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, and who eats in this way, becomes as stainless as ether and endued with effulgence like that of the sun himself.[499] Such a man, O king, proceeding to haven in even his own carnal form, enjoys all the felicity that is there like a deity at his will.