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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 3: Chapter 32: Verses 1-16
Destiny of the souls departing from this world by the "Bright Path", the "Dark Path" and so on, and the superiority of Bhaktiyoga
Lord Kapila continued : As for the man who, while continuing at home, performs the duties of a householder and, earning wealth and the pleasures of sense through them resorts to those actions again, he too turns his face away from the Lord,`deluded as he is by desire, and worships through sacrificial performances the gods as well as the manes with reverence. His mind being swayed by reverence for the aforesaid beings, the man undertakes vows to propitiate the gods and the manes and, having attained (thereby) to the realm of the moon (a part of the heavenly world) drinks (with them) the (inebriating) sap of the Soma plant; but (when the stock of merit that earned him an abode in the aforementioned realm is exhausted) he must return (to this mortal world). When (at the end of a Kalpa) Sri Hari, who has Ananta (the serpent-god Sesa) for His seat, reclines on His couch of Sesa (the lord of the serpents), these worlds, attained to by the householders, get dissolved (enter His body and disappear). Those wise men, however, who do not perform their duties for the sake of sensuous enjoyment and wealth but offer their actions to Me, nay, who are free from attachment, most serene, pure of mind, devoted to the duties of those who have retired from the world, have no feeling of "I" and "mine" (with regard to the body and everything connected with it) and are endowed with a mind thoroughly cleansed by recourse to Sattva (the quality of goodness) passing by the name of one's own sacred duty, reach by the "Bright Path" the all pervading Supreme Person, the Lord of both Prakrti and Purusa (Matter and
Spirit), the ultimate Cause (of the universe) and also responsible for the creation, preservation and dissolution of the world. As for those who meditate on Hiranyagarbha (Brahma) as no other than the Supreme, dwell in the realm of Brahma (the highest heaven known by the name of Satyaloka) till the dissolution of Brahma, which takes place at the end of two Parardhas. Intending to dissolve the universe enclosed by earth, water, fire, air, ether, the mind, the senses and their object and the ego (the source of the elements) and so on, and having finished his regime extending over two Parardhas, when Brahma (the self-born), who is higher than the other gods, identifies himself with Prakrti (consisting of the three Gunas) and enters the Absolute, the Yogis that have controlled their breath and mind and are free from passion enter (the body of) the worshipful Brahma after casting off their body, and along with him get merged into the Supreme Brahma, who is an embodiment of the highest bliss and no other than the most ancient Person, and to whom they did not attain before inasmuch as their egotism had not left them till then. Therefore, O great lady, seek refuge with devotion in Him alone who has taken up His abode in the lotus-like heart of all living beings and of whose glory you have (just) heard (from Me). On the other hand, even Brahma (the repository of the Vedas and) the cause of the mobile and immobile creation, alongwith the sages (Marici and others), the lords of Yoga like Sanaka and others, and other Siddhas who are the first teachers of Yoga-even after entering (at the time of final dissolution), by virtue of their disinterested action, (the body of) the first Purusa, the foremost of all Purusas, who is no other than Brahma presiding over the three Gunas-is born again as before (if the Lord so desires) at the time of creation-when the equilibrium of the Gunas is disturbed by the Time-Spirit, a manifestation of the Lord Himself-because of his retaining the notion of difference and due to his sense of doership. And the sages too-after enjoying the glorious life of the highest heaven, earned by their meritorious acts-(likewise) return (by the will of the Lord as the mind-born sons of Brahma) on the equilibrium of the Gunas being disturbed (at the time of creation). They, however, whose mind is attached to the world and who are full of reverence for religious rites perform actions that are actuated by desire, though not prohibited by the scriptures, as well as those which are of an obligatory nature, in their entirety.
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