“Yudhishthira said, ’How wonderful is this, O thou of immeasurable prowess, that thou art rapt in meditation!  O great refuge of the universe, is it all right with the three worlds?  When thou hast, O God, withdrawn thyself (from the world), having, O bull among men, adopted the fourth, state, my mind has been filled with wonder.[135] The five life-breaths that act within the body have been controlled by thee into stillness.  Thy delighted senses thou hast concentrated within thy mind.  Both speech and mind, O Govinda, have been concentrated within thy understanding.  All thy senses, indeed, have been withdrawn into thy soul.[136] The hair on thy body stands erect.  Thy mind and understanding are both still.  Thou art as immobile now, O Madhava, as a wooden post or a stone.  O illustrious God, thou art as still as the flame of a lamp burning in a place where there is no wind.  Thou art as immobile as a mass of rock.  If I am fit to hear the cause, if it is no secret of thine, dispel, O god, my doubt for I beg of thee and solicit it as a favour.  Thou art the Creator and thou art the Destroyer.  Thou art destructible and thou art indestructible.  Thou art without beginning and thou art without end.  Thou art the first and the foremost of Beings.  O foremost of righteous persons, tell me the cause of this (Yoga) abstraction.  I solicit thy favour, and am thy devoted worshipper, and bow to thee, bending my head.’  Thus addressed, the illustrious younger brother of Vasava, recalling his mind, understanding, and the senses to their usual sphere, said these words with a soft smile.’

“Vasudeva said, ’That tiger among men, Bhishma, who is now lying on a bed of arrows, and who is now like unto a fire that is about to go out, is thinking of me.  Hence my mind also was concentrated on him.  My mind was concentrated upon him, the twang of whose bowstring and the sound of whose palms Indra himself was unable to bear.  I was thinking of him who having vanquished in a trice all the assembled kings (at the Self-choice of the daughters of the king of Kasi) abducted the three princesses for the marriage of his brother Vichitravirya.  I was thinking of him who fought continually for three and twenty days with Rama himself of Bhrigu’s race and whom Rama was unable to overcome.  Collecting all his senses and concentrating his mind by the aid of his understanding, he sought my refuge (by thinking of me).  It was for this that I had centered my mind upon him.  I was thinking of him whom Ganga conceived and brought forth according to ordinary human laws and whom Vasishtha took as a pupil.  I was thinking of that hero of mighty energy and great intelligence who possesses a knowledge of all the celestial weapons as also of the four Vedas with all their branches.  I was thinking of him, O son of Pandu, who is the favourite disciple of Rama, the son of Jamadagni, and who is the receptacle of the sciences.  I was thinking of that foremost of all persons conversant