History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.649.3

v5.c71.s1.649.3

24) are seen as stars (or become stars). In the Matsyapurāna (276 17) it is³⁹⁹ stated that he who performs Brahmāṇḍadāna (one of the 16 *mahādānas*) reaches the world of Viṣṇu and delights in the company of Apsarases. The Brahmapurāna (225. 6-7) assures us that a generous donor goes to heaven where he enjoys the best pleasures in the company of Apsarases and in the heavenly garden called Nandana and when he falls down from heaven he is born as a mortal in a rich and noble family. Vide also Garuḍapurāna II. 3.86-89. It is not necessary to multiply passages. There are two matters to be noted in connection with Heaven and its pleasures. One is the calculating or bargaining spirit which the smṛtis and purāṇas display viz. make this or that gift and then there is so much delight to be enjoyed in heaven, a sort of profit and loss account; and the second is that the highest pleasures of Heaven have a time limit, i. e. they are to come to an end one day and the meritorious have to be born again in mortal bodies. The doctrine was gradually evolved that there is no final release from the cycle of births and deaths by the performance of meritorious deeds alone