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 our revered preceptor, viz., Vyasa of unstained mind, as asked by thee.  Listen to me once again.  There are diverse kinds of cults, O royal sage, that go by diverse names such as Sankhya, Yoga, the Pancha-ratra, Vedas, and Pasupati.  The promulgator of Sankhya cult is said to be the great Rishi Kapila.  The primeval Hiranyagarbha, and none else, is the promulgator of the Yoga system.  The Rishi Apantaratamas is said to be the preceptor of the Vedas, some call that Rishi by the name of Prachina-garbha.  The cult known by the name of Pasupata was promulgated by the Lord of Uma, that master of all creatures, viz., the cheerful Siva, otherwise known by the name of Sreekantha, the son of Brahma.  The illustrious Narayana is himself the promulgator of the cult, in its entirety, contained in the Pancharatra scriptures.  In all these cults, O foremost of