“Upamanyu said, ’Without doubt, O thou of eyes like lotus-petals, thou wilt obtain a sight of Mahadeva very soon, even as, O sinless one, I succeeded in obtaining a sight of him.  O thou of immeasurable prowess, I see with my spiritual eyes that thou wilt, in the sixth month from this, succeed in obtaining a sight of Mahadeva, O best of all persons.  Thou, O foremost of the Yadus, wilt obtain from Maheswara and his spouse, four and twenty boons.  I tell thee what is true.  Through the grace of that Deity endued with supreme wisdom, the Past, the Future and the Present are known to me.  The great Hara has favoured these Rishis numbering by thousands and others as numerous.  Why will not the puissant Deity show favour to thee, O Mahadeva?  The meeting of the gods is always commendable with one like thee, with one that is devoted to the Brahmanas, with one that is full of compassion and that is full of faith.  I shall give thee certain Mantras.  Recite them continuously.  By this thou art certain to behold Sankara.’

“The blessed Vishnu continued, ’I then said unto him, O regenerate one, through thy grace, O great ascetic.  I shall behold the lord of the deities, that grinder of multitudes of Diti’s sons.  Eight days, O Bharata, passed there like an hour, all of us being thus occupied with talk on Mahadeva.  On the eighth day, I underwent the Diksha (initiation) according to due rites, at the hands of that Brahmana and received the staff from his hands.  I underwent the prescribed shave.  I took up a quantity of Kusa blades in my hand.  I wore rags for my vestments.  I rubbed my person with ghee.  I encircled a cord of Munja grass round my loins.  For one month I lived on fruits.  The second month I subsisted upon water.  The third, the fourth and the fifth months I passed, living upon air alone.  I stood all the while, supporting myself upon one foot and with my arms also raised upwards, and foregoing sleep all the while.  I then beheld, O Bharata, in the firmament an effulgence that seemed to be as dazzling as that of a thousand Suns combined together.  Towards the centre of that effulgence, O son of Pandu, I saw a cloud looking like a mass of blue hills, adorned with rows of cranes, embellished with many a grand rainbow, with flashes of lightning and the thunder-fire looking like eyes set on it.[68] Within that cloud was the puissant Mahadeva. himself of dazzling splendour, accompanied by his spouse Uma.  Verily, the great Deity seemed to shine with his penances, energy, beauty, effulgence, and his dear spouse by his side.  The puissant Maheswara, with his spouse by his side, shone in the midst of that cloud.  The appearance seemed to be like that of the Sun in the midst of racking clouds with the Moon by his side.  The hair on my body, O son of Kunti, stood on its end, and my eyes expanded with wonder upon beholding Hara, the refuge of all the deities and the dispeller of all their griefs.  Mahadeva was adorned with a diadem on his head.  He was armed with his Sula.