bhishma said:

It has been stated that ignorance leads to many sorts of hell. Although the practice of quiet recitation is commended, these are the faults that are found in it.

yudhi·shthira said:

198.1

Tell me, what sort of hell does a quiet reciter end up in? Please explain this curiosity of mine, Your Majesty.

bhishma said:

You were born from a portion of the god Dharma, and are naturally righteous in the extreme. Listen attentively, faultless one, to this account on the source of righteousness.

Those abodes of the highest gods are varied in appearance and splendor, and confer different sorts of rewards.

198.5

Divine chariots that go where one wants, assembly halls as well as various pleasure gardens and lotus ponds made of gold, Your Majesty: these are enjoyed by the four protectors of the world, and by Shukra, Brihas·pati,* the maruts, Vishva·devas, Sadhyas, Ashvins, rudras, Adityas, Vasus as well as other divinities. And these are mere hells, my child, in comparison with the condition of the transcendent self.

That condition is free from fear and any characteristic sign; it is not beset by afflictions. It is free from the two, the three, the eight and the three again.* It is devoid of the four characteristics and the four causes, and is beyond rapture, bliss, sorrow and fatigue.

198.10

Time dominates there—in the world—but has no power there—the domain of the self—for the self is the master of time, Your Majesty, and the Lord of heaven too. Once a person attains the absolute state of the self and identifies ________