An extremely ancient myth about Vishnu tells of his famous "three steps". The egotistical king Bali had built a huge empire. It was time to put him in his place. A dwarf showed up at his door asking for a gift. Bali may have been conceited but he was also generous. " Anything you want".
"I want as much land as I can cover in three strides", the dwarf said.
Bali said sure. The dwarf took one step-and covered the entire Earth. He took a second step- and covered all of heaven. " You owe me one more step", he told the king, " but there's no more space in the universe. Where should I put my foot next?"
Bali was no idiot. He recognized now that he was in the presence of the Lord of the Universe.
"Here", he said, offering his own head. The "dwarf'" stepped on Bali's face crushing it into the Earth.
There is, of course, a moral to the story. Bali is the human ego. Vishnu is all-pervading spirit . Before the Supreme Being the mature ego must surrender, no matter how great a king or queen it formerly imagined itself to be. For magnanimously admitting defeat, Bali was ultimately generously rewarded.
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