There is a nice story of a great devotee, Bali Maharaja. Bali Maharaja was a very powerful king, and he conquered over the heavenly planets. So the denizens of the heavenly planets, they appealed to the Supreme Lord to save them, that “We are now conquered by the demonic king, Bali Maharaja.” So Bali Maharaja… And Krsna, Krsna took the shape of a dwarf and went to Bali Maharaja for begging as a brahmana boy. And He approached him, Bali Maharaja, “I want something from you. You are a great king. You give in charity to the brahmanas. So I want something from you.”

So Bali Maharaja said, “Yes, I shall give You. What You want?” “Now, I want land of three…, in the measurement of My sole, three sole measurement. That’s all.” So He was a boy, His sole was sole…, not very long. So Bali Maharaja said, “What You will do with a small piece of land?” But He said, “Yes, that will suffice Me. If you promise this three measurement of My three palms land, that will suffice.” Then Bali Maharaja agreed, and by His two measurement of the palm, He covered the whole universe.

Then He’s asking, “Bali Maharaja, now whatever you have got, you got, now it is finished by two feet, by two measurement of my palm. Now where I am going to keep My third, third one?” Then Bali Maharaja understood that it is the favor of the Supreme Lord. He said, “My dear Lord, yes, I have now lost everything. I have no other property, but I have got my head. Please kindly
keep on it.”

So the Lord was very much pleased on him, and He offered, “Bali Maharaja, then what do you want from Me?” “No, I never expected anything from You. I could understand You wanted from me everything; so I have offered my everything. That is finished. I don’t want…” Then Lord says, “Yes, but from My side, I have got something to offer you. I shall remain as your order-carrier servant in your door.”

So He remained always… Just like we are sitting here, there may be some doorman, He, Lord became his doorman. So that is the return. If we offer something to Lord, oh, that is rewarded in many millions of times. So we should not expect. The Lord is always serious to return the service of the servant, of His devotee. So there are many devotees. This devotee, Bali Maharaja, surrendered everything for the service of the Lord. So he became a famous king. Sarvatma-snapane abhavad balir vaiyasakih.

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Bhagavad-gita 6.1-4 – September 2, 1966, New York