lf. That man who having fasted for a full month takes a single meal
on the first day of the following month and bears himself in this way for
a full year, looking on all things with an equal eye attains to the
regions of Brahman himself. There he subsists upon the succulence of
ambrosia. Endued with a form of great beauty and highly agreeable to all,
he shines with energy and prosperity like the sun himself of a thousand
rays. Devoted to Yoga and adorned with celestial robes and garlands and
smeared with celestial perfumes and unguents, he passes his time in great
happiness, unacquainted with the least sorrow. He shines on his car
attended by damsels that blaze forth with effulgence emitted by
themselves. Those damsels, the daughters of the celestial Rishis and the
Rudras, adore him with veneration. Capable of assuming diverse forms that
are highly delightful and highly agreeable, their speech is characterised
by diverse kinds of sweetness, and they are able to gladden the person
they wait upon in diverse kinds of ways. While performing his journeys,
he rides on a car that looks like the firmament itself in colour (for
subtlety of the material that compose it). In his rear are cars that look
like the moon; before him are those that resemble the clouds; on his
right are vehicles that are red; below him are those that are blue; and
above him are those that are of variegated hue. He is always adored by
those that wait upon him. Endued with great wisdom, he lives in the
region of Brahman for as many years as are measured by the drops of rain
that fall in course of a thousand years on that division of the earth
which is called Jamvudwipa. Verily, possessed of the effulgence of a
deity, he lives in that region of unalloyed felicity for as many years as
the drops of rain that fall upon the earth in the season of showers. The
man who, having fasted for a whole month, eats on the first day of the
following month, and bears himself in this way for ten years, attains to
the status of a great Rishi. He was not to undergo any change of form
while proceeding to heaven for enjoying the rewards of his acts in his
life. Verily, even this is the status to which one attains by restraining
speech, practising self-denial, subjugating wrath, sexual appetite, and
the desire to eat, pouring libations on the sacred fire, and regularly
adoring the two twilights. That man who purifies himself by the
observance of these and similar vows and practices