In plain words
Fulfilment comes only when people worthy of the king and a king worthy of the people come together!
Vāmana did not come merely to ask for a gift. He came to redeem Emperor Bali. He came to protect Emperor Bali. He came to shape Emperor Bali into an ideal man. What is the reason? Emperor Bali was the embodiment of Dharma, the embodiment of justice. In governing his people he was the very model. Not only that. In charity and giving and in devotion to God, he had a good and lofty heart. Emperor Bali had a mind that did not waver and a vision that was not deluded. In no situation was his mind of a nature to waver. Emperor Bali was a man of great steadiness of mind. To bless such a steady-minded Emperor Bali, Vāmana incarnated and gave the world an ideal path. Then Emperor Bali makes a request of Vāmana. ‘Swami! My own virtues alone do not count. The devotion and reverence of my people are also most necessary. Surely I could rule well because my people were good! Fulfilment comes only when people worthy of the king and a king worthy of the people, the two, come together. It is like this:
Because the rains have come, will the earth yield crops if no seeds are sown? And if those rains do not come, will fruit come, though the seed is sown? In any case, when the two come together, the great fulfilment is gained, mark it; in accord with God, the way of human effort brings its good here.
The people's feelings and the ruler's way of governing: only when the two join like negative and positive does fruition come. So it is no use for Śrīman Nārāyaṇa to give Mokṣa to me alone. The people made me what I am; bless my people too,’ he asked. ‘Give me the chance to see my people every year and rejoice,’ he asked. ‘In the month of Śrāvaṇa, under the star Śravaṇa, on a Saturday, I will come and see the people of Kerala’: so he wished.