Arcirmārga and Dhūmamārga: The Two Paths After Death

After death, the jīva (the individual soul) can travel on one of two great paths. Arcirmārga, the path of flame or light, leads to mokṣa (liberation). Dhūmamārga, the path of smoke, leads back to rebirth. This old Vedānta teaching appears in the Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, in the answer given by the child-ṛṣi Sutanu at Kalāpagrāma.

Which path a soul takes depends on the spirit of the karma (action) that built up its puṇya (merit). If the actions were niṣkāma, done without desire for their fruit, the soul goes by the path of light. If they were sakāma, done with desire for results, it goes by the path of smoke. The text also describes a third way, the pākhaṇḍa-mārga, for those who honour neither the devas nor the śāstras (scriptures). They reach neither path.

The Two Paths

Arcirmārga: The Path of Light (Devayāna)

Arcirmārga means “the path of flame” or “the path of light”. It is the path of the jīva who acted without attachment to the fruit, that is, who did niṣkāma karma. After death, those who travel this path rise through stage after stage of light:

  1. The flame (arci)
  2. The day
  3. The bright fortnight (śukla pakṣa)
  4. The six months of Uttarāyaṇa (the sun’s northern course)
  5. The year
  6. The sun
  7. Lightning
  8. A being of the mind (manaḥprāṇa)
  9. The realm of Varuṇa
  10. The realm of Indra
  11. The realm of Prajāpati
  12. At last the highest Brahmaloka, from which there is no return

This is the path of mokṣa.

Dhūmamārga: The Path of Smoke (Pitṛyāna)

Dhūmamārga means “the path of smoke”. It is the path of the jīva who did karma, including yajña (fire offering), but with desire for the results, that is, sakāma karma. After death, those who travel this path rise through:

  1. Smoke
  2. Night
  3. The dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa pakṣa)
  4. The six months of Dakṣiṇāyana (the sun’s southern course)
  5. The world of the pitṛs (pitṛloka, the world of the ancestors)
  6. Space
  7. Smoke
  8. Mist
  9. Cloud
  10. Rain

Then they come back to earth as rain, sprout in a plant, enter a human being through food, and are born again. This is the path of rebirth: the cycle of saṃsāra goes on.

The text sums it up: niṣkāma karma leads to arcirmārga; sakāma yajña leads to dhūmamārga.

The Third Way: Pākhaṇḍa-Mārga

Besides the two great paths of Vedānta, the Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa names a third group: those who follow the pākhaṇḍa-mārga. These are people who do not honour the devas, do not follow the dharma shown by the śāstras, and live outside the Vedic way of life and dharma. They reach neither arcirmārga nor dhūmamārga. After death they go to a separate kind of rebirth and suffering that neither of the two paths covers.

This teaching is a warning grounded in dharma. The two paths lead to very different ends, but both assume a sincere life lived within dharma. The pākhaṇḍa-mārga is what follows from stepping outside both.

Roots in the Upaniṣads

The teaching of the two paths comes from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad and the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, which describe them as devayāna (the path of the devas) and pitṛyāna (the path of the ancestors). The Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa, speaking through the child-ṛṣi Sutanu, places these paths in the setting of the Purāṇas. It links each path to the kind of karma that leads to it, and it adds the third, pākhaṇḍa-mārga, which the Upaniṣads do not mention.

The stress on niṣkāma karma (action without desire for fruit) as what leads to the path of light ties this teaching to the central teaching of the Bhagavad Gītā (Chapters 3–4). In this way the Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa agrees with the shared view of all Vedānta: action free of desire leads to liberation, while action driven by desire, however pious, keeps the cycle going.

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5