Study a Verse

• If one accepts a poverty-stricken position because of losing money in business, gambling, prostitution or intoxication, no one will praise him, but if one becomes poverty-stricken by giving all of his possessions in charity, he becomes adored all over the world.
• Aside from this, if a benevolent and merciful person exhibits his pride in becoming poverty-stricken by giving his possessions in charity for good causes, his poverty is a welcome and auspicious sign of a great personality.
• Bali Mahārāja decided that even though he would become poverty-stricken by giving everything to Vāmanadeva, this is what he would prefer.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Public loss and humiliation → Total surrender. An apparent external defeat conceals a devotional triumph.

Chapters 19–23 of Canto 8: Vāmana tests Bali; Bali offers everything. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 20: Bali Mahārāja Surrenders the Universe

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Therefore, fame should be the aim of life, and even if one becomes poverty-stricken for the sake of a good reputation, that is not a loss. Bali Mahārāja thought that even if this brahmacārī, Vāmanadeva, were Lord Viṣṇu, if the Lord accepted his charity and then again arrested him, Bali Mahārāja would not envy Him.