Bhagavatapurana 8.19

English (machine translation) 8.19

Language: English

8.19.1

/0 Śrī Śuka said:
Having heard these words of the son of Virocana, righteous and truthful, / the Lord was pleased, praised him, and spoke as follows.

The Lord said:
These words of yours, O ruler of people, are truthful, worthy of your family, united with dharma, and bringing renown, / whose standard of authority are the descendants of Bhṛgu in the afterworld, and your grandfather [Prahlāda], the elder of the lineage and most tranquil.

8.19.3

For in this dynasty there has been no man lacking noble character, no miser, / nor one who, having promised, turns away [a petitioner], or who refuses to give to the twice-born.

8.19.4

There are none in your family who, when begged by a suppliant at a holy place or in battle, turn their backs, lacking greatness of mind, O king— / in whose lineage Prahlāda shines forth with spotless fame, like the moon in the sky.

8.19.5

From whom was born Hiraṇyākṣa, who, roaming this earth alone / with mace as weapon in his conquest of the directions, found no rival warrior.

8.19.6

Having vanquished him with difficulty when he approached during the lifting of the earth, / Viṣṇu considered himself victorious, recalling his vast prowess.

8.19.7

Hearing of his killing in ancient times, his brother Hiraṇyakaśipu, / enraged to kill the slayer of his brother, went to the abode of Hari.

8.19.8

Seeing him approach with trident in hand, like the god of death himself, / Viṣṇu, who knows the appropriate time and is the foremost of those possessing creative power, pondered:

8.19.9

“Wherever I go, there he is, like death unto embodied beings; / therefore I will enter into his heart, for his sight is directed outward.”

8.19.10

Having thus resolved, as his enemy rushed toward him, O lord of the Asuras, / he entered into his body through the opening of his breath, concealing his subtle body in the wind of respiration, with an anxious mind.

8.19.11

Searching that dwelling and seeing it empty, he roared in anger; / seeking Viṣṇu on earth, in heaven, in the directions, the sky, the subterranean realms, and the oceans, the hero saw him not.

8.19.12

Not seeing him, he said: “This entire world has been searched by me; / surely the slayer of my brother has gone to that place from which a man does not return.

8.19.13

Such is the persistence of hostility among embodied beings here, lasting until death: / anger born of ignorance, nourished by egotism.”

8.19.14

Your father, the son of Prahlāda, knowing that, and loving the twice-born, / gave his own lifespan when begged by the gods disguised as twice-born.

8.19.15

You have undertaken the practices of dharma observed by householders, / by brāhmaṇas, by your ancestors, by heroes, and by others of boundless fame.

8.19.16

Therefore, from you, the best of boon-givers, I ask for a small portion of earth: / three paces, O lord of Daityas, measured by my own steps.

8.19.17

I desire nothing else from you, O king, generous ruler of the world; / a wise man incurs no sin when taking only what is needed for his purpose.

8.19.18

Bali said:
Ah, son of a brāhmaṇa, your words are approved by the elderly, / yet you are a child, with childish intellect, as if ignorant of your own self-interest.

8.19.19

He who, having propitiated me with words—the sole ruler of the worlds, / able to bestow an entire continent—asks for merely three paces, is unwise.

8.19.20

No man, having approached me, should ever need to beg again; / therefore, young brahmacārin, accept from me according to your desire land sufficient for your livelihood.

8.19.21

The Lord said:
All the dearest objects of sense that exist in the three worlds / are not able, O king, to satisfy a man whose senses are unconquered.

8.19.22

One who is not satisfied with three paces cannot be fulfilled even by a continent / comprising its nine regions, because of his longing for the best of the seven continents.

8.19.23

Sovereigns of the seven continents, kings such as the son of Vena and Gaya, / did not reach the end of thirst through wealth and desires; so it has been heard by us.

8.19.24

One who is content with what comes by chance lives happily; / one who is discontented is not satisfied even with the three worlds obtained, his self being unconquered.

8.19.25

This discontent regarding wealth and desires is the cause of transmigration for a person; / contentment with whatever comes by chance is taught as leading to liberation.

8.19.26

The spiritual brilliance of a brāhmaṇa who is satisfied with what is gained by chance increases; / it is extinguished by discontent, like fire by water.

8.19.27

Therefore, I choose only three paces from you, the best among boon-givers; / with only this much my purpose is accomplished; wealth is only as much as is needed.

8.19.28

Śuka said:
Thus addressed, he laughed and said: “Let it be accepted according to your wish!” / In order to give the land to the dwarf, he took up the water-vessel.

8.19.29

As he was about to give the land to Viṣṇu, Uśanas, the best among the wise, / knowing what Viṣṇu intended to do, spoke to his disciple, the lord of the Asuras.

8.19.30

Śukra said:
O son of Virocana, this is directly the Lord Viṣṇu, the imperishable, / born of Kaśyapa from Aditi to accomplish the purpose of the gods.

8.19.31

What was promised by you to him, not knowing the catastrophe, / I do not consider good; a great disaster has come upon the Daityas.

8.19.32

This Hari, a deceptive dwarf, having snatched away / your position, sovereignty, fortune, splendor, fame, and sacred learning, will give them to Śakra.

8.19.33

Having the universe for his body, he will stride across these worlds in three steps; / having given your all to Viṣṇu, O fool, how will you survive?

8.19.34

With one step the earth, with the second the heaven of the all-pervading Lord, / and the sky with his vast body—where will the third step fall?

8.19.35

I foresee your dwelling in hell for not giving what was promised, / since you will be powerless to fulfill what was promised.

8.19.36

They do not praise that gift by which one's livelihood is ruined, / for charity, sacrifice, asceticism, and action exist in the world for one who has a livelihood.

8.19.37

Dividing one's wealth into five parts—for dharma, for renown, for wealth, / for pleasure, and for one's kinfolk—one rejoices here and in the hereafter.

8.19.38

Hear from me, O best of the Asuras, what is also chanted by the Ṛgvedic sages in this regard: / that which is stated as “Yes” (om) is the truth, and that which says “No” is indeed falsehood.

8.19.39

One should know truth as the flower and fruit of the tree of the self, so it is sung; / if the tree does not survive, that cannot be; falsehood is the root of the self.

8.19.40

Just as an uprooted tree withers and soon falls down, / so the self whose root is destroyed by unmeasured giving would immediately wither, without doubt.

8.19.41

That syllable “Om” means giving away, empty or unfulfilled; / whatever one says “Om” to, by that a person is indeed emptied; / by saying “Om” to everything for a beggar, nothing is left for oneself to satisfy desire.

8.19.42

On the other hand, the word “No”, which is an untruth, is full and centered on oneself; / but he who says “No” falsely to everything becomes ill-reputed and dead even while breathing.

8.19.43

To women, in jest, in marriage, for the sake of one's livelihood, when life is in peril, / for the sake of cows and brāhmaṇas, or to prevent slaughter, falsehood is not blameworthy.

Translations (1)

The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English

Linked texts (1)

Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit