kathopanishad-1-2-17-etadālambanam̐

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Etad ālambanaṁ śreṣṭham etad ālambanam param, etad ālambanaṁ jñātvā brahma-loke mahīyate (1.2.17). Etad ālambanaṁ śreṣṭham: Very good indeed is this dependence of a person on Om. It is the best support for you. Etad ālambanam param: This support is supreme, without any parallel or equal. Etad ālambanaṁ jñātvā brahma-loke mahīyate: Having known and realised this support, one glories in Brahmaloka at the end of time when the body is gone. In Brahmaloka everyone is like everyone else. They are not human beings; they are souls centred, reflecting one in the other as mirrors reflect one in the other. Everywhere everything is. Every person is like every other person, everything is everywhere, and everywhere everything is found. That is Brahmaloka. Would you like to go there as early as possible? Brahma-loke mahīyate: You shall glory in this grand Brahmaloka of universal inclusiveness.

This great soul essentially does not die, and basically it also does not get born. As the soul gets conditioned into egoism, personality, mind, prana and the physical sheath, it appears to be born on account of its apparent limitation within the walls of this physical and psychological personality. As space may appear to be limited when it is seen as being contained in a little vessel or bucket, we may say that space is born the moment the bucket is born and space dies when the bucket is destroyed. Really, the space is not being born, and it is not dying. It is only the bucket walls that create the impression of space being born, space dying, etc. In a similar manner, the impression that the soul is born or the soul dies is an impression created by the false identification of the otherwise all-pervading soul with this little wall of the psychophysical personality.