SB 2.7.17 – Vamana-dvadasi

Giriraj Swami: We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven: “Scheduled Incarnations.”

TEXT 17

jyāyān guṇair avarajo ‘py aditeḥ sutānāṁ

lokān vicakrama imān yad athādhiyajñaḥ

kṣmāṁ vāmanena jagṛhe tripada-cchalena

yācñām ṛte pathi caran prabhubhir na cālyaḥ

TRANSLATION

The Lord, although transcendental to all material modes, still surpassed all the qualities of the sons of Aditi, known as the Ādityas. The Lord appeared as the youngest son of Aditi. And because He surpassed all the planets of the universe, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. On the pretense of asking for a measurement of three footsteps of land, He took away all the lands of Bali Mahārāja. He asked simply because without begging, no authority can take one’s rightful possession.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The history of Bali Mahārāja and his charity to Vāmanadeva is described in the Eighth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bali Mahārāja conquered all the planets of the universe by rightful possession. A king can conquer other kings by strength, and such possession is considered to be rightful. So Bali Mahārāja possessed all the lands of the universe, and he happened to be charitably disposed toward the brāhmaṇas. The Lord therefore pretended to be a beggar brāhmaṇa, and He asked Bali Mahārāja for a measurement of three footsteps of land. The Lord, as the proprietor of everything, could take from Bali Mahārāja all the land he possessed, but he did not do so because Bali Mahārāja possessed all those lands by king’s rights. When Bali Mahārāja was asked by Lord Vāmana for such small charity, Bali Mahārāja’s spiritual master, namely Śukrācārya, objected to this proposal because he knew that Vāmanadeva was Viṣṇu Himself, pretending to be a beggar. Bali Mahārāja did not agree to abide by the order of his spiritual master when he understood that the beggar was Viṣṇu Himself, and he at once agreed to give Him in charity the land requested. By this agreement Lord Vāmana covered all the lands of the universe with His first two steps and then asked Bali Mahārāja where to place the third step. Bali Mahārāja was very glad to receive the Lord’s remaining step upon his head, and thus Bali Mahārāja, instead of losing everything he possessed, was blessed by the Lord’s becoming his constant companion and doorman. So, by giving everything to the cause of the Lord, one does not lose anything, but he gains everything that he could never otherwise expect.

COMMENT

Today is the auspicious appearance day of Lord Vamana, Vamana-dvadasi, and here in one verse in the Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the story of Vamanadeva and Bali Maharaja is described. Bali Maharaja by the blessings of the brahmans had conquered the universe even the higher planetary systems of the demigods. And the demigods appealed to Lord Vishnu to save them and thus the Lord appeared as Vamanadeva. 

The Lord can assume any form that He likes and He chose a form that was just suitable for His purpose. He always does. For example, when the demon Hiraṇyakṣa had caused the earth to fall from its orbit into the Garbhodaka Ocean, the Lord took the form of a boar with a long snout that could lift up the earth from its fallen place. Similarly, Lord Nṛsiṁha, Lord Brahma had given so many benedictions to the demon Hiranyakasipu, the Lord had to assume a very special, extraordinary form in order to keep all of Brahma’s boons intact and at the same time kill Hiranyakasipu and thus He assumed the wonderful form of Nṛsiṁha, half-man and half-lion.

So here the Lord’s purpose was to reclaim the universe from Bali Maharaja and return it to the demigods. Bali Maharaja was born in a family of demons, Daityas, and the same time, although the Lord is the proprietor of everything, everything belongs to Him, although He is all powerful, He could have taken away the universe that had been conquered by Bali Maharaja, but He chose not to in order to uphold the religious principle of not taking by force the property owned by another. So even though He is God, He is the actually proprietor of everything in the ultimate sense, but in the immediate sense Bali Maharaja had rightfully occupied the conquered territory of the universe and the Lord did not want to take Bali’s possessions by force. So He assumed the form of a beggar which was just appropriate for the situation because Bali Maharaja was very favorably inclined to give in charity to brahmans and it is by the brahmans blessings that he was successful.

So Bali Maharaja, all the Daityas, the demons, they also have a guru, Sukracharya, and Sukracharya had mystic powers and he could understand that the dwarf brahman Vamana was actually Vishnu Himself, and he could see that Vamana would take everything away from Bali Maharaja. 

Now what is the duty of a bona fide spiritual master? The duty of a bona fide spiritual master is to repeat the message of Krishna: yāre dekha, tare kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa. And the ultimate instruction of Krishna is sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, to surrender unto Him. So when Sukracharya told Bali Maharaja, “Do not agree to give the charity to Vamana,” he was actually going against the instruction of the Lord that we surrender to Him. He was telling his disciple not to surrender to Him which means he was not acting as a bona fide spiritual master. To the contrary he was acting as a demon.

Why would he tell his disciple not to surrender everything to Vishnu? Because Sukracharya had some personal motivation. He was enjoying material facilities from Bali Maharaja. So he thought, “If Bali Maharaja surrenders everything to Vishnu then he wouldn’t have anything left for me.” So this is demonic. He instructed his disciple to go against Vishnu because he wanted to enjoy his disciple’s property. This is abominable. Mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat. We should take shelter of a Vaishnava whose is niṣkiñcana, who has no interest in material possessions.

So Bali Maharaja, it is described in the Eighth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that when his spiritual master told him not to agree to the proposal of Vamana, Bali Maharaja hesitated. He thought, he took some time to think, and Srila Prabhupada explains that he took some time to think because it was a very grave situation because his spiritual master had ordered him not to surrender to Vishnu indirectly and Bali Maharaja had already promised three steps of land to Vamana. So it was a very serious situation because to disobey the orders of the spiritual master is an offense. Under ordinary circumstances it is an offense. And similarly to break one’s promise is also an offense. So Bali was in a dilemma: how could he break his promise to Vishnu, but at the same time how could he disobey the order of his spiritual master? So he paused to consider the situation. 

In the end he decided to keep his promise to Vishnu, to surrender everything to Vishnu and to disobey the order of his spiritual master because he realized that his spiritual master was not bona fide. He wasn’t a real spiritual master. 

There is a verse in the Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: gurur na sa syāt, that no one should become a guru or a father or a mother or a husband or any superior, worshipable personality unless he can deliver his or her dependents from the cycle of birth and death. That is the duty of the guru and the father and the mother and the husband.

In his commentary to this verse, Srila Prabhupada quotes Sridhara Svami, the original commentator on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Actually Srila Prabhupada quoted Sridhara Svami’s commentary to me once personally. I was in Srila Prabhupada’s room with another devotee named Mahamsa Prabhu and Mahamsa Prabhu had also come from quite a respectable family in India, Parsi family, quite well-established in business. So Srila Prabhupada was saying to the two of us that, “You have left your families to surrender to Krishna but actually you have done the right thing.” And then he quoted the verse gurur na sa syāt sva-jano na sa syāt pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt, and he gave these examples that the duty of the guru is to deliver the disciple from the repetition of birth and death, but when Sukracharya instructed Bali Maharaja not to surrender to Krishna which is the way to become liberated from the cycle of birth and death, he disobeyed him, but it was not a fault, because Sukracharya was not a real spiritual master because he was not delivering his disciple from birth and death. 

And then he gave the example of Prahlada Maharaja that when Nṛsiṁhadeva attacked Hiranyakasipu, Prahlada did not take any action to defend his father. It is the duty of the son to defend his father if his father is attacked but Prahlada did not do that. But still, he was not at fault because Hiranyakasipu was not a real father because he was not helping him to progress in Krishna consciousness. To the contrary he was impeding him. 

It is the duty of the son to obey the orders of the mother but when Kaikeya ordered her son Bharata to sit on the throne of Ayodhya, he disobeyed, but it was not a fault, because Kaikeya was not acting as a real mother because she was not helping him in devotional service.

So Srila Prabhupada was encouraging us that, “You left your parents but they were not real parents because they were not encouraging you to become liberated from the repetition of birth and death.” True parents would be happy if their children became Krishna conscious. Our devotee parents, if they are actually devotees, they want their children to become devotees, because the parents are realizing the benefit of Krishna consciousness, relishing the happiness of Krishna consciousness, so naturally they want their children to be happy. They don’t want them to have to come back and take birth in the material world again and suffer and so many things.

The Bhāgavatam describes that Bali Maharaja hesitated. He considered the gravity of the situation but ultimately he rejected Sukracharya because he was not a real spiritual master. Bali Maharaja is one of the twelve mahājanas, one of the twelve great authorities in Krishna consciousness, and Srila Prabhupada says that he became a mahājana because he rejected his false spiritual master.

There is another verse in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that says that the guru should train the disciple in such a way that ultimately the Lord gives Himself to the disciple. Now in the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Krishna says, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante: “As they surrender to Me, I reciprocate accordingly.” So if we surrender everything to the Lord, if we give everything to the Lord including ourselves, the Lord will give Himself to us in reciprocation. So the Eleventh Canto in discussing the duties of the spiritual master, says that the spiritual master should train the disciple in such a way that the Lord will give Himself to the disciple. In other words, he should train the disciple to give himself, him and everything he possesses to the Lord. That’s the duty of the spiritual master. Sukracharya did just the opposite, he said, “Don’t surrender everything to the Lord.”

After rejecting his false spiritual master, after Bali rejected his false spiritual master, Vamana expanded Himself and that gigantic form with one step covered the whole upper portion of the universe and with the other step covered the whole lower portion of the universe. In other words with two steps He had already claimed the entire universe. So He said to Bali that, “You promised Me three steps but you’ve only given me two steps. You did not keep your promise. So now I am going to punish you because you did not keep your promise.” It is a long story which you all should read in the Eighth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. 

In the end Bali Maharaja said, “No, my Lord, I did not break my promise. You can keep Your third step on my head.” In other words he surrendered himself. This is called ātma-nivedana, offering oneself, surrendering oneself, giving oneself. Ātmā can mean “body,” it can mean “mind,” it can mean “self” or “soul.” In the nine processes of devotional service one is ātma-nivedana, self-surrender, and Bali Maharaja is the example. 

Because he gave himself fully to the Lord, the Lord gave Himself to Bali Maharaja and He agreed to become his doorman. He gave him a planet. He gave Bali a whole planet called Sutala-loka and He became the doorman. That means He became the servant of His devotee. In the material world at least superficially the master is always the master, the servant is always the servant. It is not so common here but say in Africa the people who could afford it would often have domestic servants to clean the house, to maintain the garden, and to drive the car. So the master was always the master and the servant was always the servant. It is not that the master said, “Okay, I have been master long enough. Now you be the master. I’ll be the servant.” The master is always the master and the servant is always the servant in the material world, in the relative world, but in the absolute world the Lord who is the supreme master sometimes becomes the servant of His devotee. He is always the master ultimately but He likes to be the servant of His devotee. So Bali Maharaja because he gave everything to Vamana, so Vamana reciprocated, He gave everything including Himself to His devotee, to Bali Maharaja. He became his doorman.

It is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that when the great demon Ravana was conquering the universe he came to Sutala-loka and Vamanadeva as Bali’s doorman gave him a kick with His lotus toe which had also pierced the coverings of the universe and that kick was so powerful that it sent the great demon Ravana all the way across the universe to the other side of the universe. So this is the beautiful relationship between the devotee and the Lord. 

Therefore in conclusion Srila Prabhupada says that one who gives to the Lord is not the loser but he gains by millions of times. And Srila Prabhupada sometimes gave himself as an example. He said that when he was in household life before he surrendered everything to Krishna, he had five children, and there were always so many problems, but after he surrendered everything to Krishna, he got five hundred children and he loved them and they loved him and there were no problems. So one who surrenders to Krishna is not the loser but he is the gainer many times over.

Another example took place after Srila Prabhupada had begun the movement in America and had established his headquarters in Los Angeles, the same temple we have now, New Dvaraka. At a certain stage Srila Prabhupada felt that he had to leave New Dvaraka and return to India. He thought that it was such a nice facility, by far the best facility in the movement at the time. But then Prabhupada returned to India and began the preaching there and then eventually established the Krishna-Balarama temple in Vrindavan. At the time Srila Prabhupada commented that he had prayed to Dwarkadīśa, Rukmini-Dwarkadīśa, he prayed to Dwarkadīśa that, “Why are You kicking me out of Your temple?” But Prabhupada said, “Now I see that He has given me a place that is much better,” the Krishna-Balarama temple in Vrindavan. Of course on the absolute platform there is no distinction. 

Prabhupada said that the Lord never takes anything away from a devotee except to give the devotee something better. So sometimes it does happen that the Lord will take something away from us but we should consider that to be the Lord’s mercy and we should see how the Lord wants to give us something better by taking away something lesser. That is also the Lord’s mercy.

In the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Lord Krishna says: yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ, that, “When I want to show mercy to a devotee, the first thing I do is I take away his material opulence.” So this could sound like a horrifying prospect but actually it is the Lord’s mercy. If He sees that a devotee is sincere to serve Him but at the same time has some material attachment that is keeping him back, that he is unable to give up on his own, then the Lord out of His mercy upon the devotee will take away the material attachment so the devotee is free to surrender fully to the Lord and engage fully in the Lord’s mission.

Srila Prabhupada saw the same thing happening in his own life. In his householder life he had been a very successful businessman, but gradually his business started to fall apart. Finally the situation came to a climax when Prabhupada was away on a business trip, his servant plundered his office. He took away all of his stock and just completely ransacked the premises. It was such a heavy blow to the business that the business was unable to recover. But Srila Prabhupada thought of that verse yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ and he actually mentioned it to one of his god-brothers, “Maybe this is what’s happening to me. Maybe this is what Krishna is doing to me.” We say “to me” but really “for me.” 

Srila Prabhupada said that earlier he was dreaming that his guru maharaja was coming to him and asking him to follow him, to take sannyasa and follow him. Srila Prabhupada would wake up—it was like a nightmare for him—he would wake up and he would think, “How can I leave my wife? How can I leave my children? How can I leave my household?” One of his god-brothers told him that if one really wants to preach he must take sannyasa. So when gradually Krishna took everything away from him he took it as Krishna’s mercy that, “Now I can dedicate myself fully to the order of my spiritual master, the mission of my spiritual master.” Later Srila Prabhupada commented that, “In the beginning Krishna tested me by taking everything away from me and later Krishna tested me by giving me everything.” 

Actually for a devotee, he only wants to serve Krishna. He has no other desire. So if Krishna takes away everything, alright, he will serve Krishna without anything and if Krishna gives him everything alright, he’ll serve Krishna with everything. But he is the same either way. Whatever he has, however much or however little he has, he will use it to serve Krishna.

In this discussion in the Eighth Canto, although it is emphasized that when the Lord is merciful to someone He’ll take away His material possessions, the final conclusion is that when the Lord is really merciful to someone he will give the person that spiritual strength that even in the midst of material opulence he has no attraction for material enjoyment but he will use the opulence wholly and solely in the service of the Lord. And it is Krishna’s mercy to take away a person’s material attachments but the supreme mercy is to bless the devotee with such spiritual strength and power that even being given all material facility, he will use the facility only for Krishna’s service and not for sense gratification and that is really the Lord’s mercy and that was the case of Srila Prabhupada. 

An astrologer had predicted that he would become the richest man in India. Years later Srila Prabhupada commented that no one’s wealth could compare to his even the Birla family which was the richest in India at the time. Prabhupada had a hundred and eight temples, hundred and eight palaces all over the world. He had so many servants and not just ordinary servants but European servants. It is very prestigious for an Indian to have European servants. That was the height of prestige. Prabhupada had hundreds and thousands of servants. He didn’t have to pay them anything and European servants. So Srila Prabhupada said that even the richest man in India his wealth couldn’t compared to Prabhupada’s.

So that is the Lord’s mercy when a devotee is so pure that he can accept any amount of facility and not use it for himself but use it exclusively for Krishna. But he is still niṣkiñcana because he doesn’t think it is his. He has no sense of false proprietorship. He personally feels he has nothing. It is all Krishna’s and he is just accepting it to use in Krishna’s service. Hare Krishna. [applause]

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: What did you say the pastime of Vamana kicking Ravana was about?

Giriraj Swami: I believe I read it. It is not elaborately described but I believe I read it in the Fifth Canto that Ravana came to Bali Maharaja’s door while he was in his mood to conquer the universe and Vamana gave him a kick and sent him across the universe.

Devotee: Lord Krishna is the same as Vishnu, Maha-Vishnu. All the universes come out of His pores. Each universe I understand is ruled by one Vishnu, Shiva, and Lord Brahma—each universe. So now just to understand the expansions of Krishna and Maha-Vishnu and Vishnu

Giriraj Swami: That’s a good question. If you see on the wall there are many lovely paintings by Prabhupada’s disciples and under each one is a caption which explains what’s in the picture. So on the far left here there is a picture of Maha-Vishnu. So what you said is true that from His breathing, when He exhales, so many universes come out of His pores. Then Maha-Vishnu who is also known as Karanodakashayi Vishnu, He expands as Garbhodakashayi Vishnu. There is one Garbhodakashayi Vishnu in each universe, and He lies down in the Garbhodaka Ocean and from His navel sprouts a lotus flower, you can say from which Lord Brahma is born and then Lord Brahma engineers the creation of the planets within the universe. And then Garbhodakashayi Vishnu expands and becomes Kshirodakshayi Vishnu and Kshirodakshayi Vishnu is the Supersoul, the Paramātmā. He is within every atom, within the spaces within the atoms and between the atoms and within the hearts of every living entity. So these are the three puruṣa-avatāras.

Devotee: Lord Vamanadeva came as an incarnation of Vishnu?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Vamanadeva is an incarnation of Vishnu.

Devotee: In this universe?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Vishnu incarnated as Vamanadeva. Yes, in this universe.

Devotee: From yesterday’s discussion I liked how you talked about how we are individual parts. [inaudible] He wants to fully enjoy with every single individual person. It is really nice to know. He can’t enjoy fully without all of us there.

Giriraj Swami: Since you mentioned that, I have two things to say further related to both yesterday’s discussion and today’s. This verse I quoted today: gurur na sa syāt sva-jano na sa syāt pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt, no one should become a guru or a father, mother, husband, it suggests that these figures, natural figures of authority are meant to be God’s representatives. God has unconditional love for all of His parts and parcels. That suggests that these natural figures of authority are meant to have unconditional love for their dependents. If they do not have unconditional love for their dependents it is a breach of their relationship with their dependent. Because hardly anyone is acting properly in positions of authority, the whole world is destroyed or disturbed. The world is disturbed and people are traumatized because their natural authorities are not acting properly. They are violating their positions of authority, their positions of trust. It creates a traumatic experience. But still, when we come to the real authority, when we come to Krishna, we should understand that, “Yes, I did have those bad experiences but I won’t have the same with Krishna. Krishna will not let me down.” 

The other thing I said about individuality because the devotee was afraid if he surrendered to a guru, he loses individuality, so I made the point that we retain everything but we give preference to Krishna, that I might like pizza from a shop but I can’t offer Krishna pizza from a shop, so I give preference to what Krishna wants. 

Srila Prabhupada expanded this principle that Krishna likes Radharani so all the other gopīs are thinking, “Okay, Krishna likes Radharani so we’ll push Radharani forward to Krishna, because Krishna likes Her the best and we want to please Krishna. Krishna likes Her the best so we’ll push Her forward, arrange for Radharani to meet with Krishna because that will give Krishna the greatest pleasure.” And the devotee’s happiness comes from Krishna’s pleasure. So by giving Krishna the greatest pleasure, the devotee also experiences the greatest happiness. 

Srila Prabhupada told the story of a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. It was a very hot day so that disciple was fanning Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and maybe Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura himself remarked, “Aren’t you feeling warm?” And the disciple replied, “No, by fanning you I feel cool.” And many cooks have commented like Yamuna devi, one of the most famous cooks in ISKCON, that when you cook for someone else, you cook for your spiritual master, you cook for other devotees, you don’t even feel like eating afterwards. You are just so satisfied cooking for them, you don’t even feel like eating. You just want to serve them and see them satisfied and that makes you feel satisfied.

Vrajendranandana dasa: A further elaboration of how Bali Maharaja got everything, it is explained that that standard of opulence and happiness is greater than Indra’s in the heavenly planet. And even after he leaves Sutala, that life is over, he will become the next Indra, getting Indra-loka back.

Giriraj Swami: That’s right. What Vrajendranandana Prabhu said is correct on both points that the opulence of the planet Sutala was even greater than the opulence of the heavenly planet of King Indra which Bali had occupied. Furthermore, Vamana gave him the benediction that after his duration of time was over in Sutala, because Indra is a post, like Lord Brahma is a post, then Bali would occupy the post of Indra. He would get that post of Indra which he had won by conquering over that Indra. 

So Vrajendranandana Prabhu is giving further elaboration of how Vamanadeva reciprocated with Bali Maharaja’s surrender and fulfilled his desires more than he could imagine. As Prabhupada said: “By giving everything to the cause of the Lord, one does not lose anything, but he gains everything that he could never otherwise expect.”

Devotee: At what point did Bali Maharaja realize the Bali Maharaja is the supreme? Before his guru maharaja told him or after he told him or before he saw the expansion of Vamanadeva?

Giriraj Swami: This is a very subtle question, at what point did Bali Maharaja realize that Vamana was actually Vishnu because that was the idea, at first he thought, “He is just a brahman who has come to beg and I always give in charity to brahmans.” But he may have felt some special attraction for Him that he didn’t feel for other brahmans. He may have had a sense that this was not an ordinary brahman. So when Sukracharya said that He was actually Vishnu, he didn’t doubt that He was Vishnu, he just didn’t want to break his promise and he didn’t mind surrendering everything to Vishnu. In a way you can say Vishnu cheated him because Vishnu asked for three steps of land in the form of a person whose three steps would cover this much. So He asked for three steps when those three steps would be this much. And then after he agreed to give three steps He expanded Himself to the point where with two steps He covered the whole universe. So you could say that Vamanadeva cheated him but he was happy to be cheated by Him because the Lord is absolute. Whatever He does is all good for everyone. So even if He cheats us, it is for our ultimate benefit and so we should surrender to whatever it is.

I am not remembering it exactly but one devotee recently told me the story that he came to the temple just to try it out. It was in the sixties or seventies. So after he came—he was going to maybe spend a day, spend a night, and see how he liked it—one of the devotees said, “You know your hair is really pretty long. It wouldn’t look good to the people who come to the temple.” So he was just going to give him a little trim and he completely shaved him up and he was so embarrassed, so humiliated, he felt he couldn’t leave the temple because he couldn’t show himself to the world all shaved up. So he stayed and he became a full-fledged devotee, he took initiation, and became happy in Krishna consciousness. 

Generally, we are advised not to cheat but if Krishna is cheating you then better to surrender because Krishna’s cheating you is for your benefit.

Devotee: [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: No, He is not cheating. He is just creating a situation where He can give you more. That’s correct. 

Thank you very much.
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!