Shloka 51
श्रेयो-धर्मकर्मविचारः
Inquiry into Śreyas, Dharma, and Karma
संहारकाले परिदग्धकाया ब्रद्माणमायान्ति सदा प्रजा हि । चेष्टात्मनो देवगणाश्न सर्वे ये ब्रह्मलोकादपरा: सम तेडपि,'ज्ञानाग्निके द्वारा जिनके सूक्ष्म, स्थूल और कारण-शरीर दग्ध हो गये हैं, वे प्रजाजन अर्थात् योगीलोग प्रलयकालमें सदा परब्रह्म परमात्माको प्राप्त होते हैं एवं जो ब्रह्मलोकसे नीचेके लोकोंमें रहनेवाले साधनशील दैवी प्रकृतिसे सम्पन्न साधक हैं, वे सब परब्रह्मको प्राप्त हो जाते हैं
saṁhārakāle paridagdhakāyā brahmāṇam āyānti sadā prajā hi | ceṣṭātmano devagaṇāś ca sarve ye brahmalokād aparāḥ samās te 'pi ||
Bhishma said: At the time of cosmic dissolution, those beings—the yogins—whose bodies (gross, subtle, and causal) have been burned away by the fire of knowledge ever attain the Supreme Brahman. Likewise, all the divine hosts and disciplined seekers who dwell in worlds below Brahmaloka, endowed with a divine nature and steadfast in practice, also reach that Supreme Brahman. The teaching is that liberation is won not by rank or cosmic station, but by inner purification and knowledge that consumes embodied limitation.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Liberation is attained when the coverings of embodiment are consumed by knowledge and disciplined practice; at pralaya, such purified beings—whether yogins or divine beings in lower worlds—reach the Supreme Brahman. Cosmic rank (even residence in Brahmaloka or below) is secondary to inner realization.
In Bhishma’s instruction in the Shanti Parva, he describes the destiny of realized and disciplined beings at the time of cosmic dissolution: those whose embodied limitations are destroyed attain Brahman, and even divine beings and practitioners in lower realms, through sustained spiritual effort, also reach the Supreme.