B ali maharaj, who is the grandson of Prahlad maharaj, who was king of the daityas, he worshipped Visnu, and he was able to defeat Indra. He became the ruler of the whole universe. So all the devas and the deva mata Aditi came before Visnu, and offered their prayers and obeisances. So Visnu agreed to come as Vamanadeva. So He took birth as a brahmana and His name was Vamanadeva and He was a dwarf. And He went with Indra to see king Bali maharaja. And He begged three steps of land as biksa. Bali maharaj said, why take three steps? I can give You a whole planet!! I can give You a nice wife, anything You want! No, no, if I cannot be satisfied with three steps, I cannot be satisfied with anything! Sukracarya, the guru of Bali maharaj said, no, don’t give Him! But I promised I would give Him! Then Sukracarya gave all the reasons, why you can lie. So like a lie in making a marriage alliance, to save your life, you have the reasons from sastra when it is alright to lie. But Bali maharaja said, no, if He is Visnu, I worship Visnu, then I will give Him, what He asked for. So then Sukracarya cursed him, if you give Him, I will curse you, you will lose everything! But at that time, Vamanadeva took water from His kamandalu. So using His mystic power, Sukracarya went inside the spout of the kamandalu to stop the water, as a fly. So Vamanadeva He took a straw, (and hit the fly) and at that time Sukracarya had one eye blind. So then Vamanadeva gave water in the hand of Bali maharaja. So it was final, Bali maharaja was giving Vamanadeva’s boon. Then Vamanadeva He started to expand, BIGGER AND BIGGER AND BECAME TRIVKIKRAMA! His one step covered the whole earth, the Bhu loka. Then the next step His body expanded, until He covered the entire Bhur Bhuva Svaha! The Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapaloka and Satyaloka! He covered the whole universe and with His foot, He hit the shell of the universe. And then He let the Ganges in. I won’t talk about the Ganges now. Maybe another time! So then Trivikrama asked Bali maharaj, where do I put the third step? And then Bali maharaja bowed down and said, put it on my head! So He put His lotus foot on the head of Bali maharaja! Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! So then He told Bali maharaja that He would go down and stay in Sutala. And that He would be his doorkeeper. He would see that no one attacked Bali maharaja. So His pastime has been Vamana Dvadasi and we fast on the Ekadasi before the Dvadasi. Because on devadasi we shouldn’t fast and since Ekadasi is the fast day, we observe it then. We don’t take any cereals, grains or pulses on Ekadasi. And those who want, they follow fasting and stay awake all night. So this is a great Ekadasi, it destroys all one’s previous karmas. And one can go to the spiritual world! So Bali maharaja was a grihasta. Prahlad maharaj was a grihasta. Bali maharaja was his grandchild. And even he was born in the family of demons. But if you practice bhakti yoga, if you chant the Hare Krsna mantra, you can achieve all the success! So we are requesting you please, chant Hare Krsna
HH Jayapataka Swami
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