Shloka 15
आयु:प्रमाणं जीवन्ति नरा भरतसत्तम । वे सब-के-सब देवलोकसे च्युत (होकर वहाँ शेष पुण्यका उपभोग करते) हैं! उनमें रजोगुणका सर्वथा अभाव होता है। भरतभूषण जनेश्वर! वे तेरह हजार वर्षोकी आयुतक जीवित रहते हैं || १४ $ ।। क्षीरोदस्य समुद्रस्य तथैवोत्तरत: प्रभु: । हरिवसति वैकुण्ठ: शकटे कनकामये,क्षीरसागरके उत्तर तटपर भगवान् विष्णु निवास करते हैं, वे वहाँ सुवर्णमय रथपर विराजमान हैं। उस रथमें आठ पहिये लगे हैं। उसका वेग मनके समान है। वह समस्त भूतोंसे युक्त, अग्निके समान कान्तिमान्ू, परम तेजस्वी तथा जाम्बूनद नामक सुवर्णसे विभूषित है
sañjaya uvāca |
āyuḥpramāṇaṃ jīvanti narā bharatasattama |
te sarve sarve devalokāc cyutāḥ (tatra śeṣapuṇyasya upabhogaṃ kurvanti) |
teṣāṃ rajoguṇasya sarvathā abhāvo bhavati |
bharatabhūṣaṇa janeśvara |
te trayodaśa-sahasra-varṣāṇām āyutakālaṃ jīvanti ||
kṣīrodasya samudrasya tathaivottarataḥ prabhoḥ |
harir vasati vaikuṇṭhaḥ śakaṭe kanakamaye |
kṣīrasāgarasya uttara-taṭe bhagavān viṣṇur nivāsati |
sa tatra suvarṇamaye rathopari virājate |
tasmin rathe aṣṭa cakrāṇi santi |
tasya vegaḥ manasaḥ sadṛśaḥ |
sa sarvabhūtaiḥ yuktaḥ agni-sadṛśa-kāntimān paramatejasvī ca jambūnada-nāmnā suvarṇena vibhūṣitaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “O best of the Bharatas, those men live out the full measure of their allotted lifespan. All of them have fallen from the world of the gods and there consume the remainder of their merit. In them there is no trace of the quality of passion (rajas). O ornament of the Bharata line, lord of men, they live for a span of thirteen thousand years. To the north of the Ocean of Milk, O lord, Hari dwells in Vaikuṇṭha, seated upon a golden chariot. That chariot has eight wheels; its speed is like the mind. It is associated with all beings, radiant like fire, supremely resplendent, and adorned with gold called Jāmbūnada.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even heavenly status is not permanent: when merit is exhausted, beings fall from Devaloka and must live out the remaining results of their past actions. The passage also links spiritual purity with the absence of rajas (restless passion), implying a more sattvic, steady condition associated with higher realms and proximity to Viṣṇu.
Sañjaya describes to the Kuru king a cosmological scene: certain beings who have fallen from the gods’ world live for a fixed long span, and he then locates Hari (Viṣṇu) in Vaikuṇṭha to the north of the Ocean of Milk, seated on a radiant golden, eight-wheeled chariot swift as thought.