The Twin Sages

The sages told the Pandavas a tale that touched the very heart of their own age - the tale of Nara and Narayana, the eternal twin sages, and of how they are reborn together in every age for the good of the world, and who they had become in the time of the Pandavas themselves.

In the holy hermitage of Badarikashrama, high in the Himalaya where the sacred rivers rise, there dwelt from ancient times two sages who were always together, inseparable companions: Nara and Narayana. They were no ordinary sages, but partial descents of the Lord Vishnu himself into the world - twin forms of the divine, Narayana the Lord and Nara his eternal companion, the perfect man and devotee. Together they performed penance of immense and unending severity, age after age, not for any gain of their own, for they desired nothing, but for the welfare of all the worlds. Their austerity was so great and so pure that its power upheld the order of things and troubled even the heavens.