Text 17]
Bali Mahārāja Surrenders His Life
173
opulence, but if such material opulence causes one to become puffed up and forget the process of self-realization, the Lord certainly takes all the opulence away. The Lord bestows mercy upon His devotee by helping him find out his constitutional position. For that purpose, the Lord is always ready to help the devotee in every way. But material opulence is sometimes dangerous because it diverts one's attention to false prestige by giving one the impression that he is the owner and master of everything he surveys, although actually this is not the fact. To protect the devotee from such a misunderstanding, the Lord, showing special mercy, sometimes takes away his material possessions.  Yasyāham anugrhṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ.
TEXT 17
यया हि विद्वानपि मुह्यते यत- 
  स्तत् को विचष्टे गतिमात्मनो यथा । 
  तस्मै नमस्ते जगदीश्वराय वै 
  नारायणायाखिललोकसाक्षिणे ॥१७॥
yayā hi vidvān api muhyate yatas 
  tat ko vicaṣte gatim ātmano yathā 
  tasmai namas te jagad-īśvarāya vai 
  nārāyaṇāyākhila-loka-sākṣiṇe
yayā —by which material opulence;  hi —indeed;  vidvān api —even a person fortunately advanced in education;  muhyate —becomes bewildered;  yataḥ —self-controlled;  tat —that;  kaḥ —who;  vicaṣte —can search for;  gatim —the progress;  ātmanaḥ —of the self;  yathā —properly;  tasmai —unto Him;  namaḥ —I offer my respectful obeisances;  te —unto You;  jagat-īśvarāya —unto the Lord of the universe;  vai —indeed;  nārāyaṇāya —unto His Lordship Nārāyaṇa;  akhila-loka-sākṣiṇe —who are the witness of all creation.
TRANSLATION
Material opulence is so bewildering that it makes even a learned, self-controlled man forget to search for the goal of