usual daily ceremonial in the river 2. Accordingly the intelligent Akrúra bathed, and rinsed his mouth, and then entering the stream, he stood meditating upon the supreme being; but he beheld mentally 3 Balabhadra, having a thousand hooded beads, a garland of Jasmine flowers, and large red eyes, attended by Vásuki, Rambha, and other mighty serpents, praised by the Gandharbas, decorated with wild flowers, wearing dark coloured garments, crowned with a chaplet of lotuses, ornamented with brilliant earrings, inebriate, and standing at the bottom of the river in the water 4. On his lap he also beheld, at his ease, Krishńa, of the complexion of a cloud 5, with full and coppery eyes, having an elegant form, and four hands, armed with the discus and other weapons, wearing yellow clothes, decorated with many coloured flowers, and appearing like a cloud embellished with streams of lightning and the bow of Indra; his breast was marked with the celestial sign, his arms were radiant with bracelets, a diadem shone on his brow, and he wore a white lotus for his crest: he was attended by Sanandana and other holy sages, who, fixing their eyes upon the tips of their noses, were absorbed in profound meditation.

When Akrúra beheld Balaráma and Krishńa in this situation, he was much amazed, and wondered how they could so quickly have got there from the chariot. He wished to ask them this, but Janárddana deprived him of the faculty of speech at the moment. Ascending then from the water, he repaired to the car, and there he found them both quietly seated in the same human persons as before. Plunging again into the water, there he again beheld them, hymned as before by the Gandharbas, saints, sages, and serpents. Apprehending, therefore, their real character, he thus eulogized the eternal deity, who consists of true knowledge:--