sa cÄhaá¹ vitta-lobhena
pratyÄcaká¹£e kathaá¹ dvijam
pratiÅ›rutya dadÄmÄ«ti
prÄhrÄdiḥ kitavo yathÄ
saḥ - such a person as I am; ca - also; aham - I am; vitta-lobhena - for being allured by greed for money; pratyÄcaká¹£e - I shall cheat or say no when I have already said yes; katham - how; dvijam - especially to a brÄhmaṇa; pratiÅ›rutya - after already having promised; dadÄmi - that I shall give; iti - thus; prÄhrÄdiḥ - I who am famous as the grandson of MahÄrÄja PrahlÄda; kitavaḥ - an ordinary cheater; yathÄ - just like.
Bali MahÄrÄja had already been blessed by his grandfather PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja. Therefore, he was a pure devotee, although born in a family of demons. There are two kinds of highly elevated devotees, called sÄdhana-siddha and ká¹›pÄ-siddha. SÄdhana-siddha refers to one who has become a devotee by regular execution of the regulative principles mentioned in the Å›Ästras, 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 Kṛṣṇa — the spiritual master and the Supreme Personality of Godhead — have immediately attained the perfection of pure devotional service. Examples of such devotees are the yajña-patnÄ«s, MahÄrÄja Bali and Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ«. The yajña-patnÄ«s were the wives of ordinary brÄhmaṇas engaged in fruitive activities. Although the brÄhmaṇas were very learned and advanced in Vedic knowledge, they could not achieve the mercy of Kṛṣṇa-BalarÄma, whereas their wives achieved complete perfection in devotional service, despite their being women. Similarly, Vairocani, Bali MahÄrÄja, received the mercy of PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja, and by PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja’s mercy he also received the mercy of Lord Viṣṇu, who appeared before him as a brahmacÄrÄ« beggar. Thus Bali MahÄrÄja became a ká¹›pÄ-siddha because of the special mercy of both guru and Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya MahÄprabhu confirms this favor: guru-kṛṣṇa-prasÄde pÄya bhakti-latÄ-bÄ«ja (Cc. Madhya 19.151). Bali MahÄrÄja, by the grace of PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja, got the seed of devotional service, and when that seed developed, he achieved the ultimate fruit of that service, namely love of Godhead (premÄ pum-artho mahÄn), immediately upon the appearance of Lord VÄmanadeva. Bali MahÄrÄja regularly maintained devotion for the Lord, and because he was purified, the Lord appeared before him. Because of unalloyed love for the Lord, he then immediately decided, “I shall give this little dwarf brÄhmaṇa whatever He asks from me.†This is a sign of love. Thus Bali MahÄrÄja is understood to be one who received the highest perfection of devotional service by special mercy.