tredhā mārgaḥ (īśa 2)

The first two mantras of the īśopaniṣad are written in the pithy sūtra style, and are known as sūtra-bhūta-mantras. They capture the essence of the upaniṣadic teaching. Following his commentary on these two mantras, śaṅkarānanda makes the following comment in the ātma-purāṇam.

tredhā’yaṁ vihito mārgaḥ svarga-mokṣa-karo nṝṇām |
dakṣiṇascottarastadvat tṛtīyo brahma-vedanam |
ito’nyathā na ko’pyasti nṝṇāṁ mārgah sukhapradaḥ ||

There are only three paths for those who are desirous of mokṣa – i) the southern path, ii) the northern path, and iii) knowing brahman. This immediately seems to connect to the three-fold path of karma, upāsanā and jñāna and is clearly enumerated by the satprasava vyākhyā on the ātma-purāṇam:

prathamaḥ dakṣiṇaḥ iṣṭādiśālināṁ pitṛyānākhyaḥ |
dvitīya uttaro devayānākhya upāsakānām |
tṛtīyo brahmajñānākhyaḥ śuddhadhiyām ||

The jñāna and upāsanā paths are discussed in the first mantra of the īśāvāsya upaniṣad, and the karma path is discussed in the second mantra of the īśāvāsya upaniṣad.

A quick search brings about a reference to the chāndogya upaniṣad (5.10) which discusses the deva-yāna (dakṣiṇa) and pitṛ-yāna (uttara) paths. An excerpt of the mantra along with a few words from the maṇiprabhā commentary for clarification:

ye gṛhasthā araṇye upāste, te sarve arciṣam arcirabhimāninīṁ devatām abhisaṁbhavanti | sa eṣa deva-yānaḥ panthāḥ brahma gamayati ||

ye grāma iṣṭāpūrte dattam ityupāsate, te dhūmam abihsaṁbhavanti | … māsebhyah pitṛlokam, pitṛlokād ākāśam … dhūmo bhavati … ||

Thus, we come back to the standard three-fold vedantic yoga:

1. gṛhastha-mārga / karma-yoga / dakṣiṇa-mārga / pitṛ-yāna
2. vānaprastha-mārga / upāsanā-yoga / uttara-mārga / deva-yāna
3. sannyāsi-mārga / jñāna-yoga / brahma-vedanam 

An interesting connection to the devī-māhātmyam was pointed out in a post by Venkata Sriram. In this text, devī gives boons to the two seekers, the rājā suratha, and the vaiśya samādhi. An edited excerpt:

samādhi attains salvation and suratha is born again as manu. samādhi
achieves the deva-yāna or archirādi mārga which is called the “path of light”. And suratha achieves the dhūma or pitṛyāna mārga which is called the “path of darkness”.