त्वयैव दत्तं पदमैन्द्रमूर्जितं
हृतं तदेवाद्य तथैव शोभनम् ।
मन्ये महानस्य कृतो ह्यनुग्रहो
विभ्रंशितो यच्छ्रिय आत्ममोहनात् ॥१६॥
Å›rÄ«-prahrÄda uvÄca
tvayaiva dattaá¹ padam aindram Å«rjitaá¹
há¹›taá¹ tad evÄdya tathaiva Å›obhanam
manye mahÄn asya ká¹›to hy anugraho
vibhramÅ›ito yac chriya Ätma-mohanÄt
Å›rÄ«-prahrÄdaḥ uvÄca - PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja said; tvayÄ - by Your Lordship; eva - indeed; dattam - which had been given; padam - this position; aindram - of the King of heaven; Å«rjitam - very, very great; há¹›tam - has been taken away; tat - that; eva - indeed; adya - today; tathÄ - as; eva - indeed; Å›obhanam - beautiful; manye - I consider; mahÄn - very great; asya - of him (Bali MahÄrÄja); ká¹›taḥ - has been done by You; hi - indeed; anugrahaḥ - mercy; vibhramÅ›itaḥ - being bereft of; yat - because; Å›riyaḥ - from that opulence; Ätma-mohanÄt - which was covering the process of self-realization.
PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja said: My Lord, it is Your Lordship who gave this Bali the very great opulence of the post of heavenly king, and now, today, it is You who have taken it all away. I think You have acted with equal beauty in both ways. Because his exalted position as King of heaven was putting him in the darkness of ignorance, You have done him a very merciful favor by taking away all his opulence.
As it is said, yasyÄham anugá¹›hṇÄmi hariá¹£ye tad-dhanaá¹ Å›anaiḥ (BhÄg. 10.88.8). It is by the mercy of the Lord that one gets all material opulence, but if such material opulence causes one to become puffed up and forget the process of self-realization, the Lord certainly takes all the opulence away. The Lord bestows mercy upon His devotee by helping him find out his constitutional position. For that purpose, the Lord is always ready to help the devotee in every way. But material opulence is sometimes dangerous because it diverts one’s attention to false prestige by giving one the impression that he is the owner and master of everything he surveys, although actually this is not the fact. To protect the devotee from such a misunderstanding, the Lord, showing special mercy, sometimes takes away his material possessions. YasyÄham anugá¹›hṇÄmi hariá¹£ye tad-dhanaá¹ Å›anaiḥ.
