Ch.up.S.B.Introduction--- samastam karmaadhigatam -------------------- --------chandralokapratipattikaaraNam. All the rituals performed along with meditation
on praaNa and other deities become the means of reaching Brahmaloka (the world of hiraNyagarbha) through the path of the gods (devayaana) . Rituals alone (without meditation) are the means of attaining the Lunar region through the path of the manes (pitr.yaana).

    These paths are elaborated below. Ch.up.5.1.1.S.B---saguNabrahmavidyayaa uttaraa gatiH uktaa. ------ --------------vaktavyaa iti aarabhyate. It has been said that meditation
on the conditioned Brahman leads to the path of the gods. Now, in this fifth chapter,
after reiterating that same path for the householder who knows the panchaagni vidyaa (meditation on the five fires), and the celibates who are possessed of faith and perform other forms of meditation, the path of transmigration (or the path of the manes) characterised by smoke, etc, for those who perform rites alone (without meditation) is described in order to generate a spirit of detachment (vairaagya). The path of the gods (devayaana or the northern path) is described in Ch.up.5.10.1 as well as in Br.up. 6.2.15. Some other upanishads also describe this path with some variations.

    Taking all these descriptions together, the complete enumeration of the stages of
the path of the gods is as follows: First the deity of fire, then the deity of the day, the
deity of the bright fortnight, the deity of the six months when the sun travels northward,
the deity of the year, the deity of the world of gods, the deity of the air, the sun, the
moon, the deity of lightning, the world of Varuna, the world of Indra, the world of
Prajapati, and finally Brahmaloka. (B.S.4.3.3). In B.S. 4.3.4 it is made clear that the
terms fire, bright fortnight, year, etc, refer to the deities identified with these. That
deities are meant here, and not marks or places of enjoyment, is indicated by the text
of the Chhandogya upanishad, which says- "From the moon to the lightning. Then
a superhuman being leads them to Brahman"-(Ch. up. 4.15.5, 5.10.1). In B.S. 4.3.7
it is asserted that these meditators go to the Saguna Brahman, for no journey is
possible to Nirguna Brahman which is all-pervading. This path is also known as
the path of light or archiraadimaarga.

    The path of the manes (pitr.yaana or the southern path) is described in Ch.up. 5.10.3
and 4. Householders who perform Vedic rites such as agnihotra and activities for public welfare such as construction of tanks, wells and rest-houses and practise charity (these
are known as ishTa, puurta and dattam) go through the path of the manes. The stages
in this path are the deity of smoke, the deity of the night, the deity of the dark fortnight,
the deity of the six months during which the sun travels southward, the region of the
manes, aakaas'a and the moon. This moon is King Soma. Reaching there, they become
identified with this moon and enjoy there. They are also in turn enjoyed by the
gods. Enjoyment is possible only with a body. Therefore the jiiva who reaches
this moon by this path gets a body produced out of the water particles and smoke
rising out of his dead body, which was his last offering on the earth into fire.
The water, together with the smoke, arising out of the cremated body envelops
the jiiva and goes to the region of the moon and produces a body for enjoyment.
The enjoyment of the jiivas here consists in the companionship of the gods, who
in turn enjoy them by being served by them.

    Those who go by the path of the manes have to return on the exhaustion of the
results of the rites and other good deeds performed by them, which earned them
this path. This is described in Ch.up. 5.10.5 and 6. The aqueous body which the jiiva
had in the region of the moon takes a subtle form like aakaas'a and remains in the
sky. Then it successively appears as air, smoke, white cloud and rain- bearing cloud
and then falls down in the form of rain. Then these jiivas come down to this world by
remaining attached to rice, barley, herbs and trees, sesamum plants, beans, etc.
There is no certainty where the rainwater will fall and where the jiivas attached
to the grains etc, will go. When the rice, etc is eaten by a male capable of
reproduction, the jiiva attached to it may enter the womb of a female and be
born as a human being, animal bird, or any other creature. This process and the
difficulties in the way are described in detail in the Bhaashya. The nature of the
birth is determined by the residual karma (See KaTh.up.2.2.7). These two paths
are also mentioned in B.G.8.24 and 25.