Chapter 363

“Surya said, ‘This Being is not the god of fire, he is not an Asura. Noris he a Naga. He is a Brahmana who has attained to heaven in consequenceof his having been crowned with success in the observance of the vowcalled Unccha.[1941] This person had subsisted upon fruits and roots andupon the fallen leaves of trees. He had sometimes subsisted upon water,and sometimes upon air alone, passing his days with concentrated soul.The deity Mahadeva had been gratified by him with constant recitation ofthe Samhitas. He had endeavoured to accomplish those acts that lead toheaven. Through the merits of those acts he hath now attained to heaven.Without wealth and without desire of any kind, he had observed the vowcalled Unccha in the matter of his sustenance. This learned Brahmana, yeNagas, had been devoted to the good of all creatures. Neither deities,nor Gandharvas, nor Asuras, nor Nagas, can be regarded as superior tothose creatures that attain to this excellent end of coming into thesolar disc?–Even such, O regenerate one, was the wonderful incident thatI beheld on that occasion. That Brahmana, who was crowned with success bythe observance of the Unccha vow and who thus obtained an end thatpersons crowned with ascetic success acquire, to this day, O regenerateone, goes round the Earth, staying in the disc of Surya!'”