SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 8

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'Bali, the master of the house, thus being advised by the family priest fell silent for a moment, o King, and addressed after due consideration his guru. (2) S'rî Bali said: 'What your greatness told me is true: the economic interest, the sensual pleasure, the reputation and the livelihood may never be a hindrance for a householder to perform his religious duties. (3) How can someone like me be cheating for the sake of money? Especially to a brahmin will I, to the honor of Prahlâda, have to give as I have promised - I 'd be an ordinary cheater! [*]. (4) There is nothing more irreligious than untruthfulness as thus indeed mother earth has told us: 'To bear this all I can, with the exception though of man as the greatest liar.' (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) If whatever one has in this world must be left behind when one has to die, what purpose then would one's wealth and riches serve when one needs to renounce in one's life; must one with them then not please the man of God? (7) Heartening the good of all people have saints like Dadhîci, S'ibi and other great servants of God, forsaken the most difficult up to their very lives; what objection would there be against donating the land? (8) From persons like the daitya kings who, willing to sacrifice their lives, enjoyed this world o brahmin, takes time away all that is owned but not the reputation achieved in this world. (9) O holy brahmin, those who with ease won by battle not being afraid to fight or to lose their lives, do not as easily faithful and devoted to the one who settles the holy ground give away what they accumulated [compare B.G. 17: 20]. (10) To the munificent, the ones famed for their mercy, does it work to their advantage to fall to poverty in satisfying the needs of the destitute, not to mention satisfying knowers of the spiritual like your good self; therefore I'll give this celibate One whatever that He wants. (11) All of you fully aware of the vedic way of offering, are with the different butes very respectful in the worship of Him th of Him the Enjoyer of the Sacrifice; whether He is Vishnu coming to bless or there to put me down, I will give Him, o sage, whatever land He so desires. (12) Not even when He deceiving me, fearfully posing as a brahmin boy, unjustly kills me will I retaliate, opposing Him as an enemy. (13) If this one is really the one hailed in the scriptures, will He, from His enduring glory, never want to give it up, whether He after killing me takes all the land or will rest in peace slain by me.'

(14) S'rî S'uka said: 'Thus was he, the high, divinely inspired character fixed on truthfulness who was such a disrespectful and obstinate disciple, cursed by the guru with [see B.G. 10: 10]: (15) 'So cocksure considering yourself learned have you in breaking with my injunctions become an impudent ignoramus in total disregard of us; such a one will soon be bereft of all his opulence!' (16) [Even] cursed this way by his own guru gave he, who had not abandoned the truthfulness, the great personality Vâmanadeva, after due worship and first offering water, the land he had promised. (17) Vindhyâvali, Bali's wife decorated with a necklace of pearls, came that moment forward and commanded a golden waterpot to be brought full of water to wash the Lord His feet. (18) He, the worshiper of the most auspicious and beautiful pair of feet, personally in great jubilation washed them and took the water on his head that confers liberation upon the whole universe. (19) That moment was a shower of flowers released by all the gods, the singers of heaven, the knowledgeable, the self-realized and the venerable ones, who very pleased hailed the rectitude of the asura king his action [compare 5.18: 12]. (20) By the thousands began the residents of heaven, the apelike and the ones of superpower to sing declaring: 'What Bali, this great personality, has done was a most difficult thing, since he delivered the three worlds to the most learned, that ally of the gods [Vishnu]!'

(21) Then the dwarf form of the Unlimited Lord began to expand most wondrously to the entire expanse of the threefold of matter: over all the land, the sky, in each direction, the planetary systems, outer space and the seas and oceans, where the birds and the beasts, the humans, the gods and the saints lived. (22) In this body of Him as the Almighty could Bali together with all the priests, the teachers of example and the seekers of truth see the entire three-modal universe complete with the 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 on the calves of the virâth-purusha, the aerial beings on the knees of the gigantic form and on His thighs he saw the different sorts of demigods. (24) In His garment he recognized the evening twilight, in His private parts he saw the founding fathers, in His hips saw he himself with his spokesmen; 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] saw he the stellar signs. (25-29) In the heart, o best, was the dharma; to the chest of Murâri the most pleasing and truthful and next in the mind he saw the moon; the goddess with always a lotus in her hands was there on His bosom also and at His neck there were all the vedic sound vibrations together. All the godly under Indra were there with His arms, with His ears there were all the directions; the luminaries formed the top of His head, His hair the clouds, the whisper of the wind His nostrils, the sun His eyes and His mouth he saw as the fire. In His speech there were the hymns of praise, in His tongue he saw the god of the waters; the warnings and regulations were His eyebrows, the eyelids the night and day, on the Supreme Person His forehead he saw anger, and greed he saw in His lips. Lust was His touch, o King, water His semen, the back of Him irreligion, in the sacrifices His marvels, death in His shadows, in His smiles the illusory energy and in His bodily hairs he recognized the herbs and plants. With the rivers for His veins, the stones for His nails, and His intelligence as Lord Brahmâ, the demigods and the sages, saw Bali in the senses of His body all the moving and stationary living entities [see also 2.1, 2.6, 3.12: 37-47 and B.G. 11]. (30-31) When the Asuras observed this complete of the worlds and all souls, received they, o King, this with lamentation: the Sudars'ana disc with its unbearable heat and the bow S'ârnga resounding like the thunder, the loud sound of His conchshell 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 quiver of arrows named Akshayasâyaka. (32-33) His associates with Sunanda and the other leaders and local divinities began to offer prayers to Him, standing there with His brilliant helmet, bracelets, fish-shaped earrings, His S'rîvatsa-mark, the best of all jewels [the Kaustubha], belt, yellow dress and flower garland with bees in them. With one footstep o King, covered the Supreme Lord Urukrama the entire surface of Bali's world, and covered He with His body the sky and with His arms the directions. (34) The second step stretched out to all the heavenly places and for the third remained really not a farthing, for Lord Urukrama with His stepping now had reached farther than the farthest beyond the worlds of penance of the great and the devoted [see also 5.17: 1].