[Advaita-l] Vishnu and Shiva Lokas too are subject to return - Mahabharata

[V Subrahmanian]

In the Bhagavad Gita we have this verse:

आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोकाः पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन।

मामुपेत्य तु कौन्तेय पुनर्जन्म न विद्यते।।8.16।।   8.16

8.16 O Arjuna, all the worlds together with the world of Brahma are subject
to return. But, O son of Kunti, there is no rebirth after reaching Me.

This is because even the Brahma loka is part of the Brahmāṇḍa, the created
14 lokas.

In the Mahabharata, *Ashvamedha parvan*, there is a dialogue between
Krishna and Yudhishthira on the ‘vaishnava dharma shāstra’:

http://bombay.indology.info/mahabharata/apps/UD/Supp14.txt

All these verses are also found in the Kumbhaghoṇam edition too:

http://sanskritdocuments.org/mirrors/mahabharata/mbhK/unic/mbhK14_sa.html

14_004_3095 विषुवे स्नपनं यस्तु मम कुर्याद्धरस्य वा

14_004_3096 अर्चनं च यथान्यायं तस्य पुण्यफलं शृणु

He who observes the vow of Viṣu, devoted to Me or Hara and worship as per
the rules, hear what great merit he attains:

14_004_3097 दशजन्मकृतं पापं तस्य सद्यो विनश्यति
14_004_3098 दशानामश्वमेधानामिष्टानां लभते फलम्

His sins of ten births vanishes at once and he attains the merit of
performing ten ashvamedha sacrifices.

14_004_3099 विमानं दिव्यमारूढः कामरूपी यथासुखम्
14_004_3100 स याति मामकं लोकं रुद्रलोकमथापि वा

Mounting the divine vimāna, with the form of his liking, with great ease,
he attains to My world or Rudra loka.

14_004_3101 तत्रस्थैर्देवगन्धर्वैर्गीयमानो यथासुखम्
14_004_3102 दिव्यवर्षसहस्राणि कोटिमेकं तु मोदते

There, he remains joyfully for very long periods of heavenly scale, being
praised by the divine beings of those worlds.

14_004_3103

ततश्चापि च्युतः कालादिह लोके द्विजोत्तमः 14_004_3104
चतुर्णामपि वेदानां पारगो ब्रह्मविद्भवेत्

*Thereafter returning to this world, *he becomes a brahmin, versed in the
four vedas and finally a Realized soul.

This last verse is the one where we find Krishna himself saying that those
who have reached His or Shiva's loka are subject to return after the
experiencing of bhoga there.

This makes these two lokas on par with Brahma loka. From this we also get
to know that these too are created lokas.

There are also instances in the Narada and Skanda Puranas where individuals
are shown returning from Vaikuntha.

In the Gāḍhārtha dīpikā of* Madhusudana saraswati* on the Bh.Gita, there is
this comment:

मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम्।
नाप्नुवन्ति महात्मानः संसिद्धिं परमां गताः।।8.15।।

15. As a result of reaching Me they do not get rebirth which is an abode of
sorrows and is impermanent, because on account of being high-souled they
attain the supreme Success.

He says:

यतो महात्मानः रजस्तमोमलरहितान्तःकरणाः शुद्धसत्त्वाः समुत्पन्नसम्यग्दर्शना
*मल्लोकभोगान्ते* परमां सर्वोत्कृष्टां संसिद्धिं मुक्तिं गतास्ते। अत्र मां
प्राप्य सिद्धिं गता इति वदतोपासकानां *क्रममुक्तिर्दर्शिता*।

That is to say, they do not come back again, because they are mahātmänaḥ,
high-souled, whose minds are devoid of the dirt of rajas and tamas, who are
possessed of pure sattva, in whom has arisen perfect Knowledge; gatāḥ, who
have attained; paramām, the supreme, the most superior; samsiddhim,
Success, (i.e.) Liberation, *at the end of enjoyment in My world.*

*Here, by saying that they have attained perfection 'as a result of
reaching Me', it has been shown that devotees attain gradual Liberation. *

Madhusudana accepts that those who reach Krishna's Loka will attain krama
mukti (just like those who go to Brahma loka attain, in mainstream Shānkara
Advaita.  He says this in the 8.15 verse commentary:

Here the rule is this: Those who attain the world of Brahma through
devotional practices calculated to lead to gradual Liberation, for them
alone ensues Liberation along with Brahma after the emergence of perfect
Knowledge in that world.

From the above we see that Madhusudana seeks to make a difference between
Brahma loka and My (Krishna's) loka.  In both loka-s he agrees there is
only krama mukti.

Juxtaposing with the above, the Mahabharata statement of Krsihna that those
who go to Krishna's loka after performing some rituals and vow practices go
there and return and here become enlightened, we understand that Krishna
loka here is no different from Brahma loka - where too there are some who
go there after practicing certain upansanas - like the panchāgni vidya -
and after bhoga, like in swarga, return to this world of humans. Thus we
see that the Krishna (Vishnu) loka, Shiva loka and Brahma loka are all of
the same category.

Narayana Bhatta, in the Nārāyaṇīyam 90.2, says the same:

मूर्तित्रयेश्वरसदाशिवपञ्चकं यत्
 प्राहुः परात्मवपुरेव सदाशिवोऽस्मिन् ।
तत्रेश्वरस्तु स विकुण्ठपदस्त्वमेव
 त्रित्वं पुनर्भजसि सत्यपदे त्रिभागे ॥ २ ॥
In the five fold aspect* of God namely Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva , Ishwara and
Sadashiva,
The fifth aspect Sadashiva is you yourself , who is the form of the divine
spirit,
And also the form Ishwara also denotes you as the one who resides in
Vaikunta,
*And you are also the one who manifests yourself as the holy trinity in
Sathya Loka 90.2*

Details can be seen in this article:

https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/hari-hara-abheda.narayaneeyam-f.pdf
Now, we see this idea stated in the Mahabharata:

It is on page 3343 of the 4000 odd page pdf on archive:

Nilakantha’s commentary for verses 50 and 51:

https://archive.org/details/mahabharata_nk/page/n3341/mode/2up

It says –

https://sarit.indology.info/mahabharata-devanagari.xml?root=1.5.6.30.582&view=div

सप्तैव संहारमुपप्लवानि संभाव्य संतिष्ठति जीवलोके ।

ततोऽव्ययं स्थानमनन्तमेति देवस्य विष्णोरथ  ब्रह्मणश्च  ।

शेषस्य चैवाथ नरस्य चैव देवस्य विष्णोः परमस्य चैव ॥

संहारकाले परदिग्धकायाब्रह्माणमायान्ति सदा प्रजाहि ।

चेष्टात्मनो देवगणाश्च सर्वे ये ब्रह्मलोके ह्यमराः स्म तेऽपि ॥

प्रजानिसर्गे तु स शेषकाले स्थानानि स्वान्येव सरन्ति जीवाः ।

निःशेषतस्तत्पदं वान्ति चान्ते सर्वे देवा ये सदृशा मनुष्याः ॥

Nilakantha gives good details and also says that beyond even this
Brahmaloka, is the absolute mukti, the Advaitic liberation, that is not any
loka.

Om Tat Sat