Kathopanishad- Verse 4 - kathopanishad-2-3-4-iha cedaśakadboddhuṃ

Kathopanishad – Part 2 – Canto 3 – Verse 4 « »

इह चेदशकद्बोद्धुं प्राक्षरीरस्य विस्रसः ।
ततः सर्गेषु लोकेषु शरीरत्वाय कल्पते ॥ ४॥

iha cedaśakadboddhuṃ prākṣarīrasya visrasaḥ .
tataḥ sargeṣu lokeṣu śarīratvāya kalpate .. 4..

4 If a man is able to realise Brahman here, before the falling asunder of his body, then he is liberated; if not, he is embodied again in the created worlds.

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Sri Shankara’s Commentary (Bhashya) translated by S. Sitarama Sastri

If he is able to know and knows even during life, this Brahman_} the cause of fear, before the falling of the body, then he becomes freed from the bond of Samsâra. If he is not able to know, then, i.e., from want of that knowledge, he becomes able to take, i.e., he takes a body in earth and other worlds, where those who are fit to be created, are created. Therefore, before the falling of the body, attempt should be made to realise the âtman; for the realisation of the âtman even here will be clearly horrible as that of a face reflected in a mirror; not in other worlds except the Brahmalôka; and that is hard to reach.

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Iha ced aśakad boddhum prāk śarīrasya visrasaḥ, tataḥ sargeṣu lokeṣu śarīratvāya kalpate (2.3.4): It is good for people to realise this great Truth before the shedding of this body. If it is possible for us to realise this Truth before we leave this body, then we will have no rebirth. But if we have not attained it—iha ced aśakad boddhum—then what happens? Tataḥ sargeṣu lokeṣu śarīratvāya kalpate: If this Truth has not been realised in one’s own experience before the departure from this body, there will be birth in some realm, some world, some location, for the purpose of working out the karmas that have not been properly discharged.

The birth of the soul can be in any one of the worlds, or brahmandas, universes, which are infinite in number. The mind will take us to exactly that spot where it is possible for us to fulfil our desires. There is an automatic action spontaneously taking place between the mind that is filled with unfulfilled desires and the location of the world where alone it is possible to fulfil these desires. Everything in the world is interconnected, one with the other. Everything in the world knows everything that is taking place everywhere. In modern physics, Bell’s theory has declared that activities, events, take place in the world not one after the other, but simultaneously. If something happens here, it is also happening in the sun at the same time. If something happens in the sun, it also happens in the galaxies. And if something happens in the galaxies, at the same time it is happening in some star. And not only that, it is happening everywhere in space. So anything that is happening, even a pinprick in our foot, is a prick in the whole cosmos. This is Bell’s theory of the simultaneity of action taking place everywhere. But even before Bell was born, it was declared in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita that our thoughts will gravitate to that particular spot where the desires will be capable of manifesting themselves. Any world will attract us. But this will not take place if our individual self blossoms forth into the universal God. It is good for us to realise it before we pass away.

Links
Various resources on the Kathopanishad
Upanishad Series – Katopanishad Commentary by Swami Chinmayananda

Kathopanishad – Verse 4 – kathopanishad-2-3-4-iha cedaśakadboddhuṃ – In Sanskrit with English Transliteration, Meaning and Commentary by Adi Shankaracharya (Sankara Bhashya) – Katha-2-3-4