Srimad Bhagavatam — Ashtama Skandha, Shloka 5
Brahmā Worships Vāmana; the Demons Attack; Bali is Bound and Questioned About the Third Step
ब्रह्मादयो लोकनाथा: स्वनाथाय समादृता: । सानुगा बलिमाजह्रु: सङ्क्षिप्तात्मविभूतये ॥ ५ ॥
brahmādayo loka-nāthāḥ sva-nāthāya samādṛtāḥ sānugā balim ājahruḥ saṅkṣiptātma-vibhūtaye
梵天をはじめ諸世界の主宰神々は、遍満する御姿を収めて本来の御姿となられた至上の主ヴァーマナデーヴァを、恭しく礼拝し始めた。彼らは礼拝のための供物と諸具をことごとく集めた。
Vāmanadeva first expanded Himself to the universal form and then reduced Himself to the original Vāmana-rūpa. Thus He acted exactly like Lord Kṛṣṇa, who, at the request of Arjuna, first showed His universal form and later resumed His original form as Kṛṣṇa. The Lord can assume any form He likes, but His original form is that of Kṛṣṇa ( kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam ). According to the capacity of the devotee, the Lord assumes various forms so that the devotee can handle Him. This is His causeless mercy. When Lord Vāmanadeva resumed His original form, Lord Brahmā and his associates collected various paraphernalia for worship with which to please Him.
FAQs
This verse indicates that the Lord deliberately manifested a compact form to display His own divine opulences and accomplish His purpose in the Vāmana-līlā.
They approached their Supreme Master with reverence and led Bali into the Lord’s presence as part of the unfolding of the Vāmana pastime, wherein Bali would become central to the Lord’s divine arrangement.
Even the greatest authorities act with humility toward the Supreme; the verse encourages honoring God as the true master and recognizing that divine power can work through seemingly small or simple forms and situations.