Ashtaka said: “O lord of kings, what foremost worlds have you experienced, and for what time, and how -- tell me all this duly, O king; for you speak of dharma as one who knows the field, the Oversoul.” Yayati said: “Here I was a sovereign king; then I conquered great worlds; there I dwelt for about a thousand years, then ascended to a higher world. Then in the lovely city of Puruhuta (Indra), with a thousand gates, extending a hundred yojanas, I dwelt for about a thousand years, and then ascended to a higher world. Then, having reached the hard-to-attain, wondrous, unaging world of Prajapati, lord of creatures, I dwelt there for about a thousand years, and then ascended to a higher world. In the abode of each god, having conquered the worlds, I dwelt at will, honored by all the gods, myself equal in might and splendor to the lords of the worlds. Thus in the garden of Nandana, assuming any form at will, for a million years, sporting with the apsaras, I lived, beholding fragrant, flowering, beautiful trees. When I was there, attached to heavenly delights, and a very long, immeasurable time had passed, a messenger of the gods, terrible in form, thrice, in a drawn-out voice, loudly said to me: 'Fall!' O lion among kings, this much is known to me; then I, my merit spent, fell from the garden of Nandana; O lord of men, in the sky I heard the words of the gods, grieving for me out of compassion: 'Alas, woe! His merit spent, the righteous, illustrious Yayati is falling!' To them, as I fell, I said: 'How might I fall among the righteous?' By them your sacrificial ground was pointed out to me; catching sight of it, I hastened here; having smelled from your sacrificial ground the fragrance of the oblation, borne on the edge of the smoke, I gained joy.”