Bright path

Agnir jyotir ahah shuklah shan-masa uttarayanam, tatra prayata gacchanti brahma brahma-vido janah

Those who know the Absolute, who pass away in fire, in light, in the daytime, in the bright fortnight, or in the six months when the sun travels in the northern sky — they go to the Absolute. The path of light (devayana) — associated with fire, day, the bright lunar fortnight, and the northern solstice — leads those who know Brahman to liberation.

Shukla-krishne gati hy ete jagatah shashvate mate, ekaya yaty anavrittim anyayavartate punah

These two paths — the bright and the dark — are said to be the world's two eternal paths. By one, one goes and does not return; by the other, one returns again. These two paths, the path of light and the path of smoke, are eternal cosmic paths. One leads to permanent liberation; the other to eventual rebirth.