भोगैश्वर्यमेवातनुतेति ॥२२॥
na vai bhagavÄn nÅ«nam amuá¹£yÄnujagrÄha yad uta punar ÄtmÄnusmá¹›ti-moá¹£aṇaá¹ mÄyÄmaya-bhogaiÅ›varyam evÄtanuteti
na - not; vai - indeed; bhagavÄn - the Supreme Personality of Godhead; nÅ«nam - certainly; amuá¹£ya - unto Bali MahÄrÄja; anujagrÄha - showed His favor; yat - because; uta - certainly; punaḥ - again; Ätma-anusmá¹›ti - of remembrance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; moá¹£aṇam - which robs one; mÄyÄ-maya - an attribute of MÄyÄ; bhoga-aiÅ›varyam - the material opulence; eva - certainly; Ätanuta - extended; iti - thus.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead did not award His mercy to Bali MahÄrÄja by giving him material happiness and opulence, for these make one forget loving service to the Lord. The result of material opulence is that one can no longer absorb his mind in the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
There are two kinds of opulence. One, which results from one’s karma, is material, whereas the other is spiritual. A surrendered soul who fully depends upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not want material opulence for sense gratification. Therefore when a pure devotee is seen to possess exalted material opulence, it is not due to his karma. Rather, it is due to his bhakti. In other words, he is in that position because the Supreme Lord wants him to execute service to Him very easily and opulently. The special mercy of the Lord for the neophyte devotee is that he becomes materially poor. This is the Lord’s mercy because if a neophyte devotee becomes materially opulent, he forgets the service of the Lord. However, if an advanced devotee is favored by the Lord with opulence, it is not material opulence but a spiritual opportunity. Material opulence offered to the demigods causes forgetfulness of the Lord, but opulence was given to Bali MahÄrÄja for continuing service to the Lord, which was free from any touch of mÄyÄ.
