upreme light and
essence of the Universe! Thy face is directed towards every point. They
call thee Supreme Germ and the depository of all treasures. Under thy
protections, O lord of the gods, all evils lose their terror. As thou
didst protect me before from Dussasana, do thou extricate me now from
this difficulty.'"

[48] Both these words are of doubtful meaning. It seems they are
employed in the Vedas to denote the faculties of knowledge and
the moral sense respectively.

Vaisampayana continued, "The great and sovereign God, and Lord of the
earth, of mysterious movements, the lord Kesava who is ever kind to the
dependents, thus adored by Krishna, and perceiving her difficulty,
instantly repaired to that place leaving the bed of Rukmini who was
sleeping by his side. Beholding Vasudeva, Draupadi bowed down to him in
great joy and informed him of the arrival of the _Munis_ and every other
thing. And having heard everything Krishna said unto her, 'I am very
much afflicted with hunger, do thou give me some food without delay, and
then thou mayst go about thy work.' At these words of Kesava, Krishna
became confused, and replied unto him, saying, 'The sun-given vessel
remains full till I finish my meal. But as I have already taken my meal
today, there is no food in it now.' Then that lotus-eyed and adorable
being said unto Krishna, 'This is no time for jest, O Krishna.--I am
much distressed with hunger, go thou quickly to fetch the vessel and
show it to me.' When Kesava, that ornament of the Yadu's race, had the
vessel brought unto him,--with such persistence, he looked into it and
saw a particle of rice and vegetable sticking at its rim. And swallowing
it he said unto her, 'May it please the god Hari, the soul of the
Universe, and may that god who partaketh at sacrifices, be satiated with
this.' Then the long-armed Krishna, that soother of miseries, said unto
Bhimasena, 'Do thou speedily invite the _Munis_ to dinner.' Then, O good
king, the celebrated Bhimasena quickly went to invite all those _Munis_,
Durvasa and others, who had gone to the nearest stream of transparent
and cool water to perform their ablutions. Meanwhile, these ascetics,
having plunged into the river, were rubbing their bodies and observing
that they all felt their stomachs to be full. And coming out of the
stream, they began to stare at one another. And turning towards Durvasa,
all those ascetics observed, 'Having bade the king make our meals