In the previous śloka, Bhagavān explained why worldly accomplishments cannot provide permanent fulfilment. They involve pain, incomplete satisfaction, and dependence. A question may now arise: If earthly pleasures are limited, what about the extraordinary pleasures available in heaven?

Bhagavān answers that even heaven is not permanent.

1. Every heavenly world is finite.

The scriptures describe several higher worlds where beings can enjoy greater pleasures, comfort, and security than those available on earth.

These include Bhuvarloka, Svarloka, Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, and Satyaloka, the highest of which is also called Brahmaloka.

The traditional cosmology describes fourteen worlds in all, including seven higher and seven lower realms. Bhagavān's statement encompasses every one of them.

Although the higher worlds offer increasingly refined experiences, none is beyond time and space.

2. Even Brahmaloka cannot guarantee permanent security.

Brahmaloka is the highest world in this hierarchy. Its pleasures and longevity far exceed those of ordinary human existence.

Yet Bhagavān declares that even Brahmaloka belongs to the finite universe.

The creator, Brahmā, is also associated with a cosmic office that exists within time. His extraordinary lifespan does not make him eternal.

Just as a person may occupy a powerful position for many years without possessing that position forever, Brahmā's cosmic position is not permanent.

Even Brahmā requires liberating knowledge to attain ultimate freedom.

This is why Bhagavān says punarāvartinaḥ [subject to return]. Those who attain heavenly worlds merely through the results of their actions and religious merits eventually exhaust those results and return to the cycle of birth.

A longer period of enjoyment does not make the enjoyment permanent.

3. Why is every world subject to limitation?

Every world is a destination located within time and space.

We must travel to reach it, remain there for a period, and eventually experience the limitations associated with that realm.

The very fact that a world is a particular destination means it is not limitless.

Bhagavān alone is beyond time and space. In Vedānta, this limitless reality is called Brahman.

There is an important distinction between Brahmā, the creator who occupies the highest cosmic position, and Brahman, the absolute reality that is beyond all limitations.

Brahmā belongs to the created order. Brahman is the limitless reality upon which the entire created order depends.

4. Attaining Bhagavān is different from reaching a world.

Bhagavān says mām upetya [having attained Me].

This is not merely travelling to another place. The highest attainment is recognizing the limitless reality through liberating knowledge.

Because Bhagavān is beyond time and space, He is not a temporary destination that can be lost.

Through this knowledge, the seeker discovers freedom from the limitation of individual existence. There is no longer a return to saṃsāra [the cycle of finitude, dependence, and rebirth].

This also helps us distinguish two ways of reaching Brahmaloka.

A person who reaches Brahmaloka merely to enjoy the results of meritorious actions must eventually return. But a qualified devotee who follows the path of krama-mukti [gradual liberation] reaches Brahmaloka for liberating knowledge and does not return after gaining that knowledge.

Thus, 8.16 teaches that no destination within the universe can provide permanent freedom, however magnificent or long-lasting it may be. Even Brahmaloka is within time and space. The wise therefore recognize that the highest goal is not reaching a better world but attaining the limitless Bhagavān through knowledge, which alone frees one from repeated birth.