After Krishna had slain the demon Keśin, whose body lay like the fruit of a crab-apple, the mighty-armed Lord calmly withdrew his arm. He showed neither astonishment nor pride at having effortlessly defeated his enemy. The gods, witnessing this act, honored him with showers of flowers from the heavens. At that moment, the foremost of devotees—a divine sage—approached Krishna, whose actions are pure and untainted, and spoke a secret to him. With reverence, the sage addressed Krishna: "Krishna, Krishna, O unfathomable Self, Lord of yoga, Lord of the universe, O Vāsudeva, abode of all, foremost of the Sātvatas, O Master! You are the Self of all beings, the one light among the wise, hidden in the cave of the heart, the witness, the Great Person, the Lord. By your own Self, you are your own refuge; at the beginning, by your māyā, you created the guṇas and, with them, you create, maintain, and dissolve this world, O Lord of true resolve. Therefore, you have descended for the destruction of earth’s burdens—demons, tormentors, and Rākṣasas—and for the protection of the virtuous. By good fortune, this demon in the form of a horse, whose neighing terrified even the sleepless gods and caused them to abandon heaven, has been slain by you in sport. Tomorrow or the day after, O Lord, I shall witness you slay Cāṇūra, Muṣṭika, other wrestlers, the elephant, and Kaṃsa. After that, the defeat of Śaṅkha, Yavana, Murā, Naraka, the theft of the Pārijāta tree, and Indra’s defeat. I shall see your marriages to heroic maidens, won by feats of valor and other qualities, and the liberation of King Nṛga from his curse in Dvārakā, O Lord of the world. I shall witness the obtaining of the Syamantaka jewel along with the wife, and the restoration of the dead son to the Brahmin by your own abode. The slaying of Pauṇḍraka, the burning of Kāśī city, the destruction of Dantavakra, and the death of Śiśupāla at the great sacrifice. And whatever other heroic deeds you perform while residing in Dvārakā, O Lord, I shall witness them; they are sung by poets on earth. Now, I shall witness the destruction of these armies by Him who is Time personified, the annihilator, with Arjuna as His charioteer. We contemplate upon the Lord, dense with pure knowledge, established in His own nature, whose every purpose is fulfilled, whose desires never fail, who by His own splendor is ever free from illusion, and who is the source of the flow of qualities. I bow to You, the Lord, the refuge of all, who by Your own power of illusion have created all distinctions; who, for the sake of play, have assumed a human form; the foremost among the Yadus, Vṛṣṇis, and Sātvatas." Having spoken thus, the sage bowed to Krishna, the chief of the Yadus, and, with Krishna’s permission, departed, delighted by the vision he had received. Krishna, known as Govinda, having slain Keśin in battle, returned to tending the cows with the joyful cowherds, bringing happiness to the people of Vraja. One day, as the cowherds grazed the cattle on the slopes of the mountain, they played a game of hiding, dividing themselves into groups as thieves and protectors. Some played as thieves, some as cowherds, and some as sheep; all played together, fearless and carefree. Vyoma, son of Maya and master of illusion, disguised himself as a cowherd. Acting as the leader of the sheep, he led away many who played as thieves. The great demon, having led them away, cast them into a mountain cave, leaving only four or five outside, and closed the entrance with a rock. Krishna, recognizing Vyoma’s wicked deed, seized the demon as he was leading the cowherds away, just as a lion seizes a wolf. Vyoma assumed his own massive form, as great as a mountain, and tried to escape, but Krishna overpowered him so he could not break free. Acyuta subdued him with his arms, threw him to the ground, and, as the gods watched from the heavens, killed the slayer of cattle. Then Krishna broke open the cave’s entrance and released the cowherds with difficulty. Praised by the gods and the cowherds, Krishna returned to his own Vraja. Thus ends the thirty-seventh chapter, entitled "The Slaying of Vyomāsura," in the first half of the tenth book of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata Mahāpurāṇa, the scripture for the paramahaṃsas. The story continues as Śuka speaks: Akrūra, the wise one, spent the night in Mathurā. At dawn, he mounted his chariot and set out for Nanda’s Gokula. As he traveled the road, his devotion awakened for the Lord with lotus eyes, and he reflected deeply: “What good deed have I performed, what great austerity have I practiced, or what worthy gift have I given, that today I shall behold Keśava? I consider this vision of the Lord of excellent fame to be most rare for me, just as the chanting of Brahman is rare for one born as a śūdra, attached to sense objects. May it not be that even for one as fallen as myself, the vision of Acyuta is denied; for sometimes, even someone being swept away by the river of Time manages to cross over. Today my misfortune is destroyed and my existence has borne fruit, for I bow to the lotus feet of the Lord, which are the object of meditation for yogis. Indeed, today Kaṁsa has shown me the utmost favor, for I shall see the lotus feet of Hari, who has descended as an incarnation, whose nails’ radiance once dispelled the impenetrable darkness that even the ancients could not cross. Those feet, worshipped by Brahmā, Śiva, and other gods, by the goddess Śrī, by sages, and by the Sātvatas, which wander in the forest with His companions tending the cows, and are marked with the saffron of the gopīs’ breasts. Surely I shall behold Mukunda’s face, with its beautiful cheeks and nose, its smiling, glancing, reddish lotus eyes, covered with curling locks, around which deer move in circumambulation. Perhaps today my eyes will directly attain the fruit of beholding Viṣṇu, who has assumed human form by His own will to relieve the earth’s burden, who is the very abode of beauty. He, whom I am about to see, though free from ego and duality, dispels the darkness of ignorance by His own radiance; by His māyā He is perceived in the homes of beings through their life, senses, and intellect. His words, mixed with auspicious qualities, deeds, and birth, destroy all inauspiciousness, enliven, purify, and sanctify the world; those who are indifferent to them are considered as beautiful corpses. He has indeed descended in the lineage of the Sātvatas, bringing joy to the best of the gods who guard their own realms; spreading His fame, the Lord dwells in Vraja, where the gods sing His all-auspicious deeds.” Thus, Akrūra journeyed toward Gokula, his heart overflowing with longing and reverence for Krishna, the Lord whose divine deeds sanctify the world.