Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.2887

c9.2887

There was a Brahmin in a place called Mahāpadma on the banks of the Ganges. He wandered here and there for knowledge of Vedas. Once a hermit met him and directed him towards a Nāga named Padmanābha. Padmanābha is the serpent which supports the chariot of the Sun. The Brahmin-hermit started in search of Padmanābha. At last he found out his house. But there was the wife of Padmanābha only. She said that her husband would return within a few days. Accordingly he remained on the banks of the Ganges without any food. Padmanābha returned and both of them met together. The hermit asked the nāga what he should do in order to get merged in God. The Nāga replied that he could become one with God by Uñchavṛtti. The Nāga continued. “The Sun is a god who had invoked into himself a saint who had lived only by the fallen grains in the field. The activities of that Sun are wonderful. The hermits and saints attach themselves to the rays of the Sun as birds attach themselves to the branches of trees. The great storms arising from the Sun spread wide in the sky. I saw once a person sitting inside that Sun who was a wonder of wonders. When that person as shining as the Sun came to him in the noon the Sun embraced him and seated him inside him. I asked him who he was. The Sun replied that he was a person who had attained heaven by Uñchavṛtti.” Hearing the advice given by the Nāga, the Brahmin engaged in Uñchavṛtti and attained heaven.