Devanagari
बिभेमि नाहं निरयात् पदच्युतो
न पाशबन्धाद् व्यसनाद् दुरत्ययात् ।
नैवार्थकृच्छ्राद् भवतो विनिग्रहा-
दसाधुवादाद् भृशमुद्विजे यथा ॥ ३ ॥
Verse text
bibhemi nāhaṁ nirayāt pada-cyuto
na pāśa-bandhād vyasanād duratyayāt
naivārtha-kṛcchrād bhavato vinigrahād
asādhu-vādād bhṛśam udvije yathā
Synonyms
bibhemi
—
I do fear
;
na
—
not
;
aham
—
I
;
nirayāt
—
from a position in hell
;
pada
—
cyutaḥ — nor do I fear being deprived of my position
;
na
—
nor
;
pāśa
—
bandhāt — from being arrested by the ropes of Varuṇa
;
vyasanāt
—
nor from the distress
;
duratyayāt
—
which was unbearable for me
;
na
—
nor
;
eva
—
certainly
;
artha
—
kṛcchrāt — because of poverty, or scarcity of money
;
bhavataḥ
—
of Your Lordship
;
vinigrahāt
—
from the punishment I am now suffering
;
asādhu
—
vādāt — from defamation
;
bhṛśam
—
very much
;
udvije
—
I become anxious
;
yathā
—
as .
Translation
I do not fear being deprived of all my possessions, living in hellish life, being arrested for poverty by the ropes of Varuṇa or being punished by You as much as I fear defamation.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I do not fear living in hellish life, falling from my position, being bound by the ropes of Varuṇa, suffering unbearable calamity, suffering difficulties arising from loss of all possessions, or being punished by you--as much as I fear defamation by the devotees.
“Do you want to get free of Varuṇa’s ropes and hell?” Artha-kṛcchrāt means “fear of the difficult due to loss of assets.” I fear the criticism of devotees with words like “The devotees like Bali cheat brāhmaṇas.”
Purport
Although Bali Mahārāja fully surrendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he could not tolerate being defamed for cheating a
brāhmaṇa-brahmacārī.
Being quite alert in regard to his reputation, he thought deeply about how to prevent being defamed. The Lord, therefore, gave him the good counsel to prevent defamation by offering his head. A Vaiṣṇava does not fear any punishment.
Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati
(
Bhāg.
6.17.28
).