The Ascent

He climbed to a level, lonely place on the mountainside, cleared of stones, and sat down. He steadied himself in yoga, limb by limb from his feet upwards, as the scriptures teach. Then, facing east, with the sun just risen, he sat with his hands and feet drawn in. There was no flock of birds there, no sound, nothing to see. He saw his Self free of every attachment, and he laughed aloud, looking at the sun.

Then he took up yoga again and became a great lord of yoga, and rose into the sky. He walked around Nārada in reverence and told him: I have seen the way, and I am on it. Blessings on you. By your grace I will go to the goal I want. With Nārada's leave, he bowed again and entered the sky.

He flew up from the slope of Kailāsa, the peak of the Himālaya where he sat, swift as thought and wind, shining like Garuḍa, the king of birds, like fire and the sun, and all beings saw him go, single-minded and fearless, and honoured him, and the gods rained flowers on him. The gandharvas and apsaras and the perfected sages wondered: Who is this, who has won perfection by austerity, moving through the sky with his face turned upwards? He went on in silence towards the east, his eyes on the sun, and it was as if he filled the whole sky with sound.

He passed over the Malaya mountain, where the apsaras Urvaśī and Pūrvacitti live, and they wondered at him. How steady is the mind of this brahmin, they said, who loves the study of the Veda. He moves in the sky like the moon. He has won perfection by serving his father; he was his father's devoted son and dearly loved. How could his father let him go?

When Śuka heard Urvaśī's words, he looked around at all the quarters, at the sky and the earth with its mountains and forests, its lakes and rivers, and the gods of all those places stood with folded hands, looking at him with great honour. Śuka said to them: If my father follows me, crying, Śuka! then all of you together give him an answer. Do this for me out of love. And the quarters and forests, the oceans and rivers and mountains answered him from every side: As you command, brahmin. When the sage calls, we will answer him.