He began bathing the moment he rose at dawn, going to Īśvara, sitting there and chanting the five-letter mantra, ‘Namaśśivāya, Namaśśivāya...’. On the very next day his sixteen years would be complete. So he did not even go home. He sat by the Śiva liṅga, repeating the Name. His parents sat by the door, shedding tears. They were anxious about what danger might strike, and at what minute. Well, there is no escaping God's command, is there! His sixteen years were over, the life in his body died away, and he fell over to one side. ‘Alas, our son is gone now!’ the parents lamented. While here, outwardly, the parents grieved in this way, inwardly that jīva reached Īśvara. Meanwhile Pārvatī too came there. ‘He has fulfilled Your will, so send him back,’ she said to Īśvara. ‘For that, your help too is needed,’ Īśvara said to Pārvatī. Īśvara and Pārvatī, both of them, took the child and came to the parents. That is, movement stirred in Mārkaṇḍeya's lifeless body. Seeing it, his parents rejoiced greatly. The boy got up. ‘Mother! Pārvatī and Parameśvara have granted me a long life. Spend your time with me for as long as you need. Do good deeds, think good thoughts. As a good son I shall serve you.’ With that he rose, bowed to his parents, took them with him and went home. ‘Mārkaṇḍeya, who died, has come back to life!’ marvelled all the people of the village. Then the boy told, in the outer world, the gist of the conversation that had taken place in that divine world between Īśvara and himself. As for how God helps human beings, it is not through prayers. Only when the inner feeling is pure are God's resolves fulfilled in this way. Mārkaṇḍeya wished for nothing of any kind. He longed only to put to good use the time God had granted him.