O Bharata, there were tanks and lakes full of cool water and at others were those that were full of warm or hot water.  And there were diverse kinds of excellent seats and costly beds, and bedsteads made of gold and gems and overlaid with cloths and carpets of great beauty and value.  Of comestible there were enormous quantities, well-dressed and ready for use.  And there were talking parrots and she-parrots and Bhringarajas and Kokilas and Catapatras with Koyashtikas and Kukkubhas, and peacocks and cocks and Datyuhas and Jivajivakas and Chakoras and monkeys and swans and Sarasas and Chakravakas.[310] Here and there he beheld bevies of rejoicing Apsaras and conclaves of happy Gandharvas, O monarch.  And he beheld other Gandharvas at other places rejoicing with their dear spouses.  The king sometimes beheld these sights and sometimes could not see them (for they seemed to disappear from before his eyes).  The monarch heard also melodious strains of vocal music and the agreeable voices of preceptors engaged in lecturing to their disciples on the Vedas and the scriptures.  And the monarch also heard the harmonious cackle of the geese sporting in the lakes.  Beholding such exceedingly wonderful sights, the king began to reflect inwardly, saying, ’Is this a dream?  Or is all this due to an aberration of my mind?  Or, is it all real?  O, I have, without casting off my earthly tenement, attained to the beatitude of heaven!  This land is either the sacred country of the Uttara-Kurus, or the abode, called Amaravati, of the chief of the celestials!  O, what are these wonderful sights that I behold!’ Reflecting in this strain, the monarch at last saw that foremost of Rishis.  In that palace of gold (endued) with columns (made) of jewels and gems, lay the son of Bhrigu stretched on a costly and excellent bed.  With his wife by his side the king approached with a delighted heart the Rishi as he lay on that bed.  Chyavana, however, quickly disappeared at this, with the bed itself upon which he lay.  The king then beheld the Rishi at another part of those woods seated on a mat made of Kusa grass, and engaged in mentally reciting some high Mantras.  By his Yoga-power, even thus did that Brahmana stupefy the king.  In a moment that delightful wood, those bevies of Apsaras, those bands of Gandharvas, those beautiful trees,—­all disappeared.  The bank of the Ganga became as silent as usual, and presented the old aspect of its being covered with Kusa grass and ant-hills.  King Kusika with his wife having beheld that highly wonderful sight and its quick disappearance also, became filled with amazement.  With a delighted heart, the monarch addressed his wife and said unto her, ’Behold, O amiable one, the various agreeable scenes and sights, occurring nowhere else, which we two have just witnessed!  All this is due to the grace of Bhrigu’s son and the puissance of his penances.  By penances all that becomes attainable which one cherishes in one’s imagination.  Penances are superior to even the sovereignty over