Shloka 453
अध्याय १६ — शङ्कर-उमा-वरदानम् तथा तण्डि-स्तुतिः (Śaṅkara–Umā Boon-Granting and Taṇḍi’s Hymn)
दिव्यादिव्य: परो लाभ अयने दक्षिणोत्तरे । ये ही पितृयान-मार्गके द्वार चन्द्रमा कहलाते हैं। काष्ठा
divyādivyaḥ paro lābhaḥ ayane dakṣiṇottare | ye hi pitṛyāna-mārgake dvāra candramā kathyate | kāṣṭhā diśā saṃvatsaraḥ yuga-ādayo 'pi ye eva | divya-lābhaḥ (devaloka-sukham), adivya-lābhaḥ (iha-loka-sukham), paramo lābhaḥ (mokṣaḥ), uttarāyaṇaṃ dakṣiṇāyanaṃ ca ye eva |
Vāyu said: “There are gains that are divine, gains that are non-divine, and the highest gain of all. Likewise there are the two courses of time—Uttarāyaṇa and Dakṣiṇāyana. The Moon is spoken of as the gate on the path called Pitṛyāna. Measures of time and direction—such as kāṣṭhā, the quarters, the year, and the yugas—are also encompassed by this same cosmic order. Thus the pleasures of the gods, the pleasures of this world, and the supreme gain of liberation, as well as the northern and southern courses, are all to be understood within that single governing principle.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames worldly pleasure, heavenly pleasure, and liberation as graded ‘attainments’ governed by a single cosmic order, and links human destiny after death (Pitṛyāna) with the rhythms of time (Uttarāyaṇa/Dakṣiṇāyana). Ethically, it implies that choices and rites aligned with dharma determine which ‘gain’ one reaches, while liberation stands above all temporal cycles.
Vāyudeva is explaining a cosmological-ethical map: the Moon is described as the gateway on the ancestral path (Pitṛyāna), and the divisions of time—directions, year, yugas, and the sun’s two courses—are invoked to show how the universe is structured and how different post-mortem outcomes and ultimate liberation fit within that structure.