Shloka 66
श्रेयो-धर्मकर्मविचारः
Inquiry into Śreyas, Dharma, and Karma
शुक्ल: शुक्लाभिजातीय: साध्यो नावर्ततेडनघ । तिर्यग्गतेश्व निर्मुक्तो निरयाच्च पितामह
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
śuklaḥ śuklābhijātīyaḥ sādhyo nāvartate 'nagha |
tiryaggateṣv anirmukto nirayāc ca pitāmaha ||
युधिष्ठिर बोले—निष्पाप पितामह! वह ‘शुक्ल’ था—शुद्ध कुल में जन्मा और स्वभाव से भी शुद्ध। प्रतीत होता है कि वह वास्तव में साध्य-देवता था; इसलिए वह फिर संसार में नहीं लौटा। वह पशु-पक्षियों की योनियों और नरक से भी मुक्त हो गया, पितामह।
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Purity of conduct and accumulated merit can lead to freedom from lower rebirths (animal/bird births) and from hellish states; exceptionally, one may be understood as having a divine status (Sādhya), implying non-return to saṃsāra.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Bhīṣma, reflecting on a person named Śukla: he was pure by birth and nature, and Yudhiṣṭhira infers that he was a Sādhya deity, hence he does not return to worldly existence and is freed from animal births and hell.