
of
flowers
was
released
by
all the inhabitants of the higher worlds: the demigods, the singers
of heaven, the scholars, the ones specially gifted and the venerable
ones. They all most pleased hailed the
rectitude of what the Asura king had done [compare 5.18: 12]. (20) The
residents of
heaven, the apelike ones and the
ones of superpower sounded thousands of drums and horns again and again
and declared: 'What by Him, this great personality, has been achieved
was a most difficult thing,
for he delivered the three worlds to his opponent [Vishnu]!'(21) Then the dwarf form of the Unlimited Lord began to expand most wondrously to the entire expanse of the threefold of matter: He stretched Himself out in every direction over all the land, the sky, the planetary systems, outer space and the seas and oceans where the birds and the beasts, the humans, the gods and the saints were living. (22) Bali together with all the priests, the teachers of example and the seekers of truth could within this body of Him as the Almighty One, of Him as the source of the qualities, see the entire threefold universe complete with its elements and the living beings with their senses, sense objects, mind, intelligence and false ego. (23) The lower world he saw under the soles of His feet, upon the feet he saw the surface of the land, the mountains he saw in the calves of the virâth-purusha, the aerial beings in the knees of the gigantic form and in His thighs he saw the different types of demigods. (24) He recognized the evening twilight in His garment, he saw the founding fathers in His private parts, he saw himself together with his spokesmen in His hips, His navel was the complete of the sky, at His waist there were the seven seas and in the upper part of Urukrama [the 'far-stepping' Lord] he saw the stellar signs. (25-29) In His heart my best one, he saw the dharma, in the chest of Murâri he saw pleasing words and truthfulness and in His mind he saw the moon. In His bosom he found the goddess who always carries a lotus in her hands and in His neck there was the complete of all the Vedic sound vibrations. In His arms he recognized all the gods lead by Indra, in His ears all the directions were found, the luminaries formed the top of His head, the clouds were His hair, the whispers of the wind were in His nostrils, His eyes were the sun and in His mouth he saw the [sacrificial] fire. In His speech he heard the hymns of praise, he saw the god of the waters in His tongue, His eyebrows were the warnings and regulations, His eyelids were the night and the day, he saw anger on the Supreme Person His forehead and greed was situated in His lips. Lust was His touch oh King, water was His semen, His back was irreligion, His marvels were found in the sacrificial ceremonies, in His shadows he saw death, the illusory energy was present in His smiles and in the hairs on His body he recognized the herbs and plants. With the rivers for His veins, the stones for His nails and with Lord Brahmâ, the demigods and the sages for His intelligence, Bali saw all the moving and stationary living entities in the senses of His body [see also 2.1, 2.6, 3.12: 37-47 and B.G. 11].
(30-31) When the Asuras observed this entirety of all the worlds and souls they were perturbed oh King. Being faced with the Sudars'ana disc with its unbearable heat and the bow S'ârnga resounding like thunder, the loud sound of His conch shell the Pâñcajanya and the great force of Vishnu's club the Kaumodakî, His sword the Vidyâdhara, the shield with the hundred moons and also His supreme quiver of arrows named Akshayasâyaka, drove them to desperation. (32-33) His associates lead by Sunanda and the other leaders and local divinities offered prayers to Him standing there with His brilliant helmet, bracelets and fish-shaped earrings, His S'rîvatsa-mark, the best of all jewels [the Kaustubha], His belt, yellow dress and His flower garland with bees about it. Oh King, manifesting Himself thus the Supreme Lord Urukrama covered with one footstep the entire surface of Bali's world, covered the sky with His body and covered the directions with His arms. (34) Making the second step He covered all the heavenly places and for the third step not a single spot of land remained, for Lord Urukrama with His stepping now had reached farther than the farthest place beyond Maharloka, Janaloka and Tapoloka.
