Chapter 133
“Ashtavakra said, ‘When no Brahmana is met with on the way, the waybelongeth to the blind, the deaf, the women, carriers of burden, and theking respectively.
“Ashtavakra said, ‘When no Brahmana is met with on the way, the waybelongeth to the blind, the deaf, the women, carriers of burden, and theking respectively.
“Lomasa said, ‘See here, O lord of men, the sacred hermitage ofSwetaketu, son of Uddalaka, whose fame as an expert in the sacred mantrasis so widely spread on earth.
“Lomasa said, ‘O descendant of Bharata! she in order to compass theobject of the king, prepared a floating hermitage, both because the kinghad ordered so, and also because it exactly accorded with her plan.
“The hawk said, ‘All the kings of the earth represent thee as a piousruler. Wherefore, O prince, has thou then stopped to perpetrate a deednot sanctioned by the ordinance? I have been sore afflicted with hunger.
Vaisampayana said, “O chief of the Bharata race! then the son of Kuntiwent at a slow pace to the two rivers Nanda and Aparananda, which had thevirtue of destroying the dread of sin.
“Lomasa said, ‘The blessed God having heard what Bhagiratha had said, andwith a view to doing what was agreeable to the residents of heaven,replied to the king, saying, ‘So let it be.
“Lomasa said, ‘That same king, of a powerful bow, standing at the head ofthe surrounding, (i.e., the occupant of an imperial throne) of a powerfulcar, (i.e., possessing every great fighting power) became the delight ofthe eyes and the soul of all the world.
“Lomasa said, ‘O most righteous of kings! When he heard these words(proceeding) from the sky, he had faith therein, and did all that he wasdirected to do, O chief of the men of Bharata’s race!
“Lomasa said, ‘Then gathered together, Brahma, the grandfather of men(thus) addressed, ‘Go ye, O gods! whither your pleasure may lead you, oryour desire conduct you.
“Lomasa said, ‘That blessed saint, the son of Varuna, having reached thesea spake unto the assembled gods, and the saints gathered together,saying ‘I surely am going to drink up the ocean–that abode of the god ofwaters.