Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: When the supreme, ancient, eternal Personality of Godhead had thus spoken to Bali Mahārāja, who is universally accepted as a pure devotee of the Lord and therefore a great soul, Bali Mahārāja, his eyes filled with tears, his hands folded and his voice faltering in devotional ecstasy, responded as follows. (1) Bali Mahārāja said: What a wonderful effect there is in even attempting to offer respectful obeisances to You! I merely endeavored to of fer You obeisances, but nonetheless the attempt was as successful as those of pure devotees. The causeless mercy You have shown to me, a fallen demon, was never achieved even by the demigods or the leaders of the various planets. (2)
Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: After speak ing in this way, Bali Mahārāja offered his obei sances first to the Supreme Personality of God head, Hari, and then to Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva. Thus he was released from the bondage of the nāga-pāśa [the ropes of Varuṇa], and in full satisfaction he entered the planet known as Sutala. (3) Thus having delivered the proprie torship of the heavenly planets to Indra and having fulfilled the desire of Aditi, mother of the demigods, the Supreme Personality of God head ruled the affairs of the universe. (4) When Prahlāda Mahārāja heard how Bali Mahārāja, his grandson and descendant, had been released from bondage and had achieved the benediction of the Lord, he spoke as follows in a tone of greatly ecstatic devotion. (5)
Prahlāda Mahārāja said: O Supreme Person ality of Godhead, You are universally wor shiped; even Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva wor ship Your lotus feet. Yet although You are such a great personality, You have kindly promised to protect us, the demons. I think that such kindness has never been achieved even by Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva or the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, what to speak of other demigods or common people. (6) O supreme shelter of eve ryone, great personalities like Brahmā enjoy their perfection simply by tasting the honey of rendering service at Your lotus feet. But as for us, who are all rogues and debauchees born of an envious family of demons, how have we re ceived Your mercy? It has been possible only because Your mercy is causeless. (7)
O my Lord, Your pastimes are all wonderfully per formed by Your inconceivable spiritual energy; and by her perverted reflection, the material en ergy, You have created all the universes. As the Supersoul of all living entities, You are aware of everything, and therefore You are certainly equal toward everyone. Nonetheless, You favor Your devotees. This is not partiality, however, for Your characteristic is just like that of a de sire tree, which yields everything according to one’s desire. (8) The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear son Prahlāda, all good fortune unto you. For the time being, please go to the place known as Sutala and there enjoy happiness with your grandson and your other relatives and friends. (9)
The Supreme Personality of God head assured Prahlāda Mahārāja: You shall be able to see Me there in My usual feature with conchshell, disc, club and lotus in My hand. Because of your transcendental bliss due to al ways personally seeing Me, you will have no further bondage to fruitive activities. (10) Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Accompanied by Bali Mahārāja, my dear King Parīkṣit, Prah lāda Mahārāja, the master of all the chiefs of the demons, took the Supreme Lord’s order on his head with folded hands. After saying yes to the Lord, circumambulating Him and offering Him respectful obeisances, he entered the lower planetary system known as Sutala. (11-12)
Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, thereafter addressed Śukrācārya, who was sitting nearby in the midst of the as sembly with the priests [brahma, hotā, udgātāand adhvaryu]. O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, these priests were all brahma-vādīs, followers of the Vedic principles for performing sacri fices. (13) O best of the brāhmaṇas, Śukrācārya, please describe the fault or dis crepancy in your disciple Bali Mahārāja, who engaged in performing sacrifices. This fault will be nullified when judged in the presence of qualified brāhmaṇas. (14) Śukrācārya said: My Lord, You are the en joyer and lawgiver in all performances of sac rifice, and You are the yajña-puruṣa, the person to whom all sacrifices are offered. If one has fully satisfied You, where is the chance of dis crepancies or faults in his performances of sac rifice? (15)
There may be discrepancies in pro nouncing the mantras and observing the regu lative principles, and, moreover, there may be discrepancies in regard to time, place, person and paraphernalia. But when Your Lordship’s holy name is chanted, everything becomes faultless. (16) Lord Viṣṇu, I must nonetheless act in obedience to Your order because obeying Your order is most auspicious and is the first duty of everyone. (17) Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: In this way, the most powerful Śukrācārya accepted the or der of the Supreme Personality of Godhead with full respect. Along with the best brāhmaṇas, he began to compensate for the dis crepancies in the sacrifices performed by Bali Mahārāja. (18)
O King Parīkṣit, thus having taken all the land of Bali Mahārāja by begging, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Vāmanadeva, delivered to His brother Indra all the land taken away by Indra’s enemy. (19) Lord Brahmā [the master of King Dakṣa and all other Prajāpatis], accompanied by all the dem igods, the great saintly persons, the inhabitants of Pitṛloka, the Manus, the munis, and such leaders as Dakṣa, Bhṛgu and Aṅgirā, as well as Kārttikeya and Lord Śiva, accepted Lord Vāmanadeva as the protector of everyone. He did this for the pleasure of Kaśyapa Muni and his wife Aditi and for the welfare of all the in habitants of the universe, including their vari ous leaders. (20-21)
O King Parīkṣit, Indra was considered the King of all the universe, but the demigods, headed by Lord Brahmā, wanted Upendra, Lord Vāmanadeva, as the protector of the Ve das, the principles of religion, fame, opulence, auspiciousness, vows, elevation to the higher planetary system, and liberation. Thus they ac cepted Upendra, Lord Vāmanadeva, as the su preme master of everything. This decision made all living entities extremely happy. (22 23) Thereafter, along with all the leaders of the heavenly planets, Indra, the King of heaven, placed Lord Vāmanadeva before him and, with the approval of Lord Brahmā, brought Him to the heavenly planet in a celestial airplane. (24) Indra, King of heaven, being protected by the arms of Vāmanadeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, thus regained his rule of the three worlds and was reinstated in his own position, supremely opulent, fearless and fully satisfied. (25)
Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Lord Kārttikeya, the great sage Bhṛgu, other saintly persons, the inhabitants of Pitṛloka and all other living enti ties present, including the inhabitants of Sid dhaloka and living entities who travel in outer space by airplane, all glorified the uncommon activities of Lord Vāmanadeva. O King, while chanting about and glorifying the Lord, they re turned to their respective heavenly planets. They also praised the position of Aditi. (26-27) O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, pleasure of your dyn asty, I have now described to you everything about the wonderful activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Vāmanadeva. Those who hear about this are certainly freed from all the results of sinful activities. (28)
One who is subject to death cannot measure the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Trivikrama, Lord Viṣṇu, any more than he can count the number of atoms on the entire planet earth. No one, whether born already or destined to take birth, is able to do this. This has been sung by the great sage Vasiṣṭha. (29) If one hears about the uncommon activities of the Su preme Personality of Godhead in His various incarnations, he is certainly elevated to the higher planetary system or even brought back home, back to Godhead. (30) Whenever the ac tivities of Vāmanadeva are described in the course of a ritualistic ceremony, whether the ceremony be performed to please the demi gods, to please one’s forefathers in Pitṛloka, or to celebrate a social event like a marriage, that ceremony should be understood to be ex tremely auspicious. (31)
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