त्वयैव दत्तं पदमैन्द्रमूर्जितं
हृतं तदेवाद्य तथैव शोभनम् ।
मन्ये महानस्य कृतो ह्यनुग्रहो
विभ्रंशितो यच्छ्रिय आत्ममोहनात् ॥
यया हि विद्वानपि मुह्यते यत-
स्तत् को विचष्टे गतिमात्मनो यथा ।
तस्मै नमस्ते जगदीश्वराय वै
नारायणायाखिललोकसाक्षिणे ॥

tvayaiva dattaṁ padam aindram ūrjitaṁ
hṛtaṁ tad evādya tathaiva śobhanam |
manye mahān asya kṛto hy anugraho
vibhraṁśito yac chriya ātma-mohanāt ||
yayā hi vidvān api muhyate yatas
tat ko vicaṣṭe gatim ātmano yathā |
tasmai namas te jagad-īśvarāya vai
nārāyaṇāyākhila-loka-sākṣiṇe ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.22.16–17)

“[Prahlāda Mahārāja to Vāmanadeva:] That this splendorous abode of Indra was [previously] given entirely [to Bali] and today taken entirely [back from Bali] by you is indeed proper, as I consider great favor has been shown to him [by you] in [his] being deprived of wealth, which is bewildering regarding the ātmā (self). Who perceives [i.e., can perceive] the actual nature of the ātmā in the presence of [wealth,] that by which even a learned and regulated person is bewildered? Obeisance unto him, the Lord of the universe, Nārāyāṇa, the observer of all beings [i.e., unto he who has greatly favored Bali by graciously depriving him of the wealth in his possession].”

Commentary

na hy aindraṁ padam etadīyaṁ tvayāpahṛtaṁ, kintu svīyam eva punaḥ svīkṛtaṁ, tac ca śobhanam eva kṛtam | yataḥ saṁyato’pi janaḥ, tat tasyāṁ sampadi satyāṁ ka ātmano gatis tattvaṁ yathāvad vicaṣṭe? no ko’pīty arthaḥ | na ca atra tava dattāpahāra-lakṣaṇo doṣo’pi snehena putra-haste dattasyāpi modakāder ahitāśaṅkayā punar acchidya nītavataḥ pitur yathā tathety arthaḥ |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)

“It is not that the abode of Indra, which was his [i.e., Bali’s] own, was taken away by you, but rather that it was your own [all along], and [now] you have again appropriated it. That you have done this is proper. ‘Regulated’ means even a self-restrained person. In the presence of wealth, who sees the actual nature of the ātmā? No one. This is the meaning. And here it is not even that you have the fault of taking away [i.e., taking back] something you have [previously] given, as you are like a father who has placed a sweetball or similar item [previously] in the hand of a son out of affection and then [later] snatched it back out of concern for [his] harm [i.e., for the sake of the son’s health and well-being].”

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