न पाशबन्धाद्व्यसनाद् दुरत्ययात् ।
नैवार्थकृच्छ्राद् भवतो विनिग्रहा
दसाधुवादाद् भृशमुद्विजे यथा ॥३॥
bibhemi nÄhaá¹ nirayÄt pada-cyuto
na pÄÅ›a-bandhÄd vyasanÄd duratyayÄt
naivÄrtha-ká¹›cchrÄd bhavato vinigrahÄd
asÄdhu-vÄdÄd bhṛśam udvije yathÄ
bibhemi - I do fear; na - not; aham - I; nirayÄt - from a position in hell; pada-cyutaḥ - nor do I fear being deprived of my position; na - nor; pÄÅ›a-bandhÄt - from being arrested by the ropes of Varuṇa; vyasanÄt - nor from the distress; duratyayÄt - which was unbearable for me; na - nor; eva - certainly; artha-ká¹›cchrÄt - because of poverty, or scarcity of money; bhavataḥ - of Your Lordship; vinigrahÄt - from the punishment I am now suffering; asÄdhu-vÄdÄt - from defamation; bhṛśam - very much; udvije - I become anxious; yathÄ - as.
I do not fear being deprived of all my possessions, living in hellish life, being arrested for poverty by the ropes of Varuṇa or being punished by You as much as I fear defamation.
Although Bali MahÄrÄja fully surrendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he could not tolerate being defamed for cheating a brÄhmaṇa-brahmacÄrÄ«. Being quite alert in regard to his reputation, he thought deeply about how to prevent being defamed. The Lord, therefore, gave him the good counsel to prevent defamation by offering his head. A Vaiṣṇava does not fear any punishment. NÄrÄyaṇa-parÄḥ sarve na kutaÅ›cana bibhyati (BhÄg. 6.17.28).
