Ashtaka said: O king, who does amongst the two, namely the ascetic and the man of knowledge, first attain to the communion with Brahma, although both exerting like the sun and the moon!

Yayati said : He who is a man of knowledge and who is self controlled, though living among the householders with various sorts of desires, attains to salvation first.

Those that devote themselves to Yoga meditation take time to acquire that knowledge, for by practice alone they divest themselves from the idea of duality.

Then again, if a man devoted to Yoga do not find sufficient time to attain to success in one's one life, he is benefited in his next life by the progress already made. But the man of knowledge ever sees the indestructible Unity, therefore he, though emerged in worldly enjoyments, is never affected in the heart.

Ashtaka said: O king, you are young, you are handsome, you are decorated with celestial garlands, your splendour is great. From what place have you come and where do you go? Whose messenger are you? Are you going to earth?

Yayati said : As I have lost my religious virtues, I am falling into the Bhauma,(earth) hell. I shall go there after finishing my talk with you. The Lokapalas are commanding me even now to hasten thither.

O king, I have obtained the following boon from Indra. Though I shall fall on earth, yet I shall fall among wise and virtuous men.

Ashtaka said : O king, I believe, you know every thing. I ask you, is there any region for myself either in heaven or in the firmament? If there be any, you shall not fall.

Yayati said : O best of kings, there are many regions for you to enjoy in heaven, as many as the kine and horses of earth, as the animals in the wilderness and the hills.

Ashtaka said: O king, I give to you all those regions in heaven or in the firmament that are for me to enjoy. Therefore, though falling, you must not fall. Take them soon, wherever they may be, in heaven or in the firmament. Let your sorrow cease.

Yayati said : O best of kings, a Brahma-knowing Brahmana alone can accept gifts and not men like ourselves. O king, I myself have given away (many gifts) to Brahmanas, as I should do.

Let no man, who is not a Brahmana and no woman who is the wife of a hero, earn infamy by accepting gifts. I have always desired to perform virtuous acts on earth. What I have never done before, how shall I do it now and accept a gift?

Pratardana said : O handsome one, I am Pratardana by name. I ask you, is there any region for me in heaven or in the firmament to enjoy as fruits of my virtues? You know everything.

Yayati said : O king, innumerable regions, as effulgent as the solar disc and full of great felicity, await you. If you live only for seven days in each, they will never be exhausted.

Pratardana said : I give to you all of them. Therefore, though falling, you must not fall. Let all the regions for me to enjoy be yours, whether they may be in heaven or in the firmament. Take them soon and let your sorrow cease.

Yayati said : O king, no king of equal energy should ever desire to accept in gift the religious merits of another king acquired by Yoga. No king, if wise, should act in a censurable way, though afflicted with calamity.

A king should keep his eyes fixed on virtue and walk in the path of piety and thus increase his fame. A virtuous man like me, who know what are his duties, should not act so meanly as you ask me to do.

When others, desirous of acquiring religious merit, do not accept gifts, how can I do it what they do not? When the best of kings, Yayati, said this, he was thus addressed by Vasuman.