Bhishma said “Having spoken in this way, the twice-born Rishi of austere penances, viz., Shuka, lived on his success, renouncing the four sorts of faults.

Renouncing also the eight kinds of Tamas, he dismissed the five kinds of Rajas. Gifted with great intelligence, he the renounced the attribute of Sattva. All this seemed extremely wonderful.

He then lived in that eternal station which is shorn of attributes, freed from every indication, that is, in Brahma, shining like a smokeless fire.

Meteors began to shoot. The points of the horizon seemed to be ablaze. The Earth trembled. All these phenomena seemed extremely wonderful.

The trees began to throw off their branches and the mountains their summits. Loud peals were heard that seemed to rive the Himavat mountains.

The Sun seemed at that moment to be shorn of effulgence. Fire refused to burn forth. The lakes and rivers and seas were all moved.

Vasava poured showers of rain of excellent taste and smell. A pure breeze began to blow, carrying excellent taste and smell. A pure breeze began to blow, carrying excellent perfumes.

Shuka, as he went through the sky, saw two beautiful summits, one belonging to Himavat and another to Meru. These were side by side with each other. One of them was made of gold and was, therefore, yellow; the other was white, being made of silver.

Each of them, O Bharata, was a hundred Yojanas in height and of the same breath. Indeed, as Shuka went towards the north, he beheld those two beautiful summits,

With a fearless heart he dashed against those two summits that were close to each other. Unable to bear the force, the summits were suddenly rent in two parts.

The spectacle, O monarch, was extremely wonderful to look at. Shuka pierced through those summits, for they were unable to stop his onward course. At this a loud noise was made in heaven by the dwellers thereof.

The Gandharvas and the Rishis also and others who lived in that mountain sent up loud cheers at the sight of the mountain being rent in two and Shuka passing through it. Indeed, O Bharata, a loud noise was heard everywhere at that moment, saying,-Excellent, Excellent.

He was worshipped by the Gandharvas and the Rishis, by Yakhas and Rakshasas, and by all tribes of the Vidyadharas.

The entire sky became covered with celestial flowers showered from heaven at that moment when Shuka thus cut through that impenetrable barrier, O king.

The pious Shuka then saw from a high region the extremely beautiful celestial river Mandakini, running below through a region adorned by many flowering groves and forests.

In these waters many beautiful Apsaras were playing. Seeing Shuka who was bodiless, those naked aerial beings felt no shame.

Learning that Shuka had undertaken his great journey, his father Vyasa, filled with affection, followed him behind along the same aerial path.

Meanwhile Shuka, passing through thai region of the sky which is above the region of the wind, showed his Yoga-power and identified himself with Brahma.

Following the subtile path of high Yoga, Vyasa of austere penances, reached within the twinkling of the eye that place whence Shuka first started.

Proceeding along the same way, Vyasa saw the mountain summit rent in two parts and through which Shuka has passed. Meeting the Island-born ascetic, the Rishis began to describe to him the achievements of his own.

Vyasa, however, began to lament, loudly naming his son and causing the three worlds to resound with the noise he made.

Meanwhile, the pious Shuka, who had entered all things, had become the soul of all things, and had acquired omnipresence, answered his fathers by uttering the monosyllable BHO in the form of an echo.

Thereat, the entire universe of mobile and immobile creatures, uttering the monosyllable BHO, echoed the answer of Shuka.

Thereforward, when sounds are made in mountain-caves or on mountain-breasts, the latter, as if in answer to Shuka, still echo them.

Having renounced all the attributes of sound, etc., and showing his Yoga-power in the manner of his disappearance, Shuka in this way acquired the highest station.

Seeing that glory and power of his son of immeasurable energy, Vyasa sat down on the breast of the mountain and began to think of his son sorrowfully.

Seeing the Rishi seated there, the Apsaras who were sporting on the banks of the celestial river Mandakini, became all moved with shame and dispirited.

Some of them, to hide their nakedness, plunged into the river, and some entered the groves hard by, and some quickly took up their clothes, at seeing the Rishi.

Seeing these movements, the Rishi understood that his son had been liberated from all attachments, but that he himself was not freed therefrom. At this he became filled with both joy and shame.

As Vyasa was seated there, the auspicious god Shiva, armed with trident, surrounded on all sides by many gods and Gandharvas and worshipped of all the great Rishis, came there.

Consoling the Island-born Rishi who was burning with grief on account of his son, Mahadeva said these words to him

You had formerly solicited from me a son endued with the energy of Fire, of Water, of Wind, and of Ether.

Procreated by your penances, the son that was born to you was of that very sort. Proceeding from my favour, he was pure and full of Brahma-energy.

He has acquired the highest end-an end that is, which none can acquire who has not completely mastered his senses, nor by even any of the gods, why then, O twice-born Rishi, do you grieve for that son?

As long as the hills will last, as long as the ocean will last, so long will the fame of your son continue.

Through my favour, O great Rishi, you will see in this world a shadowy form resembling your son, moving by the side and never leaving you for a single moment!

Thus favoured by the illustrious Rudra himself, O Bharata, the Rishi saw a shadow of his son by his side. He came back from that place, filled with joy at this.

I have now told you, O chief of Bharata's race, everything regarding the birth and life of Shukra about which you had asked me.

The celestial Rishi Narada and the great Yogin Vyasa had again and again told all this to me in days of yore when the subject was suggested in course of conversation.

That person devoted to tranquillity who hears this sacred history directly connected with the subject of Liberation is sure to acquire the highest end.