Part 15: Grief of Sudarśana and Puruṣasiṃha

Viṣṇu fell on the ground in a swoon, when he heard, like a large tree falling from a storm, like a gouty person (vātaka) from the humor, wind (vāta). Then sprinkled with pitchers of water, Janārdana, conscious again, stood up, crying, “Oh, father, father, father! Is not your body in pain? What herb has any merit? What physician can be trusted? Or rather, is that a pleasant sleep now? Speak, father, as a favor to me.” Bewildered by affection, Viṣṇu talked thus for a moment and immediately burst into lamentations. Enlightened by the elders of his family, Śārṅgabhṛt regained firmness and cremated his father in a fire of sandal and aloe.

After he had made the oblation, et cetera, and had sat in the council, he sent a letter, announcing their father’s death, to Bala. Bala had conquered the arrogant border-king and he returned in haste, grieved by that letter. Clinging to each other’s neck, wailing at the top of their voices, Baladeva and Vāsudeva made the council weep. Enlightened by friends, they became firm to some extent, and both abandoned affection for their father slowly, slowly. Whether they were still or moving, talking or silent, they saw their father before their eyes, like something on which to meditate.