Srimad Bhagavatam — Ashtama Skandha, Shloka 1
Bali Mahārāja’s Empowerment and Conquest of Indra’s City
Prelude to Vāmana’s Petition
श्रीराजोवाच बले: पदत्रयं भूमे: कस्माद्धरिरयाचत । भूतेश्वर: कृपणवल्लब्धार्थोऽपि बबन्ध तम् ॥ १ ॥ एतद् वेदितुमिच्छामो महत्कौतूहलं हि न: । याच्ञेश्वरस्य पूर्णस्य बन्धनं चाप्यनागस: ॥ २ ॥
śrī-rājovāca baleḥ pada-trayaṁ bhūmeḥ kasmād dharir ayācata bhūteśvaraḥ kṛpaṇa-val labdhārtho ’pi babandha tam
Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired: The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the proprietor of everything. Why did He beg three paces of land from Bali Mahārāja like a poor man, and when He got the gift for which He had begged, why did He nonetheless arrest Bali Mahārāja? I am very much anxious to know the mystery of these contradictions.
FAQs
Because the Lord’s Vāmana-līlā uses a seemingly small request to reveal His all-pervading supremacy and to bring Bali to complete surrender, transforming charity into pure devotion.
Parīkṣit wonders at this: the Lord may externally bind His devotee as part of His līlā, not out of cruelty, but to perfect the devotee’s surrender and to display divine justice and mercy together.
Offer what you have with integrity, accept reversals as spiritual tests, and deepen surrender—seeing that the Lord’s arrangements can purify pride and strengthen devotion.