Shloka 40
Dehānta (Cyavana) and Upapatti: Kāśyapa’s Questions and the Siddha’s Account of Death, Pain, and Karmic Re-embodiment
कर्मक्षयाच्च ते सर्वे च्यवन्ते वै पुन: पुन: । तत्रापि च विशेषो$स्ति दिवि नीचोच्चमध्यम:
karmakṣayāc ca te sarve cyavante vai punaḥ punaḥ | tatrāpi ca viśeṣo 'sti divi nīcoccamadhyamaḥ ||
The Siddha said: When the merit of their deeds is exhausted, all those beings fall again and again from that realm. Thus their coming and going continues repeatedly. Even in heaven there is a distinction—some are low, some middling, and some exalted—according to the quality and measure of their accumulated merit.
सिद्ध उवाच
Educational Q&A
Heaven is not a final liberation: it is a temporary result of merit. When puṇya is spent (karmakṣaya), beings fall and re-enter the cycle of repeated movement (punaḥ punaḥ), and even within heaven there are graded levels corresponding to the quality and quantity of merit.
A Siddha instructs the listener about the mechanics of karmic results: celestial enjoyment ends when merit is exhausted, leading to descent, and the heavenly realm itself contains internal hierarchies (low, middle, high) rather than a single uniform reward.