from every kind of attachment, and who mentally observes for two and ten years such a course of conduct after Diksha, attains to Heaven and enjoys every happiness with the deities as his companions.  He who lives in entire dependence upon his own self and observes for two and ten years the duties that attach to Diksha and finally casts off his body on the fire as an oblation to the deities, attains to the regions of Brahman and is held in high respect there.  That regenerate man, O goddess, who having properly gone through the Diksha keeps his senses under subjugation, and placing his Self on Self frees himself from the sense of meum, desirous of achieving righteousness, and sets out, without a covering for his body, after the due observance of the duties of Diksha for two and ten years and after having placed his sacred fire on a tree, and walks along the path that belongs to heroes and lies down (when need for lying down comes) in the attitude of heroes, and conducts himself always after the manner of heroes, certainly attains to the end that is reserved for heroes.[568] Such a man repairs to the eternal region of Sakra where he becomes crowned with the fruition of all his wishes and where he sports in joy, his person decked with garlands of celestial flowers and celestial perfumes.  Indeed, that righteous souled person lives happily in Heaven, with the deities as his companions.  The hero, observant of the practices of heroes and devoted to that Yoga which belongs to heroes, living in the practice of Goodness, having renounced everything, having undergone the Diksha and subjugated his senses, and observing purity of both body and mind, is sure to attain to that path which is reserved for heroes.  Eternal regions of happiness are his.  Riding on a car that moves at the will of the rider, he roves through all those happy regions as he likes.  Indeed, dwelling in the region of Sakra, that blessed person always sports in joy, freed from every calamity.”

SECTION CXLIII

“Uma said, ’O holy one, O thou that didst tear off the eyes of Bhaga and the teeth of Pushan, O destroyer of the sacrifice of Daksha, O three-eyed deity, I have a great doubt.  In days of yore, the Self-born One created the four orders.  Through the evil consequence of what acts cloth a Vaisya become a Sudra?  Through what acts doth a Kshatriya become a Vaisya and a regenerate person (Brahmana) becomes a Kshatriya?  By what means may such degradation of castes be prevented?  Through what acts does a Brahmana take birth in his next life, in the Sudra order?  Through what acts, O puissant deity, does a Kshatriya also descend to the status of Sudra?  O sinless one, O lord of all created beings, do thou, O illustrious one, dispel this doubt of mine.  How, again, can the three other orders naturally succeed in attaining to the status of Brahmanhood?’