Text 1: Sūta said: Then the Pāṇḍavas along with Kṛṣṇa, putting the women in front, went to the Gaṅgā to give water to the departed relatives who desired it.

Text 2: Offering water to the departed and lamenting intensely, everyone again took bath in the water purified by the dust from the lotus feet of the Lord.

Text 3-4: Kṛṣṇa along with the sages then consoled Yudhiṣṭhira and his brothers, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Gāndhaṛī, Kuntī and Draupadī, lamenting the loss of their sons, all of whom were overcome with grief by the death of their relatives, who were all seated there, by showing the relentless movement of time upon all entities.

Text 5-6: Kṛṣṇa had Yudhiṣṭhira established in his rightful kingdom stolen by cheaters, had the unrighteous kings whose lives were shortened because of grabbing Draupadī’s hair destroyed, and had Yudhiṣṭhira conduct horse sacrifices three times with best arrangements. Thus his pure fame spread in all directions like that of Indra.

Text 7-8: O Śaunaka! Having spoken to the Pāṇḍavas, having worshipped the sages such as Vyāsa and have been worshipped by them, Kṛṣṇa, desiring to go to Dvārakā, while seated on his chariot with Sātyaki and Uddhava, saw Uttarā, shaking with fear, running towards him.

Text 9: Uttarā said: O great yogī! O Supreme Lord! Master of the universe! Please protect me. I do not see anyone except you who is fearless in this word where each living being causes another’s death.

Text 10: O powerful lord! This arrow of burning iron is pursuing me. O Lord! Let it burn me up! But let it not kill my child!

Text 11: Sūta said: Hearing Uttarā’s words, Kṛṣṇa, affectionate to his devotees, understood that Aśvatthāmā had released a brahmāstra to rid the world of the Pāṇḍavas.

Text 12: O best of sages! Seeing five flaming arrows headed towards them, the Pāṇḍavas then took up their weapons.

Text 13: The Lord, seeing the danger to the Pāṇḍavas who were dedicated only to him, protected them with his own weapon - the Sudarśana.

Text 14: The Lord, master of yoga, the soul dwelling within all beings, covered the embryo of Parīkṣit within Uttarā, in order to preserve the family of the Pāṇḍavas, using his yoga-māyā.

Text* 15: O Śaunaka! Though the brahmāstra is effective and cannot be prevented from acting, on meeting the weapon of Viṣṇu, it became completely ineffective.

Text* 16: You should not consider this so surprising for Kṛṣṇa who is full of all wonderful powers. He creates, maintains and destroys this universe by his power of Māyā-devī.

Text 17: The devotee Kuntī, along with Draupadī and her sons who were saved from the fire radiation of the brahmāstra, then spoke to Kṛṣṇa as he was about to depart for Dvārakā.

Text 18: I offer my respects to you, the Supreme Person, the original one, the controller, beyond the control of prakṛti, unseen by material senses, and existing inside and outside of all living beings.

Text 19: I do not know you, covered by the screen of māyā, beyond the knowledge of the material senses, and unaffected, just as the puppeteer behind the screen moving the puppets is not understood by the eyes of the ignorant.

Text 20: How can we women hope to see you, the object of bhakti for the omniscient, liberated sages?

Text 21: I repeatedly offer respects to Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva, who gave joy to Devakī, who was the child of Nanda and satisfier of the senses of the gopīs.

Text 22: I offer respects to you, with lotus navel, wearing a lotus garland, having lotus eyes, and lotus feet.

Text 23: O master of the senses! O Lord! Just as you protected Devakī imprisoned by evil Kaṁsa one time, you, my master, released me along with my sons repeatedly from even greater dangers, since I was afflicted with great suffering.

Text 24: You saved us from Bhīma getting poisoned, from the burning house of lac, from the sight of rākṣasas like Hiḍimbā, from the gambling den, from the hardships of living in the forest, from unlimited weapons thrown by great warriors in countless battlefields, and from the brahmāstra of Aśvatthāmā.

Text 25: O guru of the universe! May we have dangers in such situations continually, because in those dangers we will see you, and by that we will gain release from this material world.

Text 26: A man swelling with pride because of birth, power, learning or money, cannot chant your names. You are available to those who have nothing except you.

Text 27: I offer my respects to he whose treasure is unalloyed devotees, who is devoid of material interest, who is disinterested in those who are not devotees, who forgives his devotees, and helps the devotee desiring liberation.

Text 28: I consider you to be destroyer of the offenders, the controller, without beginning or end, the most powerful, equal to all, moving everywhere in all living beings, and the abode of conflicting qualities.

Text 29: No one knows the intentions of the Lord who desires to hide himself in human form, who does not show favor or hatred to anyone, and about whom all men have different opinions.

Text 30: O soul of the universe! You are unborn and perform no actions, but you take birth and perform activities in the forms of animals, men and aquatics. This is extremely deceptive.

Text 31: My dear Kṛṣṇa, Yaśodā took up a rope to bind you when you committed an offense, and your perturbed eyes flooded with tears, which washed the mascara from your eyes. And you were afraid, though fear personified is afraid of you. This sight is bewildering to me.

Text 32: Some say that you, though unborn, have taken birth in the Yadu family to give fame to Yudhiṣṭhira, just as sandalwood, originating in the Malaya Hills gives fame to those hills.

Text 33: Some say that you, though unborn, appeared as the son of Vasudeva in Devakī upon their request, in order to protect the world and kill the demons.

Text 34: Others say that you appeared at the request of Brahmā for lifting up the earth which had sunk like a boat overloaded with weight.

Text 35: Some say that you have appeared in this world to help those suffering due to their actions arising from material desires arising from ignorance by engaging them in hearing and remembering about you, so that they can attain prema.

Text 36: Persons who constantly hear, sing, speak, remember and sing to others about your activities—they alone, without delay, are able to see your lotus feet which destroy the influence of material existence.

Text 37: O Lord! Do you, whose deeds are automatically accomplished, desire to reject us today, though we are your friends and depend on you? We, having created trouble with many kings, have no other shelter than your lotus feet.

Text 38: Without your presence who are we, the Pāṇḍavas along with the Yadus with their fame and strength? We are like the senses without the jīva.

Text 39: O holder of the club! When you go, this land, marked with the special signs on your feet, will not glow as it does now.

Text* 40: This thriving land, filled with ripe herbs and fruit-laden trees, forests, mountains and rivers, has grown prosperous by your glance.

Text 41: O Lord of all the universes! O life of all the universes! O form of all the universes! Please cut my strong bonds of affection for my relatives, the Pāṇḍavas and Yādavas.

Text 42: Let my mind, with attention fixed on no other object, repeatedly carry its affection to you, chief of the Madhu dynasty, just as the Gaṅgā carries a full stream of water to the ocean.

Text 43: O Kṛṣṇa! Of friend of Arjuna! Best of the Yādavas! Destroyer of the kings who harmed the earth! Lord of undiminished strength! Lord of all the cows! Destroyer of the suffering of the cows, brāhmaṇas and devatās! Master of yoga! Guru of all people! O Lord! I offer respects to you.

Text 44: Suta said: The Lord, whose greatness had been glorified by the sweet words of Kuntī, smiled softly as if bewildered by prema.

Text 45: Agreeing with her, Kṛṣṇa entered Hastināpura. Wanting to leave for his city, he took permission from Kuntī and the other women. He was prevented from leaving by Yudhiṣṭhira out his great love for Kṛṣṇa.

Text 46: Though instructed through stories by Vyāsa and other sages who did not know the Lord’s intention, and though even instructed by Kṛṣṇa, who had performed the remarkable action of bewildering Yudhiṣṭhira at this moment, Yudhiṣṭhira became overcome with grief, and could not understand those instructions.

Text 47: O brāhmaṇas! Yudhiṣṭhira, thinking of the killing of his friends, overcome with bewilderment arising from affection, due to material thinking, then spoke.

Text 48: Oh! Look at the ignorance spread over my evil heart. Just for my body which is fit for the jackals’ food, I have killed many armies.

Text 49: Because I have killed children, brāhmaṇas, relatives, friends, paternal uncles, cousins, and gurus, I cannot be free from hellish punishments for ten thousand years.

Text 50: There is no sin for the king who kills the enemy in a righteous war, protecting the citizens. This rule does not apply to me.

Text 51: I cannot counteract the injury I have inflicted on the women, whose husbands or sons I have killed, by household rituals.

Text 52: Just as one cannot purify muddy water by using mud, or cannot purify what is contaminated with liquor by apply more liquor, it is not possible to purify oneself of killing even one living being by performance of animal sacrifices.