Arjuna Ascends Indra's Chariot to Heaven
While Arjuna sits on Mount Mandara thinking of Indra's chariot, the divine vehicle itself appears — driven by Matali, drawn by ten thousand tawny horses, stocked with divine weapons and blazing with light. Matali announces that Indra himself awaits his son. Arjuna bathes in the Ganga, offers his prayers, bids farewell to the mountain, and ascends into the celestial regions — where the stars reveal themselves as the luminous abodes of the righteous.
Arjuna was thinking about the chariot of the king of the gods.
He had been living on Mount Mandara, performing austerities, waiting for the weapons the gods had promised him. The lords of the worlds had come and gone. Now he sat alone, and his mind turned to the vehicle that carried Indra through the sky.
As he thought of it, the chariot arrived.
It filled the sky. It removed the darkness and split the clouds. Its roar was like that of giant thunderheads. It was stocked with swords, terrible spears, clubs, lances charged with divine power, flashes of lightning, vajras (Indra's thunderbolt weapons), and implements that created gusts of wind and sounded like peacocks and great storms. Fearful nagas (serpent beings), giant in form and tall as white clouds, hard as rock, were woven into its structure. The chariot was beautiful to the eye and full of maya (divine illusion), drawn by ten thousand tawny horses that had the speed of the wind.
Arjuna saw the flag known as Vaijayanta — immensely radiant, extremely blue, dark as a blue lotus, its staff ornamented with gold. He saw the charioteer seated in the vehicle, adorned in molten gold. He took him to be a god.
The charioteer approached and bowed low. "O Shakra's son," he said. "The illustrious Shakra desires to see you. Swiftly ascend this chariot that has been sent by Indra. Your father Shatakratu, foremost among the gods, has told me: 'The thirty gods must see Kunti's son here in their abode.' Surrounded by the gods and masses of rishis (seers), gandharvas (celestial musicians), and apsaras (celestial dancers), Shakra himself is anxiously waiting to see you. On the instructions of the chastiser of Paka, ascend with me from this world to the world of the gods. Once you have obtained the weapons, you will return."
Arjuna replied: "Let us go swiftly. But this supreme chariot is difficult to obtain, even through a hundred rajasuya and ashvamedha sacrifices. Even immensely fortunate kings who have performed sacrifices and given great dakshina (gifts), or daivatas (divine beings), or danavas (demons), cannot ascend it. He who has not performed austerities cannot see this great and divine chariot, or touch it. How can one ride it? O virtuous one — once you have established yourself in the chariot and the horses have been steadied, I will ascend it thereafter, like a performer of good deeds along the righteous path."
Matali, Shakra's charioteer, ascended the chariot and controlled the horses with the reins.
Then Arjuna purified himself by bathing in the Ganga. He happily recited his prayers, in accordance with the rites. He offered oblations to the ancestors. Then he bid farewell to Mandara, king of the mountains.
"O mountain," he said. "You are always the refuge of righteous ones, of those whose conduct follows dharma, of the sages whose deeds are holy, of those who desire to traverse the road to heaven. Through your favours, Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas attain heaven and, devoid of afflictions, roam with the gods. O king of the mountains, O great mountain — you are the refuge of sages and have places of pilgrimage. I have lived happily on you. But I must now leave, bidding you farewell. My eyes have seen many of your peaks, groves, rivers, springs, and sacred places of pilgrimage."
With these words, he ascended the divine chariot, blazing like the sun. It resembled the sun in its form. It was divine and the performer of extraordinary deeds. In a delighted frame of mind, Arjuna ascended upwards.
His path became invisible to mortal ones who roam on earth. He saw thousands of chariots that were extraordinary in form. There was no sun there, nor the moon, nor light, nor fire. Everything shone there with the radiance of purity.
Those are the brilliant regions that are seen in the forms of stars. Though they are very large, because of the distance, they appear like lamps. Arjuna saw them, full of radiance and beauty, resplendent in their own fires and established in their own abodes. There were rajarshis (royal sages), siddhas (perfected beings), warriors slain on the field of battle, those who had obtained heaven through their austerities — gathered in groups of hundreds. Thousands of gandharvas with energy like that of the radiant sun, guhyakas (celestial guardians), rishis, and masses of apsaras. On beholding those regions, with their own luminosity, Arjuna was astounded.
In a friendly tone, he asked Matali about them. Matali replied: "These are the performers of good deeds. They are established in their own abodes. From the earth, you have seen them in the form of stars."
Then Arjuna saw, standing at the gate, the white elephant that is always victorious. This was the four-tusked Airavata, like Mount Kailasa itself.
Travelling along the road traversed by the siddhas, the supreme one of the Kuru and Pandava lineages shone like the supreme king Mandhata in earlier times. The lotus-eyed one passed through worlds earmarked for kings and then set his eyes on Amaravati, Shakra's city. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 340