Slokam 9

Vamana take His three steps.  Everything looks insignificant compared to the Paramathma’s gigantic form.

Vamana covers the earth in one step and the atmosphere and sky (akasha) in the second step.  He then asks a dazed Bali as to where He should place his next step.  Bali bows down in humility and requests the Paramathma to place the third step on his head. 

In some Puranic accounts Vamana does so in only two steps.

In regards to the three steps of Vishnu, 'the first [step] covered the entire earth, the second covered the atmosphere, and the third measured heaven in its entirety'.

Three steps thus encompasses all of physical existence,  and all of the three worlds

The humility of Bali offering his head as the third step for the Paramathma invokes the emergence of Prahalada,  the grandfather of Bali to felicitate the Paramathma for having subdued his grandson and for having brought out the humility and good qualities  in him.

The slokam mentions that Garuda, the vahana of the Paramathma ties up Bali, in the charm of Varuna. 

In the Puranas, Varuna is the god of oceans, his vehicle is a Makara (crocodile) and his weapon is a Pasha (noose, rope loop).^[2][5] He is the guardian deity of the western direction.^[3] In some texts, he is the father of the Vedic sage Vasishtha.^[2]

Using the pasha, varuna ties up Bali.

When the asura within us runs amuck,  the only way to subdue the force is to invoke the assistance of the Paramathma by appealing through tapas and prayer. 



Like Bali, should we not offer our head as the step for the Paramathma?  Should we not do this without all of the resistance and tantrums that the asura within us puts up, because of its infatuation with temptations?