“The illustrious Deity said, ’Be thou free from every misery and pain, and be thou above decrepitude and death.  Be thou possessed of fame, be thou endued with great energy, and let spiritual knowledge be thine.  Thou shalt, through my grace, be always sought for by the Rishis.  Be thy behaviour good and righteous, be every desirable attribute thine, be thou possessed of universal knowledge, and be thou of agreeable appearance.  Let undecaying youth be thine, and let thy energy be like that of fire.  Wherever, again, thou mayst desire the presence of the ocean of milk that is so agreeable to thee, there shall that ocean appear before thee (ready for being utilised by thee and thy friends for purposes of thy food).  Do thou, with thy friends, always obtain food prepared with milk, with the celestial nectar besides being mixed with it.[67] After the expiration of a Kalpa thou shalt then obtain my companionship.  Thy family and race and kinsmen shall be exhaustless.  O foremost of regenerate ones, thy devotion to me shalt be eternal.  And.  O best of Brahmanas, I shall always accord my presence to thy asylum.  Live, O son, whithersoever thou likest, and let no anxiety be thine.  Thought of by thee, I shall, O learned Brahmana, grant thee a sight of myself again.—­Having said these words, and granted me these boons, the illustrious Isana, endued with the effulgence of millions of Suns, disappeared there and then.  It was even thus, O Krishna, that I beheld, with the aid of austere penances, that God of gods.  I also obtained all that was said by the great Deity endued with supreme intelligence.  Behold, O Krishna, before thy eyes, these Siddhas residing here and these Rishis and Vidyadharas and Yakshas and Gandharvas and Apsaras.  Behold these trees and creepers and plants yielding all sorts of flowers and fruits.  Behold them bearing the flowers of every season, with beautiful leaves, and shedding a sweet fragrance all around.  O thou of mighty arms, all these are endued with a celestial nature through the grace of that god of gods, that Supreme Lord, that high-souled Deity.’

“Vasudeva continued, ’Hearing these words of his and beholding, as it were, with my own eyes all that he had related to me, I became filled with wonder.  I then addressed the great ascetic Upamanyu and said unto him,—­Deserving of great praise art thou, O foremost of learned Brahmanas, for what righteous man is there other than thou whose retreat enjoys the distinction of being honoured with the presence of that God of gods?  Will the puissant Siva, will the great Sankara, O chief of ascetics, grant me also a sight of his person and show me favour.’