“Shakra said, Thou shalt behold thy brothers in Heaven.  They have reached it before thee.  Indeed, thou shalt see all of them there, with Krishna.  Do not yield to grief, O chief of the Bharatas.  Having cast off their human bodies they have gone there, O chief of Bharatas race.  As regards thee, it is ordained that thou shalt go thither in this very body of thine.

“Yudhishthira said, This dog, O lord of the Past and the Present, is exceedingly devoted to me.  He should go with me.  My heart is full of compassion for him.

“Shakra said, Immortality and a condition equal to mine, O king, prosperity extending in all directions, and high success, and all the felicities of Heaven, thou hast won today.  Do thou cast off this dog.  In this there will be no cruelty.

“Yudhishthira said, O thou of a 1,000 eyes.  O thou that art of righteous behaviour, it is exceedingly difficult for one that is of righteous behaviour to perpetrate an act that is unrighteous.  I do not desire that union with prosperity for which I shall have to cast off one that is devoted to me.

“Indra said, There is no place in Heaven for persons with dogs.  Besides, the (deities called) Krodhavasas take away all the merits of such persons.  Reflecting on this, act, O king Yudhishthira the just.  Do thou abandon this dog.  There is no cruelty in this.

“Yudhishthira said, It has been said that the abandonment of one that is devoted is infinitely sinful.  It is equal to the sin that one incurs by slaying a Brahmana.  Hence, O great Indra, I shall not abandon this dog today from desire of my happiness.  Even this is my vow steadily pursued, that I never give up a person that is terrified, nor one that is devoted to me, nor one that seeks my protection, saying that he is destitute, nor one that is afflicted, nor one that has come to me, nor one that is weak in protecting oneself, nor one that is solicitous of life.  I shall never give up such a one till my own life is at an end.

“Indra said, Whatever gifts, or sacrifices spread out, or libations poured on the sacred fire, are seen by a dog, are taken away by the Krodhavasas.  Do thou, therefore, abandon this dog.  By abandoning this dog thou wilt attain to the region of the deities.  Having abandoned thy brothers and Krishna, thou hast, O hero, acquired a region of felicity by thy own deeds.  Why art thou so stupefied?  Thou hast renounced everything.  Why then dost thou not renounce this dog?  “Yudhishthira said, This is well known in all the worlds that there is neither friendship nor enmity with those that are dead.  When my brothers and Krishna died, I was unable to revive them.  Hence it was that I abandoned them.  I did not, however, abandon them as long as they were alive.  To frighten one that has sought protection, the slaying of a woman, the theft of what belongs to a Brahmana, and injuring a friend, each of these four, O Shakra, is I think equal to the abandonment of one that is devoted.”