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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 3: Chapter 23: Verses 1-11
Amorous pastimes of Kardama and Devahuti
Maitreya continued : When the parents of Devahuti had left (for their capital), that virtuous girl, who could easily read the mind of her lord, daily attended to his comforts with the same delight as Goddess Parvati looks after Her Consort, Lord Siva. Forswearing lust deceit,malice, covetousness, vanity and forbidden acts (of every kind), nay, ever vigilant and active, she won the pleasure of her glorious husband through fidelity, purity of mind and body, reverence, control of the senses, service and love as well as by her affable speech, O Vidura! That daughter of Manu, who looked upon her lord as greater even than Providence and was fully devoted to him, expected great blessings from him. Nay, having served him for a long time, she had grown weak and emaciated on account of her religious observances. Kardama (the foremost of celestial sages) was, therefore, oppressed with a feeling of commiseration for her and spoke to her in accents faltering with love. Kardama said : O daughter of Manu, you have shown great respect to me and I am pleased today with your most faithful service and supreme devotion. You ungrudgingly wasted your body for my sake (in my service)-body which is extremely dear to all living beings and deserves every attention. I, therefore, confer on you supernatural vision : thereby see for yourself the divine blessings (in the shape of unearthly enjoyments) that were secured by me through concentrated application to austere penance, Samadhi (abstract or deep meditation) and worship of God, and through devotion to my own duty-blessings which are free from fear and grief and to which you have also won a title through services rendered to me. Of what account (in comparison to these) are other enjoyments (including those obtained in heaven), aspirations in regard to which are frustrated by the mere contraction of a brow on the part of the Lord, who possesses infinite power? You have now attained your object (through fidelity to me); therefore, enjoy the extensive unearthly pleasures earned through devotion to your (wifely) duties, and which can be had with difficulty by human beings due to false notions of their royal dignity etc. When the sage spoke thus, Devahuti felt relieved to discover that he was the master of all Yogic powers and an adept in all forms of worship. Her face brightening with a smile and bashful glances, she spoke in voice choked with modesty and love. Devahuti said : I know it, my lord : all that you have said, O chief of the Brahmanas, is something natural to you, a master of unfailing Yogic powers that you are, O great one. Now let the promise you made (in the presence of my father) about allowing me the contact of your body but once be redeemed; for it is a rare boon for virtuous wives to have a progeny through a highly venerable husband. Kindly instruct me what arrangements have to be made and what requisites to be got together (in the shape of unguents, scents, wearing apparel and nourishing food etc.) according to the injunctions of the scriptures (works on erotics), by resorting to which my poor body, emaciated through intense passion, may be rendered fit for union, smitten as I am with darts of love excited by you. And also think of (getting) a suitable house (for the purpose), my lord.
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