(9/10) Bali Maharaj's Sacrifice

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, evening programme,
22 February 2019, part 9
Translated from Bengali

The Supreme Lord Himself took birth as Vamandev, a dwarf brahman.

In the meantime, Bali Maharaj's brahmans had started the fire sacrifice, and all the brahmans began to queue to receive a boon from the king. Vamandev, who had grown up by the time, also came there carrying an umbrella to protect Himself from the sun. Because the umbrella was very big and Vamandev was very short, everybody saw that there was an umbrella walking! They were surprised, 'What is this? A walking umbrella! What is going on?' Some brahmans decided to catch up with Vamandev to see who it was. Even though they began to run, they could not catch up with Vamadev (who can possibly catch up with the Supreme Lord?). Eventually, Vamadev arrived at the place of the fire sacrifice.

The Supreme Lord's beautiful figure has very strong effulgence. All the priest brahmans were putting much ghee in the fire, but even then Vamandev's effulgence surpassed the effulgence of the fire. As soon as brahmans saw Vamandev, they all stood up – even Bali Maharaj got up and offered his obeisance with folded palms.

'You must be the dwarf brahman (vatu-vaman, বটুবামুন),' Bali Maharaj said, humbly.

'Yes, I am.'

'You must be coming on my invitation.'

'Yes, I am.'

'So, what gift would you like to receive?'

'Everybody wants something, but I am a small (dwarf) brahman, so My desire is also very small.'

'What is the problem? You can ask me for anything You want!'

'Prabhu, I do not want anything except for three steps of land. I will make three steps, and I want to get the land that My three steps will take,' Vamandev asked.

'But Your feet are so small! What will You do with Your three steps of land? You will not even be able to make a house or put a bed there!'

'My desire is very small, so I do not want anything more than that. If you can give Me that, I will be content.'

'What are You saying? You will take this gift from me, and then You will go to some other place to ask for something else. But I can give You everything You want! Tell me, what do You want?'

'Yes, I know that you are the lord of the three worlds and that you can give Me everything, but I do not need everything – I only need three steps of land.'

'But if You take this gift from me now and later go to somebody else to ask them for something, then my name will be tarnished.'

'No, I have decided before that I could come that I would ask you for three steps of land, I do not need anything else.'

'All right, I give You my word that I will give it to you.'

When Bali Maharaj said, 'I will give it to you,' his gurudev, Sukrachakrya, was not there, but he came soon after that. He wondered, 'Who is he talking to?' then he understood, 'Disaster! This is the Supreme Lord Himself! He has come disguised as a dwarf brahman!'

'Bali! What are you doing?!' Sukracharya then said to the king. 'You do not know who is standing in front of you! Did you say that you would give Him three steps of land?!'

'Yes, I have given Him my word.'

'Take your word back!'

'Why?! How can I take my word back if I have promised something to a brahman?'

'You do not know who He is. This is the Supreme Lord Himself! He has come disguised as a small boy – on pretext of taking these three steps of land, He will take away all hell, heaven and earth from you! You will not be able to give any gift to anybody else after that. He will take everything from you!'

This is the mood of a karmi-guru. There are many kinds of gurus in this world – karmi-gurus, jnani-gurus, yogi-gurus, and so on. What Sukracharya told Bali Maharaj is not advice of a spiritual guru (paramarthik-guru): one wants to give something to the Lord, but he comes and says that he must take his word back, that he must not give it.

'How can I take my word back if I have promised something to a brahman?' Bali Maharaj asked.

'To protect your wealth, sometimes you have to tell a lie and be diplomatic,' Sukracharya said. Just see what kind of advice this is!

'No, I have given my word to a brahman. If He is just a brahman and I give Him three steps of land, what loss is it for me? And if He is the Lord Himself and I give Him three steps of land, that is even better – if I can give something to the Lord, that is very good.'

'Bali, you are a small man, you do not have proper intelligence and knowledge. You are still a child.'

'Gurudev, you can say anything you want, but I cannot do what you are telling me to do.'

Bali Maharaj rejected his guru. Many people say that once you accept a guru, you cannot reject him, but here Bali Maharaj rejected his guru. Moreover, Prahlad Maharaj rejected his father, and Bharath Maharaj rejected his mother – and here, Bali Maharaj rejected his guru. Such gurus are not worth it – karmi-gurus, jnani-gurus should be rejected. You must explain this to people when somebody says to you that a guru cannot be rejected. These are Srimad Bhagavatam's words.

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Length: 56 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Service Greatness Is Not External
2) Srivas Pandit's Ideal
3) Sadhus' Dacoity
4) Short-Sighted Minds
5) Food for Thought
6) Quitting Maya's Play
7) Servants' Service
8) Lord's Arrangement
9) Bali Maharaj's Sacrifice
10) Sacrifice, Surrender and Succeed