Shloka 30
अग्नीषोमोत्पत्तिः
Agni–Soma Origin and the Brahmāgnīṣomīya Doctrine
देवयानचरो विष्णो: पितृयाणश्व॒ तामस: । द्वावेतौ प्रेत्य पन्थानौ दिव॑ चाधश्ष गच्छत:,“मरकर ऊपरके लोकोंमें जानेवाले और नीचेके लोकोंमें जानेवाले मनुष्योंके लिये दो मार्ग हैं, एक तो देवयान जो कि विष्णुलोकका मार्ग है, अतः सात्त्विक है, दूसरा पितृयान जो कि तामस है
devayānacaro viṣṇoḥ pitṛyāṇaś ca tāmasaḥ | dvāv etau pretya panthānau divaṃ cādhaś ca gacchataḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “For beings who depart from this world, there are two paths: the Devayāna, the divine way leading to Viṣṇu’s realm and therefore aligned with sattva; and the Pitṛyāna, the ancestral way, characterized here as tamasic. By these two routes, one goes either upward to the heavenly regions or downward to lower states.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches that post-mortem destiny is described in terms of two broad trajectories: an upward, divine course (Devayāna) associated with purity and higher realization, and an ancestral course (Pitṛyāna) characterized here as tamasic, tending toward lower or less luminous outcomes. The verse frames ethical-spiritual quality as shaping one’s direction after death.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction-setting, Bhīṣma is advising Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and the consequences of conduct. Here he summarizes a cosmological-ethical map of the afterlife, distinguishing two routes by which departed beings are said to proceed—upward to higher worlds (linked with Viṣṇu) or downward to lower states.