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 ||
毗湿摩解释道：当新一轮创造展开之时，那些在毁灭之际其业果尚未了尽的众生，会自然而然回到他们先前所证得的同一位阶与世界，以受尽余果。但那些在一劫终了之际已完全耗尽维系其天界身份之业果者——当天界本身亦随之坏灭——进入下一轮循环时不再复生为天，而是如同业行相当的其他众生一般，转生于人间之境。
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.