Two paths of elevation.

The Vedas describe two paths of elevation - devayana (the path of gods) and pitryana (the path of ancestors). They are mentioned for example in the Bhagavad-gita 8.24-25 and Chandogya Upanisad 5.10.3-5. Interestingly, other world cultures (like the original inhabitants of North America) also know these paths.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam 8.5.36 the devayana path is called arci-radi-vartma. Sun god marks this paths by his rays (arcis, the name of the deity of the sun rays). This deity who appears to the dying pious person is the "light being" described by the people who underwent the near-death-experience (NDE). The deities (12 or 13) on this path are mentioned in the SB 7.15.53-54 beginning with the Arcis deity. They gradually lead a person upward to his karmic destination.

In the jnana-yoga process these deities are worshiped to help one to pass further on this path and to allow one to enjoy on the heavenly planets. But these worshipers generally cannot go beyond Candraloka (moon) and have to return to the earth as previously mentioned.

The devotees of Visnu, or Krishna travel on the devayana path in a different way. Amanava purusa, "non human being", known from the Upanisads and Vedanta-sutra and in the Puranas called Visnudutas (plural; SB 4.12.20-25, 6.1.30-37, 6.3.18), leads them to the spiritual world passing the planets on the way like a special passes the whistle stops. As they are leaving the material universe they gradually shed their bodily coverings, from the grossest to the subtlest (SB 2.2.28-30).

This path is always the same, but the means of travel differ according to the particular yuga-dharma: SB 2.2.15-31 describes it from the point of view of yoga (Satya-yuga-dharma), SB 7.15.54-55 from the point of view of yajna (Treta-yuga-dharma), BG 8.23-27 from the point of view of demigod worship, or upasana (Dvapara-yuga-dharma) and Brhad-bhagavatamrta, part 2, by Srila Sanatana Goswami, from the point of view of harinama-sankirtana, chanting the holy names of God (Kali-yuga-dharma).