विद्याकर्मणोरिति तु प्रकृतत्वात् ॥ १६ ॥
vidyākarmaṇoriti tu prakṛtatvāt || 17 ||
vidyākarmaṇoḥ—Of knowledge and work; iti—thus; tu—but; prakṛtatvāt—on account of their being the subject under discussion.
17. But (the reference is to the two roads) of knowledge and work; thus (we have to understand) on account of their being the subject under discussion.
“Now those who go along neither of these ways become those tiny, continually rotating creatures of which it may be said, ‘Be born and die.’ This is the third place. That is why that world (heaven) never becomes full” (Chh. 5. 10. 8). The two ways mentioned in this text we have to take as referring to those of knowledge and work, on recount of these being the subject under discussion. Knowledge and work are the mean: to go along the Devayana and Pitriyana routes. For those who are not entitled to go through knowledge along the Devayana, the route leading to the gods, or through sacrifices etc. to the Pitriyana, the route leading to the fathers, the Sruti declares a third place, distinct from the Brahmaloka and the Chandraloka. That the evildoers, who form a separate group, go to this third place, and not to heaven, is made all the more explicit by the words, “That is why that world (heaven) never becomes full” (Chh. 5. 10. 8). The word ‘but’ refutes a possible doubt arising from a text belonging to another Sakha; vide Kau. 1. 2. So the Kau-shitaki text which says that all go to the sphere of the moon, means all those who have performed good Karma of whatever kind, and does not include evil-doers.