And let thy illustrious self be for ever present at our retreat.--Thus
addressed by me, the illustrious Maheswara endued with supreme energy,
that Master of all mobile and immobile, viz., Siva, worshipped of all the
universe, then said unto me these words.'

"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