kathopanishad-2-1-4-svapnāntaṃ

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Svapnāntaṁ jāgaritāntaṁ cobhau yenānupaśyati, mahāntaṁ vibhum ātmānam matvā dhīro na śocati (2.1.4): Wise people do not grieve when they realise this great universal Atman, which is the reason behind perceptions in dream as well as in waking. It is through this Atman that we are able to behold the world in front of us and be conscious of something being there. It is through the light of this Atman that we are dreaming and seeing things in dream. It is because of the presence of this Atman that we are able to wake up from sleep. The waking consciousness, the dream consciousness, and the unconsciousness of sleep are all vestures put on by this Atman, as it were, and one who knows this Atman as dissociated from the body, the mind and this causal sheath which we experience in sleep knows the Atman verily. These bodies, known as sthula, sukshma and karana—gross, subtle and causal—are like covers or sheaths over the light of the Atman, which shines within everybody as the sun shines behind clouds. Knowing this great Atman, the hero treading the path of the Spirit will not grieve anymore, will not have sorrow of any kind, because the true Atman is the true person. You and I and everyone, and everything in the world, are basically this Atman making life possible and giving form and shape to things, and also making things appear attractive, beautiful and worth the while. The value of things in the world, whatever that value be in any capacity whatsoever, is the value of the Atman that is peeping through the sense organs and contacting the objects by means of the perceptual process.