I
have now told thee, O chief of Bharata's race, everything regarding the
birth and life of Suka about which thou hadst asked me. The celestial
Rishi Narada and the great Yogin Vyasa had repeatedly told all this to me
in days of yore when the subject was suggested to him in course of
conversation. That person devoted to tranquillity hears this sacred
history directly connected with the topic of Emancipation is certain to
attain to the highest end."[1789]
SECTION CCCXXXV
"Yudhishthira said, 'If a man be a house-holder or a Brahmacharin, a
forest-recluse or a mendicant, and if he desires to achieve success, what
deity should he adore? How can he certainly acquire heaven and attain
that which is of the highest benefit (viz., Emancipation)? According to
what ordinances should he perform the homa in honour of the gods and the
Pitris? What is the region to which one goes when one becomes
emancipated? What is the essence of Emancipation? What should one do so
that one, having attained to heaven, would not have to fall down thence?
Who is the deity of the deities? And who is the Pitri of the Pitris? Who
is he that is superior to him, who is the deity of the deities and the
Pitri of the Pitris? Tell me all this, O Grandsire!'
"Bhishma said, O thou that art well acquainted with the art of
questioning, this question that thou hast asked me, O sinless one, is one
that touches a deep mystery. One cannot answer it with the aid of the
science of argumentation, even if one were to strive for a hundred years.
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