Shloka 52
श्रेयो-धर्मकर्मविचारः
Inquiry into Śreyas, Dharma, and Karma
प्रजाविसर्ग तु सशेषकाले स्थानानि स्वान्येव सरन्ति जीवा: । निःशेषतस्तत्पदं यान्ति चान्ते सर्वे देवा ये सदृशा मनुष्या:
prajāvisarga tu saśeṣakāle sthānāni svānyeva saranti jīvāḥ | niḥśeṣatastatpadaṃ yānti cānte sarve devā ye sadṛśā manuṣyāḥ ||
प्रजाविसर्गे तु सशेषकाले ये जीवा लये कर्मफलशेषिणः स्युः, ते कल्पान्तरे सृष्ट्युत्पत्तौ शेषफलभोगार्थं पूर्वप्राप्तान्येव स्थानानि प्राप्नुवन्ति। ये तु कल्पान्ते तद्भोगं निःशेषं कृत्वा दिव्यभावहेतुं क्षीणकर्माणः, स्वर्गलोकनाशे सति, समानकर्मवतामन्यप्राणिनामिव मनुष्ययोनिमेव यान्ति।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Karmic results govern post-dissolution destiny: if karmic fruits remain unexhausted at pralaya, beings resume the same realm in the next creation to finish that experience; if those fruits are fully exhausted by the aeon’s end, the divine status does not persist, and they take birth according to comparable deeds—often as humans.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction in the Śānti Parva, he describes how beings are redistributed after cosmic dissolution and re-creation, distinguishing between those with remaining karmic residue and those whose heaven-sustaining merit has been fully spent.