98 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 8, Ch. 20

brahmana; pratisrutya—after already having promised; dadami—that |
shall give; iti—thus; prahradih—I who am famous as the grandson of
Maharaja Prahlada; kitavah—an ordinary cheater; yathd —just like.

TRANSLATION

I am the grandson of Maharaja Prahlada. How can I withdraw my
promise because of greed for money when I have already said that
I shall give this land? How can I behave like an ordinary cheater,
especially toward a brahmana?

PURPORT

Bali Maharaja had already been blessed by his grandfather Prahlada
Maharaja. Therefore, he was a pure devotee, although born in a family of
demons. There are two kinds of highly elevated devotees, called
sadhana-siddha and krpd-siddha. Sadhana-siddha refers to one who has
become a devotee by regular execution of the regulative principles men-
tioned in the Sdstras, as ordered and directed by the spiritual master. If
one regularly executes such devotional service, he will certainly attain
perfection in due course of time. But there are other devotees, who may
not have undergone all the required details of devotional service but
who, by the special mercy of guru and Krsna—the spiritual master and
the Supreme Personality of Godhead—have immediately attained the
perfection of pure devotional service. Examples of such devotees are the
yajita-patnis, Maharaja Bali and Sukadeva Gosvami. The yajra-patnis
were the wives of ordinary brahmanas engaged in fruitive activities.
Although the bréhmanas were very learned and advanced in Vedic
knowledge, they could not achieve the mercy of Krsna-Balarama,
whereas their wives achieved complete perfection in devotional service,
despite their being women. Similarly, Vairocani, Bali Maharaja, received
the mercy of Prahlada Maharaja, and by Prahlada Maharaja’s mercy he
also received the mercy of Lord Visnu, who appeared before him as a
brahmacari beggar. Thus Bali Maharaja became a krpd-siddha because
of the special mercy of both guru and Krsna. Caitanya Mahaprabhu con-
firms this favor: guru-krsna-prasdde pdya bhakti-lata-bija (Cc.
Madhya 19.151). Bali Maharaja, by the grace of Prahlada Maharaja, got

the seed of devotional service, and when that seed developed, he
