Unaware of the truth, the hunter had loosed his arrow, mistaking the Lord for a deer. Stricken with remorse as realization dawned, he fell at the Lord’s feet and pleaded, “Forgive me for my sin. What I have done was in ignorance. You alone can save me, for I am consumed by this guilt.” Hearing his sincere repentance, the Lord, ever compassionate, spoke words of reassurance: “Let there not be even the slightest fear for you. By my grace, O hunter, go now to heaven, the abode of the gods.” No sooner had these words been spoken than a radiant aerial chariot appeared before them. Guided by the Lord’s grace, the hunter ascended the chariot and departed for heaven, his sins absolved. When the hunter had gone, the blessed Lord, uniting his individual self with the Supreme Self, entered the eternal state of Brahman—imperishable, inconceivable, pure, and wholly pervaded by Vāsudeva. Thus, in Viṣṇu—the unborn among the immortals, immeasurable, the soul of all beings—the Lord relinquished his human form, transcending all worldly paths and merging with the Supreme.