Shloka 21
ते तं भुक्त्वा स्वर्गलोकं विशालं क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोक॑ विशन्ति । एवं त्रयीधर्ममनुप्रपन्ना गतागतं कामकामा लभन्ते,वे उस विशाल स्वर्गलोकको भोगकर पुण्य क्षीण होनेपर मृत्युलोकको प्राप्त होते हैं। इस प्रकार स्वर्गके साधनरूप तीनों वेदोंमें कहे हुए सकामकर्मका आश्रय लेनेवाले और भोगोंकी कामनावाले पुरुष बार-बार आवागमनको प्राप्त होते हैं, अर्थात् पुण्यके प्रभावसे स्वर्गमें जाते हैं और पुण्य क्षीण होनेपर मृत्युलोकमें आते हैं:
te taṁ bhuktvā svargalokaṁ viśālaṁ kṣīṇe puṇye martyalokaṁ viśanti | evaṁ trayīdharmam anuprapannā gatāgataṁ kāmakāmā labhante ||
Having enjoyed that vast heavenly realm, when their merit is exhausted they enter the mortal world again. Thus, those who take refuge in the Vedic triad as a means to desired enjoyments—men driven by craving for pleasures—attain only repeated coming and going: they rise to heaven by the force of merit and return to mortality when that merit runs out.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Heaven gained through merit from desire-motivated Vedic rites is impermanent; when puṇya is exhausted, one returns to the mortal realm. Therefore, pleasure-driven ritualism yields only cyclical return (saṁsāra), not lasting liberation.
In the Gītā discourse within Bhīṣma Parva, the speaker explains the limitation of those who pursue heavenly enjoyment through Vedic sacrificial religion: they reach svarga, enjoy it, and then fall back to martyaloka once their accumulated merit is spent.