Verse 25

In plain words

'Smoke' and 'night' mean the deity who presides over smoke and the deity who presides over night. In the same way, 'the dark' means the deity of the waning fortnight. And 'the six months', 'the southern course' — here again, as before, it is the deity that is meant. On that road the fruit is the moon's own light: the man of works, the yogī who offers the sacrifices and does the rest of what is prescribed, reaches that light, enjoys it, and when it is used up he returns here again.

Close to the Sanskrit

'Smoke', 'night' — the deity presiding over smoke and the deity presiding over night. Likewise 'the dark' — the deity of the dark fortnight. And 'the six months', 'the southern course' — here too, as before, it is the deity alone. There, the lunar light that abides in the moon is the fruit; the performer of sacrifices and the like, the yogī, the man of works, having reached it and enjoyed it, returns here again from its exhaustion.

In plain words

“Then the second are the sakāma karma yogis. Leaving the body, they journey by ‘the Dhūmādi path’ of smoke, night, the dark fortnight and the six months of Dakṣiṇāyana, reach the world of heaven and enjoy its pleasures, and, as was said above, as soon as that merit is exhausted they take rebirth. Yet both of these may be called ‘yogis’. These two paths have come down from beginningless time. They will stand in the world forever. Until when? you may doubt. Brother-in-law! As long as upāsakas and those qualified for karma remain in this world, so long will these paths remain too,” said Kṛṣṇa.

In plain words

And Dakṣiṇāyana is the complete opposite of both of the above. That is: thick haze and clouds moving about in the sky, the sky covered with smoke, and the sun not clearly seen, not shining. And the dark fortnight is the time when the moon wanes day by day.

To state this in a subtle way: it is the divine feelings in the Manas waning day by day, until by the final hour, like the moon on the new-moon night, they are not seen in the sky of the heart, and there is smoke and darkness, that is, the time of being in a state of complete Ajñāna. This is what is called the dark fortnight. For one who leaves the body at such a time, it is the path of smoke. Such people reach the world of heaven and, as soon as that merit is exhausted, take rebirth.