Verse 1

¹Slighted in this way by the Bhagavan, king, Bali the demon, though he was being broken, was unbroken in himself, and answered with words that did not falter. ²If you, whose renown is highest, think the word I spoke was a false one, best of the gods, I shall make it true and there will be no cheating in it. Set your own third step on my head. ³I am not afraid of hell, fallen from my place; nor of the binding cords; nor of trouble there is no getting past; nor of the pinch of want, nor of your holding me down -- not as I shrink from being called no good man. ⁴I think the punishment laid on by the most worthy is the most to be praised of anything men can be given: the one that a mother, a father, a brother and friends do not lay on.

⁵You are surely the highest teacher of us demons, though you keep out of sight: you who to us, blind with many prides, have given this falling from place for an eye. ⁶In you many who are not gods, by a bond of enmity held to and carried far, have got the attainment that yogins of one undivided aim get. ⁷So I am held down by you, whose works are many, and bound with the cords of Varuna; and I am not much ashamed by it, nor do I suffer.