पदं दीयमानं भगवतः परमिति भगवतोपरते खलु स्वपितरि ॥२५॥
yasyÄnudÄsyam evÄsmat-pitÄmahaḥ kila vavre na tu sva-pitryaá¹ yad utÄkutobhayaá¹ padaá¹ dÄ«yamÄnaá¹ bhagavataḥ param iti bhagavatoparate khalu sva-pitari
yasya - of whom (the Supreme Personality of Godhead); anudÄsyam - the service; eva - certainly; asmat - our; pitÄ-mahaḥ - grandfather; kila - indeed; vavre - accepted; na - not; tu - but; sva - own; pitryam - paternal property; yat - which; uta - certainly; akutaḥ-bhayam - fearlessness; padam - position; dÄ«yamÄnam - being offered; bhagavataḥ - than the Supreme Personality of Godhead; param - other; iti - thus; bhagavatÄ - by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; uparate - when killed; khalu - indeed; sva-pitari - his own father.
Bali MahÄrÄja said: My grandfather PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja is the only person who understood his own self-interest. Upon the death of PrahlÄda’s father, HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu, Lord Ná¹›siá¹hadeva wanted to offer PrahlÄda his father’s kingdom and even wanted to grant him liberation from material bondage, but PrahlÄda 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 jñÄna, PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja simply begged the Lord for engagement in the service of His servant.
ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu has instructed that an unalloyed devotee should consider himself a servant of the servant of the servant of the Supreme Lord (gopÄ«-bhartuḥ pÄda-kamalayor dÄsa-dÄsÄnudÄsaḥ). In Vaiṣṇava philosophy, one should not even become a direct servant. PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja was offered all the blessings of an opulent position in the material world and even the liberation of merging into Brahman, but he refused all this. He simply wanted to engage in the service of the servant of the servant of the Lord. Therefore Bali MahÄrÄja said that because his grandfather PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja had rejected the blessings of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in terms of material opulence and liberation from material bondage, he truly understood his self-interest.
