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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 24]
Vāmanadeva to allow him to engage in His service, Indra used Him to beg Bali Mahārāja for material wealth. Although Indra was learned and his prime minister, Bṛhaspati, was also learned, neither of them begged to be able to render loving service to Lord Vāmanadeva. Therefore Bali Mahārāja lamented for Indra.
TEXT 25
यस्यानुदास्यमेवास्मत्पितामहः किल वत्रे न तु स्वपित्र्यं यदुताक्रुतोभयं पदं दीयमानं भगवतः परमिति भगवतोपरते खलु स्वपितरि ॥ २५ ॥
yasyānudāsyam evāsmat-pitāmahaḥ kila vavre na tu sva-pitryam yad utākutobhayam padam dīyamānam bhagavataḥ param iti bhagavatoparate khalu sva-pitari.
yasya—of whom (the Supreme Personality of Godhead); anudāsyam—the service; eva—certainly; asmat—our; pitā-mahaḥ— grandfather; kila—indeed; vavre—accepted; na—not; tu—but; sva— own; pitryam—paternal property; yat—which; uta—certainly; akutaḥ- bhayam—fearlessness; padam—position; dīyamānam—being offered; bhagavataḥ—than the Supreme Personality of Godhead; param—other; iti—thus; bhagavatā—by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; upar- ate—when killed; khalu—indeed; sva-pitari—his own father.
TRANSLATION
Bali Mahārāja said: My grandfather Prahlāda Mahārāja is the only person who understood his own self-interest. Upon the death of Prahlāda's father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva wanted to offer Prahlāda his father's kingdom and even wanted to grant him liberation from material bondage, but Prahlāda accepted neither. Liberation and material opulence, he thought, are obstacles to devotional service, and therefore such gifts from the Supreme Personality of Godhead are not His actual mercy. Consequently, instead of accepting the results of karma and jñāna, Prahlāda Mahārāja simply begged the Lord for engagement in the service of His servant.
PURPORT
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has instructed that an unalloyed devotee should consider himself a servant of the servant of the servant of the