that abode of penances, will
become thy sire (when thou wilt take birth in the Kali age). Thou shalt
take thy birth as the son of a maiden residing in the house of her sire,
through an act of congress with the great Rishi Parasara. Doubts thou
wilt have none with respect to the imports of things past, present, and
future. Endued with penances and instructed by me, thou wilt behold the
incidents of thousands and thousands of ages long past away. Thou wilt
see through thousands and thousands of ages also in the future. Thou
shalt, in that birth, behold me, O ascetic,--me that am without birth and
death,--incarnated on Earth (as Krishna of Yadu's race), armed with the
discus. All this will happen to thee, O ascetic, through the merit that
will be thine in consequence of thy ceaseless devotion to me. These words
of mine will never be otherwise. Thou shalt be one of the foremost of
creatures. Great shall be thy fame. Surya's son Sani (Saturn) will, in a
future Kalpa, take birth as the great Manu of that period. During that
Manwantara, O son, thou shalt, in respect of merits, be superior to even
the Manus of the several periods. Without doubt, thou shalt be so through
my grace. Whatever exists in the world represents the result of my
exertion. The thoughts of others may not correspond with their acts. As
regards myself, however, I always ordain what I think, without the least
impediment!'[1914] Having said these words unto the Rishi Apantaratamas,
otherwise called by the name of Saraswat, the Supreme Lord dismissed him,
saying unto him.--'Go.' I am he that was born as Apantaratamas through the
command of Hari. Once more have I taken birth as the celebrated
Krishna-Dwaipayana, a delighter of the race of Vasishtha.[1915] I have
thus told you, my dear disciples, the circumstances, of my own former
birth which was due to the grace of Narayana in so much that I was a very
portion of Narayana himself. Ye foremost of intelligent persons, I
underwent, in days of yore, the austerest penances, with the aid of the
highest abstraction of the mind. Ye sons, moved by my great affection for
yourselves that are devoted to me with reverence, I have told you
everything relating to what you wished to know from me, viz., my first
birth in days of remote antiquity and that other birth subsequent to it
(viz., the present one)!"'

"Vaisampayana continued, 'I have thus narrated to thee, O monarch, the
circumstances connected with the former birth of