to our enquiries, agreeably to heavenly
forms.

"'"The Brahmana said, 'That which thou askest me, O Krishna, connected with
the religion of Moksha (Emancipation), led by thy compassion for all
creatures (and not for thy own good),--that, indeed, which destroys all
delusion, O thou that art possessed of supreme puissance[6] I shall now
tell thee duly, O slayer of Madhu. Do thou listen with concentrated
attention as I discourse to thee, O Madhava. A Brahmana of the name of
Kasyapa, possessed of penances and the foremost of all persons conversant
with duties, came to a certain other Brahmana who had become conversant
with all the mysteries of religion.[7] Indeed, the latter had mastered
all the knowledge which the scriptures teach respecting the departure and
reappearance of beings and possessed that direct knowledge of all things
which Yoga gives. He was well skilled in the truths of all topics
relating to the world. He had mastered the truth about pleasure and pain.
He knew the truth about birth and death, and understood the distinctions
between merit and demerit. He was a beholder of the ends attained to by
embodied creatures high and low in consequence of their acts. He lived
like one emancipated from the world. Crowned with ascetic success and
possessed of perfect tranquillity of soul, he had all his senses under
complete control. He seemed to blaze with the resplendence of Brahma and
was capable of going everywhere at will. He knew the science of
disappearing at will from before the eyes of all. He used to rove in the
company of invisible Siddhas and celestial musicians. He used to sit and
converse with them on some spot retired from the bustle of humanity. He
was as unattached to all things as the wind. Kasyapa having heard of him
truly, desired to see him. Possessed of intelligence, that foremost of
all Brahmanas, approached the sage. Himself possessed of penances,
Kasyapa, moved by the desire of acquiring merit, fell, with a rapt heart,
at the feet of the sage when he had seen all those wonderful attributes.
Filled with wonder at the sight of those extraordinary accomplishments,
Kasyapa began to wait upon that foremost of all Brahmanas, with the
dutiful reverence of a disciple waiting upon his preceptor and succeeded
in propitiating him. By his devotion, O scorcher of foes, rendering to
him the obedience due from a disciple to a preceptor, Kasyapa gratified
that Brahmana who possessed all these accomplishments and