Devanagari
धूमो रात्रिस्तथा कृष्ण: षण्मासा दक्षिणायनम् ।
तत्र चान्द्रमसं ज्योतिर्योगी प्राप्य निवर्तते ॥ २५ ॥
Verse text
dhūmo rātris tathā kṛṣṇaḥ
ṣaṇ-māsā dakṣiṇāyanam
tatra cāndramasaṁ jyotir
yogī prāpya nivartate
Synonyms
dhūmaḥ
—
smoke
;
rātriḥ
—
night
;
tathā
—
also
;
kṛṣṇaḥ
—
the fortnight of the dark moon
;
ṣaṭ-māsāḥ
—
the six months
;
dakṣiṇa-ayanam
—
when the sun passes on the southern side
;
tatra
—
there
;
cāndramasam
—
the moon planet
;
jyotiḥ
—
the light
;
yogī
—
the mystic
;
prāpya
—
achieving
;
nivartate
—
comes back.
Translation
The mystic who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night, the fortnight of the waning moon, or the six months when the sun passes to the south reaches the moon planet but again comes back.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
25. Departing on the path of smoke, the night, the waning fortnight, the southern course of the sun, and attaining Svargaloka, the karma-yogī returns.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
25. Departing on the path of smoke, night, the waning fortnight, the southern course of the sun, the moon, and attaining svarga loka, the karma yogī returns.
Purport
In the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Kapila Muni mentions that those who are expert in fruitive activities and sacrificial methods on earth attain to the moon at death. These elevated souls live on the moon for about 10,000 years (by demigod calculations) and enjoy life by drinking soma-rasa. They eventually return to earth. This means that on the moon there are higher classes of living beings, though they may not be perceived by the gross senses.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This verse describes the path of return taken by the karmī. Smoke indicates the deity of smoke, and similarly night indicates the deity of night. Similarly there are the deity of the dark fortnight and the deity of the dakṣiṇāyana. The karma-yogī who goes on the path represented by these devatās attains Svarga indicated by the words cāndramasaṁ jyotiḥ. Having enjoyed there, he returns.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
Now the Lord speaks of the path of return. As in the previous verse, smoke, night, waning fortnight, and six months leading to the winder solstice refer to the respective presiding deities. The deities of the year, pitṛ loka, and ether should be added before the moon (cāndramasam). [Note: It is puzzling why Baladeva mentions the year here, since in the next quotation, it is stated that the person does not attain the year deity. It appears that in some versions of the commentary the quotation from the Chāndogya is misprinted to include the year.] Chāndogya Upaniṣad says:
atha ya ime grāma iṣṭā-pūrte dattam ity upāsate te dhūmam abhisambhavanti | dhūmād rātriṁ rātrer apara-pakṣam apara-pakṣādyān ṣaḍ-dakṣiṇaiti māsāṁs tān naite saṁvatsaram abhiprāpnuvanti || māsebhyaḥ pitṛ-lokaṁ pitṛ-lokād ākāśam ākāśāc candramasam eṣa somo rājā tad devānām annaṁ taṁ devā bhakṣayanti | tasmin yavāt saṁpātam uṣitvāthaitam evādhvānaṁ punar nivartante
The householders who perform sacrifices, social work and charities go to the deity of smoke. From there they go to the deity of night, the deity of the waning fortnight, the six months leading to the winter solstice, but do not reach the deity of the year. From the winter solstice deity they go the pita loka and from there to ether, from ether to the deity of the moon, King Soma. They become food for the deities, and the deities enjoy them. Having exhausted their puṇyas there, they then return to earth on the path. Chāndogya Upaniṣad 5.10.3-5
Attaining the planet of the moon by performance of kāmya karmas through the path protected by eight devatās carrying out the orders of the Lord (deities of smoke, night, waning fortnight, winter solstice, year, pitra loka, ether, and moon), after their enjoyment is over, they return to earth.
Surrender Unto Me
The karma‑kandis they go to the heavenly planets, they reach the moon planet, enjoy 'soma‑rasa', but by the end of their lives, they have to come back. And when they do come back, their remnant karma is what their human body is made of. (as explained in 8:3)