न तथा तीर्थ आयाते श्रद्धया ये धनत्यजः ॥९॥
sulabhÄ yudhi viprará¹£e
hy anivá¹›ttÄs tanu-tyajaḥ
na tathÄ tÄ«rtha ÄyÄte
Å›raddhayÄ ye dhana-tyajaḥ
su-labhÄḥ - very easily obtained; yudhi - in the battlefield; vipra-ṛṣe - O best of the brÄhmaṇas; hi - indeed; anivá¹›ttÄḥ - not being afraid of fighting; tanu-tyajaḥ - and thus lay down their lives; na - not; tathÄ - as; tÄ«rthe ÄyÄte - on the arrival of a saintly person who creates holy places; Å›raddhayÄ - with faith and devotion; ye - those who; dhana-tyajaḥ - can give up their accumulated wealth.
O best of the brÄhmaṇas, many men have laid down their lives on the battlefield, being unafraid of fighting, but rarely has one gotten the chance to give his accumulated wealth faithfully to a saintly person who creates holy places.
Many ká¹£atriyas have laid down their lives on the battlefield for their nations, but hardly a person can be found who has given up all his property and his accumulated wealth in charity to a person worthy of the gift. As stated in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (17.20):
dÄtavyam iti yad dÄnaá¹
dÄ«yate ’nupakÄriṇe
deÅ›e kÄle ca pÄtre ca
tad dÄnaá¹ sÄttvikaá¹ smá¹›tam
“That gift which is given out of duty, at the proper time and place, to a worthy person, and without expectation of return is considered to be charity in the mode of goodness.†Thus charity given in the proper place is called sÄttvika. And above this charity in goodness is transcendental charity, in which everything is sacrificed for the sake of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. VÄmanadeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had come to Bali MahÄrÄja for alms. How could one get such an opportunity to give charity? Therefore, Bali MahÄrÄja decided without hesitation to give the Lord whatever He wanted. One may get various opportunities to lay down his life on the battlefield, but such an opportunity as this is hardly ever obtained.
