Shloka 39
अहिंसा-प्रधान धर्मविचारः
Ahiṃsā as the Superior Dharma: Practical and Scriptural Reasoning
सर्वे देवा: प्राणिनां प्राणनान्ते गत्वा वृत्ता: संनिवृत्तास्तथैव । एवं सर्वे मानवा: प्राणनान्ते गत्वा वृत्ता देववद् राजसिंह
Pitāmaha uvāca: sarve devāḥ prāṇināṃ prāṇanānte gatvā vṛttāḥ saṃnivṛttās tathaiva | evaṃ sarve mānavāḥ prāṇanānte gatvā vṛttā devavad, rājasimha rājasimha |
毗湿摩说道：“寿尽之时，众生皆去；正如诸天在一段寿期终了时退隐而寂然不作，如是人于死时亦随其业而往。或得如天之境，或堕地狱之途。待业力消尽，复还此世，再受人身及余类诸胎——犹如诸根在醒时之末沉入睡眠，而醒来之际又复现。”
पितामह उवाच
Educational Q&A
Death is not an absolute end: beings depart to other realms in accordance with karma—some to divine-like states, some to painful/hellish states—and when the results of those deeds are exhausted, they return to embodied existence. The verse uses the analogy of waking and sleep: just as senses withdraw in sleep and re-emerge on waking, so embodied life withdraws at death and reappears through rebirth.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction section, Bhīṣma (the Grandsire) addresses the king (rājasimha, commonly understood as Yudhiṣṭhira) and explains the moral-causal order governing post-mortem destinies. He frames the teaching as guidance for righteous living and governance by emphasizing that actions inevitably mature into results across lives.