Verse 1

¹Hearing what his own men reported, what did the god, the king of dharma, say to them, beaten back as they were, his order broken like that by men sent from the enemy of Mura, he in whose power this world lies? ²Sage, no breaking of the god Yama's rod has ever been heard of before, from any quarter. This cuts away the world's doubt, and no one but you can do it: so I have settled it. ³King, Yama's men, their effort beaten back by the Bhagavan's men, laid the matter before their master Yama, lord of Samyamani. ⁴How many rulers of the world of the living are there here, master, who bring out the fruit for one whose action is of three kinds?

⁵If there were many rulers in the world holding the rod, for whom would death be, or freedom from it, and for whom would it not? ⁶And if the rulers were many over the many who act here, their being rulers would be a matter of form only, as it is with those set inside a king's circle.