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शुकाभिपतन (zukAbhipatana)

 
Mahabharata
English
Śukābhipatana(ṃ) (“the flying about” of Śuka): XII, 332--334 (12557--12649) (continued from Śuka-Nāradasaṃvāda, q.v.). § 716: Hearing the words of Nārada, Śuka understood that great misery follows the acquisition of children and wives, and that one has to undergo great labour in order to acquire science and Vedic lore. He resolved to attain to the highest end, that is fraught with the greatest felicity, and whence there is no return into the ocean of births
“that cannot be attained without yoga
I shall therefore have recourse to yoga, and throwing off this body I shall become transformed into wind and enter the Sun
for he does not wane like the Moon (Soma) with the gods
when after death one enters the moon he falls to earth and thence ascends to heaven
with the great Ṛshis I shall enter the energy of the Sun
I declare before all the creatures… earth, …D., Dā., G., Pś., U., Rā., and R., that I shall enter all creatures in the world.” Obtaining Nārada's permission, Śuka went to Vyāsa, who asked him to stay there for the day that he might behold him for some time. But Śuka, only intent on emancipation, immediately left him and proceeded to Kailāsa, which was inhabited by crowds of ascetics (XII, 332). Having reached the summit of Kailāsa, Śuka set himself to practise yoga (description). Having then obtained the permission of Nārada, he soared into the skies and identified himself with the element of wind
Aps. (Pañcacūḍā, etc.), G., R., etc., wondered. Śuka proceeded in silence, his face turned towards the east, regarding the sun
then to the Malaya mountain
Urvaśī and Pūrvacitti, who always dwell on Malaya, wondered. Śuka asked the gods, etc., to return his father an answer from him, if he should repeatedly call on him (XII, 333). Śuka freed himself of the four kinds of faults, the eight kinds of tamas, the five kinds of rajas, the attribute of sattva, and then dwelt in Bráhman. Meteors began to shoot, etc.
Indra poured showers of rain
Himavat and Meru (the one yellow, made of gold
the other white, made of silver), each 100 yojanas in height and breadth, were in close contact with each other. Journeying towards the north, Śuka clashed against them, and they were immediately broken in two. He was adored by G., R., Y., Rā., and Vidyādharas. He saw from a high region the celestial stream Mandākinī running below, with many Aps. Beholding Śuka, who was bodyless, those unclad aërial beings felt no shame. Vyāsa followed behind him on the same aërial path, by means of high Yoga. Śuka, above the region of the wind, identified himself with Bráhman. Ṛ. represented to Vyāsa the achievements of his son. He indulged in lamentations
Śuka, who had entered the universe, had become the soul of everything, and had acquired omnipresence, answered by uttering bho in the form of an echo, and the entire universe echoed the answer of Śuka from that time
mountain caves and mountain sides still echo sounds uttered there. Having cast off all the attributes of sound, etc., and showing his yoga prowess in the manner of his disappearance, Śuka in this way attained to the highest station. Vyāsa sat down and began to think of his son with grief
the Aps. who were sporting on the banks of the celestial stream Mandākinī saw him seated there, and all became agitated with shame. Śiva, with D., G., and great Ṛ., came and comforted Vyāsa, who by the favour of Śiva thenceforward always beheld a shadow of his son by his side. “This Nārada and Vyāsa repeatedly told me in days of yore” (XII, 334). [PCR. rightly remarks that, according to this story, Śuka who recited the Bhāgavata to Parikshit, the grandson of Yudhishṭhira, could not possibly be the Śuka who was Vyāsa's son.]