Appearance of Lord Vamanadev

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Appearance of Lord Vamanadev, Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu
Kolkata-Worldwide, 30 August 2020, part 3

...After that, the proper time came and the Lord appeared first in the heart of Kasyap Rishi and then came to the womb of Aditi Mata. When the Lord Himself entered her womb, Brahma and all demigods began to pray to the Lord showing a very exalted mood. Everything around became very auspicious. All the demigods headed by Brahma prayed for the Lord's appearance.

Then, on this tithi today, on dvadasi day, on the Abhijit naksatra, Lord Vamanadev appeared in this material world in His Narayan form, holding a conch, a disk, a club, and a lotus flower. Kasyap Rishi and Aditi Mata saw the Lord Himself came as a 'botu-baman' (বটুবামন, a dwarf brahman). He was very short in height.

When Vamandev got his upanayana (brahman initiation when a brahman thread is given), it was a very auspicious day. On the day of His initiation, Suryadev, Brihaspati, Kasyap Rishi, Mother Earth, Vanaspati, Danda, Mata Aditi Devi, and so many other rishis, munis, et al. came. You know that when we receive the second initiation, we always go begging after the fire sacrifice; similarly, when Vamandev went begging after His initiation, then all the gods—Sun, Moon, Brahma, et al.—came and gave much donation to the Lord.

In the meantime, Prahlad Maharaj felt sad because his son named Virochan was a demon; although he was a demon, he did give respect to brahmans. So, one day Bali Maharaj, who is the son of Virochan, decided to make a fire sacrifice (yajna) on the bank of the Narmada River. He was very generous and invited all brahmans to this fire sacrifice. Vamandev, the Lord Himself, also decided to come there.

Vamanadev took a big umbrella and started off for the fire sacrifice. Because He was very short, when He walked carrying the umbrella and all the brahmans noticed him, they said, "Look, an umbrella is walking!" They tried to catch up with him, but Vamanadev walked so fast that they could not—even when they tried to run, they still could not catch up with Him.

When Vamanadev finally came to the place where the fire sacrifice was held, there was so much exalted light coming from His body that even the sacrificial fire that Bali Maharaj arranged with great pomp (placing much ghee, wood, etc.) dwindle and looked dull compared to Vamanadev's exalted lustre.

Bali Maharaj thought, "This must be a great personality who has come!" So, he stood up and showed respect to Vamanadev—he paid obeisance to Vamanadev, washed His feet, and placed the water that had washed His feet on his head. Then, Bali Maharaj said to Vamanadev, "I have invited all brahmans to this fire sacrifice, and I am sure You too have come to get something. What do you want? I am the triloka-adipati—I am the proprietor of the three worlds (heaven, earth, and hell). I can give You anything You want. If You want to get married, I can give You a good girl with all sorts of good qualities. Tell me, what do You want?..."

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