Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 8 Chapter 20 Verse 21

Canto 8: Withdrawal of the Cosmic Creations | Chapter 20: Bali Mahārāja Surrenders the Universe

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 8.20.21

tad vāmanaḿ rūpam avardhatādbhutaḿ

harer anantasya guṇa-trayātmakam

bhūḥ khaḿ diśo dyaur vivarāḥ payodhayas

tiryań-nṛ-devā ṛṣayo yad-āsata

SYNONYMS

tat — that; vāmanam — incarnation of Lord Vāmana; rūpam — form; avardhata — began to increase more and more; adbhutam — certainly very wonderful; hareḥ — of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; anantasya — of the unlimited; guṇa-traya-ātmakam — whose body is expanded by the material energy, consisting of three modes (goodness, passion and ignorance); bhūḥ — the land; kham — the sky; diśaḥ — all directions; dyauḥ — the planetary systems; vivarāḥ — different holes of the universe; payodhayaḥ — great seas and oceans; tiryak — lower animals, birds and beasts; nṛ — human beings; devāḥ — demigods; ṛṣayaḥ — great saintly persons; yat — wherein; āsata — lived.

TRANSLATION

The unlimited Supreme Personality of Godhead, who had assumed the form of Vāmana, then began increasing in size, acting in terms of the material energy, until everything in the universe was within His body, including the earth, the planetary systems, the sky, the directions, the various holes in the universe, the seas, the oceans, the birds, beasts, human beings, the demigods and the great saintly persons.

PURPORT

Bali Mahārāja wanted to give charity to Vāmanadeva, but the Lord expanded His body in such a way that He showed Bali Mahārāja that everything in the universe is already in His body. Actually, no one can give anything to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for He is full in everything. Sometimes we see a devotee offering Ganges water to the Ganges. After taking his bath in the Ganges, a devotee takes a palmful of water and offers it back to the Ganges. Actually, when one takes a palmful of water from the Ganges, the Ganges does not lose anything, and similarly if a devotee offers a palmful of water to the Ganges, the Ganges does not increase in any way. But by such an offering, the devotee becomes celebrated as a devotee of mother Ganges. Similarly, when we offer anything with devotion and faith, what we offer does not belong to us, nor does it enrich the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But if one offers whatever he has in his possession, he becomes a recognized devotee. In this regard, the example is given that when one's face is decorated with a garland and sandalwood pulp, the reflection of one's face in a mirror automatically becomes beautiful. The original source of everything is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is our original source also. Therefore when the Supreme Personality of Godhead is decorated, the devotees and all living entities are decorated automatically.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness