(6/11) Bali Maharaj's Sacrifice

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, preaching programme,
21 February 2019, noon, part 6
Translated from Bengali

Daityaraj Bali thought, 'We were born in the demon line, so it is our duty to disturb demigods.' But then he saw that one by one all the demons were being defeated, so he decided to make a big fire sacrifice. He had a guru, Sukracharya, and Sukracharya told him, 'You must get twenty-four brahmans to make a fire sacrifice. And invite all brahmans, give them presentations – give them whatever they ask you for.' Bali said, 'All right. It is not a problem. I am very rich – I am the master of the three worlds (triloka-pati) – so I will give them whatever they want.'

So, Bali arranged an enormous fire sacrifice inviting all brahmans according to his guru's instruction. At that time, disguised as a dwarf brahman Vatu-vaman (Vamandev), the Lord Himself came to him. It was a very hot day, so when Vamandev was walking to the place of fire sacrifice, He had to use an umbrella to protect Himself from the sun's heat. He was a dwarf, and His umbrella was quite big for Him, so seeing Him walk down the street, all the brahmans coming behind Him thought, 'What is this? Look! An umbrella is walking!' They could not see Vamandev – they only saw His umbrella. But Vamandev went so fast that nobody could keep up with this 'umbrella'. The other brahmans decided to catch Him, so they actually started running, but they still could not catch up with Him. (Who can ever keep up with the Lord?) This is how Lord Vamandev came to the place of Daityaraj Bali's fire sacrifice.

The Lord possesses enormous opulence. Although the fire sacrifice was very big – seated all around, twenty-four brahmans were throwing ghee into a huge fire – the strength, or opulence, of that fire could not compare to Vamandev. A small dwarf, Vamandev possessed a thousand times more effulgence than that huge fire. And when Vamandev came close to the fire, the fire actually diminished. Seeing this, everybody stood up to greet Him, realising that He was not an ordinary personality.

'You must have come on my invitation,' Daityaraj Bali said.

'Yes, yes,' Vamandev replied.

'You must take some donation from me then.'

'Yes, I will.'

'All right, tell me what You want. I will give You whatever You want. I am the master of heaven, hell and earth.'

'Well, you see, I am a small brahman, so My wish is also small. I do not want so much...'

'What is it that You want?'

'Give me tripad-bhumi, three steps of land. I will make three steps, and wherever My foot lands, give me that land.'

'You are a dwarf, Your feet are so small. What will you do with those three steps of land? It will not be enough to even make a house! Maybe You do not know it, but I am a great king, I can give You anything You want.'

'Well, I told you that I am a small brahman, so My wish is also small.'

'If I give You three steps of land, You will then go to somebody else and ask them for something more, then my name will be tarnished because I could not satisfy Your desire. Ask me for something else.'

'No, no. Just give me three steps of land, it is enough.'

'All right. Let it be so then. If You are going to be happy with three steps of land, I will give You that.'

At that time, his guru Sukracharya was not there (he had gone away to some other place for some time). When Bali said, 'I will give it to You,' Sukracharya came back behind him, and seeing what was happening, he thought, 'Disaster! This is Vamandev disguised as a dwarf brahman!'

'Bali, what have you done? Why did you promise Him three steps of land? Take your promise back!' Sukracharya said.

'No, I have given my word to a brahman, I cannot take my word back.'

'Just tell Him some lie! If you want to keep your wealth, you must sometimes resort to lying.'

'Too late. I cannot do it now.'

'But you do not know who has come! He is the Lord Himself! On this pretext of three steps of land, He will take away everything – hell, heaven and earth – from you! You will not even have place to stay, what to speak of giving donation to anybody else after that.'

'I cannot go back on my promise now...'

'You are just a child, you do not understand anything. Listen to what I am telling you. You do not know who this is. He is the Lord Himself!'

'If so, it is good. If He is just a dwarf brahman, He can take three steps of land, what loss is that to me? And if He is the Lord Himself who has come to accept my presentation, then it is my fortune – where can I find a greater recipient than Him?'

Bali disobeyed his guru, who was giving him wrong advice. Sukracharya was the guru of demons, so his advice was like that. Instead of advising others to serve the Lord, they think about how to increase their own enjoyment (how you can get a car, a house, a lot of money, etc.). Genuine gurus are not like that – a genuine guru would say, 'May the Lord bless you. The Lord will provide whatever is necessary for you.' So, nobody could stop Bali Maharaj, not even his guru. He actually rejected his guru at that time. People say that once you take a guru, you cannot reject him, even if the Lord Himself comes, but here you can see that Bali Maharaj did it. Prahlad Maharaj also rejected his father, and Bharath Maharaj rejected his mother (his mother promised him that he would be the king, but Bharath brought Ramachandra's shoes and kept them on the throne instead). So, when your guru gives you bad advice, you are prescribed by the scriptures to reject him. A real guru only speaks about Krishna and only gives advice about Krishna consciousness. Always remember this.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 31 Mb
Length: 64 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Step Forward
2) Be Content and Focused
3) Pursue Eternal Wealth
4) My Appeal to You
5) Lord Vamanadev's Appearance
6) Bali Maharaj's Sacrifice
7) Lord Vamandev's Gift
8) Rusted Souls' Solace
9) Read and Remember
10) Accept Guidance
11) Devotional Propriety