Shloka 23
Svargārohaṇa-parva Adhyāya 5 — Karmaphala-Nirdeśa and Phalāśruti (कर्मफलनिर्देशः फलश्रुतिश्च)
अनन्तो भगवान् देव: प्रविवेश रसातलम् | पितामहनियोगाद् वै यो योगाद् गामधारयत्
ananto bhagavān devaḥ praviveśa rasātalam | pitāmaha-niyogād vai yo yogād gām adhārayat |
Vaiśampāyana sprach: Der selige Herr, der Gott Ananta, trat in Rasātala ein und kehrte in seine eigene Wohnstatt zurück. Er ist derselbe Ananta, der auf Geheiß des Großvaters (Brahmā) die Erde durch die Kraft des Yoga trägt. (In derselben abschließenden Bewegung der Erzählung heißt es auch, Vidura und König Yudhiṣṭhira seien in das Dharma selbst eingegangen—ein Hinweis darauf, dass ihr Ende als Rückkehr zu ihrem Wesensprinzip verstanden wird, nicht als bloßes körperliches Scheiden.)
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the end of heroic lives as a restoration of cosmic order: divine beings return to their proper realms, and righteousness (dharma) is treated as an ontological reality into which the righteous can merge. It emphasizes that the world is sustained by divine support (Ananta) operating under cosmic governance (Brahmā’s command) and spiritual power (yoga).
In the concluding events of the Mahābhārata, Ananta—identified in the surrounding narration with Balarāma’s divine nature—withdraws from the human scene and enters Rasātala, his own domain. The text recalls his cosmic role of upholding the earth by yogic power under Brahmā’s directive, while nearby narration also notes Vidura and Yudhiṣṭhira entering into Dharma.