As the days passed, Vidura, wise and compassionate, spoke to Dhritarashtra, urging him to recognize the impermanence of the body. “O pitiable one,” he said, “even your body, though it clings to life unwillingly, will eventually depart, worn out by old age, just as threadbare clothes are discarded.” He explained that when one’s purpose for the body is lost, and detachment arises, freeing a person from worldly bonds, such a soul leaves the body without concern for what comes next. This, Vidura said, is wisdom. Moreover, he declared that whoever, whether through their own realization or another’s guidance, becomes disillusioned, self-controlled, and places Hari—the Lord—in their heart, leaves home behind. Such a person is truly supreme. Vidura then advised Dhritarashtra to set out toward the northern direction, alone and unknown to others, for from that point onward, time inevitably draws men away through the influence of the modes of nature. Awakened by his younger brother’s words, King Dhritarashtra cut the strong bonds of affection for his family and departed along the path shown by Vidura. Gandhari, the virtuous daughter of Subala, devoted to her husband, followed him, relinquishing her staff of authority, just as noble souls abandon their attachments at the end. Meanwhile, Ajatashatru—Yudhishthira—having made peace with all, performed fire sacrifices and honored the brahmins with gifts of sesame, cows, land, and gold. He entered his house to pay respects to his elders, but found neither his parents nor Gandhari. There, he saw Sanjaya seated and anxiously asked, “O Gavalgana, where is our aged father, now deprived of sight? And where is mother, grieving for her slain sons? Where has my uncle, our friend, gone? Perhaps, thinking me lacking in wisdom and now bereft of kin, he has, with his wife, sought the Ganga for relief from sorrow.” Distressed, Yudhishthira wondered aloud, “After our father Pandu passed away, our uncles protected all our friends and children from calamity. Where have those protectors gone now, leaving us behind?” Suta, narrating the tale, said that Sanjaya, overcome with compassion and pain at the separation, was unable to reply, being deeply afflicted and unable to see the Lord within himself. Wiping his tears and steadying himself, Sanjaya remembered the feet of the Lord and answered Yudhishthira, “O delight of your lineage, I do not know the decision of your parents or of Gandhari. I have been deceived by these great souls.” At that moment, the venerable sage Narada arrived with Tumburu. Yudhishthira and his brothers rose to greet and honor him, worshipping the sage. Yudhishthira said, “O revered one, I do not know where my parents have gone, nor where my mother, grieving for her slain sons and devoted to austerity, has departed.” Like a helmsman guiding across the sea, Narada, best among sages, spoke: “Just as cows are tied by their own ropes to a stake, so too are beings bound by names and words, carrying out offerings for the Lord. Just as the coming together and separation of playthings depend on the will of the player, so too do unions and separations of people occur by the will of the Lord.” Narada continued, “What you consider permanent or impermanent in this world is neither truly so; they are not to be grieved for, except due to attachment born of delusion. Therefore, O dear one, give up this weakness of heart, born of ignorance. How could those helpless and pitiable ones survive without me? This body, composed of the five elements, is subject to time, action, and the modes of nature. How can one protect others, just as someone seized by a serpent cannot save another? The handless are food for the handed, the footless for the four-footed; among all, the weak are the sustenance of the strong—life lives upon life.” “O King,” Narada said, “that Supreme Lord, the one Self of all selves who perceives Himself by Himself, dwells both within and without. See Him, who appears through the power of His own illusion. This very Lord, the creator and sustainer of beings, has now descended in the form of Time, to bring about the destruction of the enemies of the gods. The divine task has been accomplished; now He awaits what remains to be done. Until then, you all should observe, as long as the Lord remains here.” Narada revealed, “Dhritarashtra, together with his brother and Gandhari his wife, has gone south of the Himalayas to the hermitage of the sages, accompanied by his own wife. There, the celestial Ganga divided herself into seven streams for the pleasure of the seven sages; thus she is called the river of seven streams. There, after bathing at the proper times and offering oblations into the fire according to prescribed rules, Dhritarashtra lives on water alone, with a tranquil mind, free from all desires. Having conquered posture and breath, withdrawn his six senses, and destroyed the impurity of passion and ignorance through meditation on Hari, he has become pure in the mode of goodness. Merging his mind into knowledge, dissolving the knower of the field into the Self, and placing the Self in Brahman, as space within a pot merges into the sky, he abides. With the residue of illusion and its qualities destroyed, with senses and mind restrained, having given up all food, he remains unmoving like a pillar. Let there be no obstacle for him, who has renounced all actions.” “O King,” Narada declared, “from today, on the fifth day hence, Dhritarashtra will abandon his body, and it will be reduced to ashes. As the body of her husband burns in the fire, the faithful wife, together with her brother-in-law, will stand outside, gazing upon her husband as he enters the flames. Hearing this astonishing news, Vidura, filled with both joy and sorrow, will depart from there to visit holy places.” Having spoken thus, Narada, together with Tumburu, ascended to heaven. Yudhishthira, holding Narada’s words in his heart, gave up his grief. He marveled, “What is this, that seems so wonderful? In Vasudeva, the Soul of all, unprecedented love is increasing among the people of Vraja and their children.” In that land, where the unconquered Lord resided, even natural enemies such as men and beasts lived together like friends, along with swift deer and other creatures. There, the Supreme, non-dual, infinite Lord, whose knowledge is unfathomable, enacted the childhood pastimes of a cowherd boy, searching for calves and friends as before, holding a morsel of food in His hand, and was beheld by Brahma, the creator. Seeing Him, Brahma quickly descended from his own vehicle, bowed down on the earth as if casting down a golden staff, touched the Lord’s two feet with the crowns of his four heads, and with tears of joy performed an abhisheka. Rising again and again, he fell at Krishna’s feet after a long time, and sat, recalling again and again the greatness he had previously witnessed.