kathopanishad-2-1-5-ya imaṃ madhvadaṃ

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Ya imam madhvadaṁ veda ātmānaṁ jīvam antikāt, īśāṅam bhūta-bhavyasya, na tato vijugupsate: etad vai tat (2.1.5): One who knows this great Atman seated in the heart of all—the experiencer of the consequences of the deeds performed by itself through its association with the three sheaths—one who knows this Atman as independently reigning supreme above the three sheaths, as well as involved in the three sheaths, thereby experiences the fruits of karmas. Madhu is the word used here. Madhva: one who eats honey. Honey is the fruit of the action one performs, and the eater thereof is the jiva, the individual soul, which is nothing but a limited expression of the universal Atman reflected, peeping through the three bodies: causal, subtle and physical. This Atman is actually the Lord over the past, the present and the future. Timeless is this Atman, spaceless is this Atman, objectless is this Atman. It has no limitations of any kind. One who knows this shrinks not from anything, fears not anything, wants not anything. Here is the truth. This is verily that: etad vai tat. “What you ask, here it is. Take this knowledge, Nachiketas,” says Yama.