The hunter therefore broke his bow and fell at the feet of Narada, who helped him to get up by giving him the following instructions: Go home and distribute to the

devotees and Brahmins all money and valuables in your possession. Then, dressed in one garment, come and follow me. Build yourself a small cottage by the river and plant a tulasi shrub next to it. After making a circular walk around the shrub, savor one of the fallen leaves each day. Recite or chant the mantra

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

As for your sustenance, I will send you all the grain required, but you will only take what is necessary to feed yourself and your wife.

Narada then revived the half-dead animals which, freed from their horrible condition, immediately fled. At the sight of this miracle, the black hunter, amazed, bowed again at the feet of Narada after having accompanied him back.

Once home, the hunter put Narada's instructions into practice. In the meantime, word spread to all the villages that the hunter had become a devotee of the Lord, so that all the villagers were visiting the new Vaishnave (holy man). The Vedic custom of bringing fruit or grain when visiting a holy person, all brought him food. He thus received daily cereals and fruits in such quantity that he could have fed at least ten to twenty people. And according to Narada's directives, he kept only what he and his wife needed for a living.

A few days later, Narada said to his friend, Parvata Muni: I have a new disciple. Let's go see if he's doing well.

The two wise nobles having arrived in sight of the former hunter's home, the latter recognized his spiritual master in the distance and walked towards him with great respect. But the presence of numerous ants delayed his march and, when he bowed down to his visitors, he understood that he could not offer them his homage without crushing several insects; so he gently pushed them aside with a piece of his clothes. Seeing his disciple thus seeking to save the lives of ants, Narada remembered a verse from the Skanda Purana (sacred text): Is it not wonderful that the devotee of the Lord is not inclined to inflict any suffering, even to an ant?

Even though the hunter had once taken great pleasure in leaving half-dead animals, now a great devotee of the Lord, he was unwilling to cause even an ant to suffer. Finally welcoming the two great sages under his roof, the hunter made them sit down, washed their feet, brought them water to drink and then sprinkled his head and that of his wife with the water in which he had bathed them. Then transported with ecstasy, the two spouses began to dance singing

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Their arms were stretched towards the sky and their clothes rippled with their movements.