In Janaka's Hall

By the power of yoga she left her former form and took on another, beautiful beyond compare, and in the blink of an eye, moving as swift as a light arrow, the lotus-eyed woman came to the city of the Videhas. She arrived in lovely Mithilā, crowded with prosperous people, and on the pretext of begging alms she went to see the king.

When the king saw her delicacy and her beauty, he wondered who she was, whose she was and where she came from. He welcomed her, gave her a fine seat, honoured her by washing her feet, and fed her with good food. When she had eaten and was content, the mendicant challenged the king as he sat among his ministers and the learned men of every school.

Sulabhā doubted whether he was truly free in his dharma, and, knowing yoga, she entered into his being with her own. She joined the rays of her eyes to the rays of his eyes and bound him with the bonds of yoga, as he was about to question her. The king, smiling, understood what she was doing, and met her mind with his own. So, while she dwelt within him, the two spoke together there in the hall, before the assembly: the king, free of the parasol and the other marks of kingship, and the woman, free of the triple staff of the renunciant.