Shloka 43
कोटीशतसहस्रं च तेषु लोकेषु मोदते । तथा वह पुण्डरीकके समान श्वेत वर्णोका विमान पाता है। दीप्तिमान् सूर्य और अग्निके समान तेजस्विनी और दिव्यमालाधारिणी रुद्रकन्याएँ उसे सनातन अन्तरिक्ष-लोकमें ले जाती हैं और वहाँ वह एक कल्प लाख करोड़ एवं अठारह हजार वर्षोतक सुख भोगता है ।। यस्तु संवत्सरं भुड्क्ते दशाहे वै गते गते
koṭiśatasahasraṃ ca teṣu lokeṣu modate | tathā sa puṇḍarīkake samānaśvetavarṇakaṃ vimānaṃ prāpnoti | dīptimān sūryāgnisamaṃ tejasvinīṃ divyamālādhāriṇīś ca rudrakanyāḥ taṃ sanātane ’ntarikṣaloke nayanti | tatra sa ekaṃ kalpaṃ lakṣakoṭiṃ ca aṣṭādaśasahasraṃ varṣāṇi sukhaṃ bhuṅkte || yastu saṃvatsaraṃ bhuṅkte daśāhe vai gate gate
Bhīṣma said: In those worlds he rejoices amid countless multitudes. He attains a radiant aerial car, white as a lotus. Shining like the sun and fire, the divine daughters of Rudra—wearing heavenly garlands—escort him to the eternal realm of the mid-sky. There he enjoys happiness for a vast span of time: a kalpa, and further for lakhs and crores and eighteen thousand years. (The passage then continues:) “But he who partakes for a year, as each ten-day period passes…”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes the doctrine of karmic fruition: righteous or meritorious conduct yields exalted posthumous results—joy in higher realms, divine conveyance (vimāna), and long-lasting bliss measured in cosmic time. It frames ethical living as having tangible metaphysical consequences.
Bhīṣma describes the reward granted to a meritorious person: he delights in celestial worlds, receives a lotus-white vimāna, and is escorted by radiant Rudra’s maidens to the eternal antarikṣa-loka, where he enjoys happiness for an immense duration. The final fragment signals a transition to the next rule or comparison involving ten-day periods and a year.