Shloka 24
मृत्योर्ब्रह्मणा नियोजनम् — The Commissioning of Mṛtyu by Brahmā
कारणं परमं प्राप्प अतिक्रान्तस्य कार्यताम् । पुनरावर्तनं नास्ति सम्प्राप्तस्थ परं पदम्
kāraṇaṁ paramaṁ prāpya atikrāntasya kāryatām | punarāvartanaṁ nāsti samprāptasya paraṁ padam ||
Vyāsa said: “Having attained the Supreme Cause, and having crossed beyond the realm of effects (the operative, changeful nature), the knower reaches the highest state. For one who has arrived at that supreme station, there is no return again to this world.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation is described as attaining Brahman, the Supreme Cause, and thereby transcending the effect-world (prakṛti and its transformations). One who truly reaches the ‘supreme state’ is not subject to return—i.e., no further rebirth in saṁsāra.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on peace and ultimate good, Vyāsa states a doctrinal conclusion: the realized knower who reaches the highest principle passes beyond the causal chain of worldly becoming and therefore does not re-enter worldly existence.