Shloka 41
श्रेयो-धर्मकर्मविचारः
Inquiry into Śreyas, Dharma, and Karma
“तत्पश्चात् वह मनुष्यलोकमें एक कल्पतक स्वधर्मजनित बन्धनोंसे बँधकर क्लेश उठाता हुआ जब धीरे-धीरे अपनी तपस्याको बढ़ाता है
tataḥ paścāt sa manuṣyaloke ekaṃ kalpatakaṃ svadharmajanita-bandhanaiḥ baddhaḥ kleśam utpādayan yathā-śanaiḥ tapasyāṃ vardhayati; tataḥ haridrā-sadṛśa-kāntimān pīta-varṇaḥ devatā-bhāvaṃ prāpnoti. tatra api śataśaḥ kalpān vyatītya punar puṇya-kṣayāt manuṣyo bhavati (evaṃ sa devāt manuṣyaḥ, manuṣyāc ca devatā bhavati). haridravarṇas tu prajāvisargāt sahasraśas tiṣṭhati saṃcaran vai; avipramukto niraye ca daitya tataḥ sahasrāṇi daśāparāṇi. daitya, sahasra-kalpān devarūpeṇa saṃcarann api jīvo viṣaya-bhogebhyo na mucyate; pratyeka-kalpe kṛtānām aśubha-karmāṇāṃ phalāni niraye bhuktvā jīvaḥ ekonaviṃśati-sahasraṃ vividha-gatīḥ prāpnoti. tataḥ paścān narakāt pramucyate. manuṣyaṃ vinā anyāsu sarvāsu yoniṣu kevalaṃ sukha-duḥkha-bhogāḥ prāpyante; mokṣasya su-yogo na labhyate. etat tvayā samyag avagantavyam.
Bhishma said: Thereafter, the soul, bound in the human world by fetters born of its own prescribed duty, endures hardship; and as it gradually increases its austerity, it attains a divine state of yellow hue, radiant like turmeric. Even there, after hundreds of aeons have passed, it becomes human again when its merit is exhausted—thus it keeps moving from godhood to humanity and from humanity to godhood. Yet, O Daitya, even after roaming for thousands of aeons in a godlike form, the living being is not freed from sense-enjoyment; and, experiencing in hell the fruits of the unwholesome deeds done in each aeon, it reaches nineteen thousand different courses of existence. Only then does it obtain release from hell. In all births other than the human, one merely undergoes pleasure and pain; the fitting opportunity for liberation does not come. This you should understand clearly.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even exalted heavenly states are temporary and do not by themselves free one from attachment to sense-enjoyment; the soul continues to reap the results of good and bad deeds across vast cycles. Human birth is singled out as the rare condition in which the proper opportunity for moksha can be pursued.
Bhishma instructs a Daitya about the soul’s long journey: through austerity it may rise to a radiant divine condition, but after merit is spent it returns to human life; due to unwholesome actions it also undergoes hell and many forms of rebirth. He concludes by stressing that non-human births yield only experiences of pleasure and pain, not the decisive opening for liberation.