Śuka continued his narration, saying: As Bhṛgu spoke gently in Vaikuṇṭha, a deep satisfaction welled up within him. He became silent, overwhelmed by devotion, and tears of joy filled his eyes. Then, returning to the assembly of sages devoted to Brahman, Bhṛgu described to them all that he had directly experienced in the presence of the Lord. The sages listened, astonished and free from doubt. Their faith in Viṣṇu, the source of peace and fearlessness, grew even stronger. From Viṣṇu arises dharma itself—knowledge, renunciation, eightfold sovereignty, and fame that purifies the self. He is the supreme goal for sages who have laid aside their rods, who are peaceful, equal-minded, unattached, and virtuous. His beloved form is sattva, and for Him the brāhmaṇas are the chosen deities. The wise, peaceful, and desireless worship Him without seeking reward. By His māyā, the threefold classes—rākṣasas, asuras, and suras—are created, each endowed with the guṇas; and sattva is the means to attain that holy place. Thus, the Sarasvata brāhmaṇas, seeking to remove doubts from the hearts of people, attained the supreme destination by serving the lotus feet of the Supreme Person. Sūta then spoke: Whoever, with their ears as vessels, repeatedly drinks this nectar—fragrant with the lotus feet of the sage’s son, which removes fear of worldly existence and concerns the Supreme Person—such a traveler abandons the fatigue of wandering the path. Śuka resumed: Once, in Dvārakā, the newborn son of a brāhmaṇa’s wife died just after touching the earth. The grieving brāhmaṇa took the dead child and placed him at the king’s gate, lamenting in distress and sorrow. He cried out that, because of the king’s misdeeds—his hatred of brāhmaṇas, deceitfulness, greed, and attachment to sense objects—his child had died. When the king delights in violence, is wicked, and has uncontrolled senses, the people suffer, growing poor and afflicted. In this way, when a second and then a third child died, the brāhmaṇa left them at the king’s gate, repeating his lament. Hearing this, Arjuna, in Keśava’s presence, spoke to the brāhmaṇa after his ninth child had passed away. “O brāhmaṇa, what is lacking in your house? These brāhmaṇas are performing sacrifice, attended by kṣatriya friends. Where brāhmaṇas, surrounded by wealth, wives, and sons, are lamenting, those who live as kṣatriyas are impostors, living in disgrace. O Lord, I will protect your afflicted children. If I fail to fulfill my promise, I shall enter fire, purified of sin.” The brāhmaṇa replied, “Sankarshana, Vasudeva, Pradyumna—the best among archers—and Aniruddha, whose chariot is unconquerable, were unable to protect them. How then, do you, desiring a deed difficult even for the Lords of the world, intend to accomplish it out of childishness? We do not believe this.” Arjuna said, “O brāhmaṇa, I am not Sankarshana, nor Krishna, nor the son of Krishna; I am Arjuna, whose bow is Gandiva. Do not underestimate my power, which has pleased Tryambaka. Having conquered death in battle, I will bring back your children, O master.” Thus reassured by Phalguna, the scorcher of foes, the brāhmaṇa was pleased after witnessing Partha’s prowess and returned to his house. When the time of birth approached for the brāhmaṇa’s wife, the best of the twice-born, distressed, called out to Arjuna: “Protect, protect my child from death!” Arjuna purified himself with clean water, bowed to Maheshvara, recalled divine weapons, and took up his Gandiva, strung and ready. He blocked the birthing chamber with arrows, employing various weapons, and made a cage of arrows on all sides—across, above, and below. As the child was born, crying repeatedly, he at once vanished, body and all, into the sky. In Krishna’s presence, the brāhmaṇa reproached Arjuna’s efforts, saying, “See my foolishness, that I believed his boastful words. Neither Pradyumna, nor Aniruddha, nor Rama, nor Kesava could protect him; who else, then, O Lord of the universe, could do so? Shame on Arjuna for his false words, shame on his self-praise and his bow; deluded, he seeks to do what is ordained by fate.” Thus cursed by the brāhmaṇa sage, Phalguna, relying on his knowledge, quickly went to Samyamanī, where Lord Yama resides. Not finding the brāhmaṇa’s son there, he went armed to the city of Indra, then to those of Agni, Nirriti, Soma, Vayu, and Varuna. He went to Rasatala, to the heavens, and to the abodes of other deities, bearing his weapons. Failing to find the brāhmaṇa’s son and unable to fulfill his promise, he wished to enter fire, but Krishna stopped him. Krishna said, “I will show you the brāhmaṇa’s sons; do not belittle yourself. Those men who establish our pure fame will be blessed.” Thus speaking with Arjuna, the Lord, along with the Lord of all, mounted his divine chariot and entered the western direction. He, the most exalted, crossed over the seven continents, the seven oceans, and the seven mountains, and also Lokāloka, and entered within. There, O best of the Bharatas, the horses—Śaibya, Sugrīva, Meghapuṣpa, and Balāhaka—lost their way and became lost in darkness. Seeing them, the Blessed Lord Kṛṣṇa, master of yoga, sent forth his own discus, shining like a thousand suns, ahead. That Sudarśana, swift as the mind, entered the vast, dense, and terrible darkness, splitting it apart with its intense radiance, just as Rāma’s arrow would penetrate an army, freed from its qualities. Through the path opened by the discus, Arjuna beheld that supreme, boundless light beyond the darkness, and, struck in the eyes by its brilliance, he closed both his eyes.