सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म तज्जलानिति शान्त उपासीत । अथ खलु क्रतुमयः पुरुषो यथाक्रतुरस्मिँल्लोके पुरुषो भवति तथेतः प्रेत्य भवति स क्रतुं कुर्वीत ॥ ३.१४.१ ॥
sarvaṃ khalvidaṃ brahma tajjalāniti śānta upāsīta | atha khalu kratumayaḥ puruṣo yathākraturasmim̐lloke puruṣo bhavati tathetaḥ pretya bhavati sa kratuṃ kurvīta || 3.14.1 ||
1. All this is Brahman. Everything comes from Brahman, everything goes back to Brahman, and everything is sustained by Brahman. One should therefore quietly meditate on Brahman. Each person has a mind of his own. What a person wills in his present life, he becomes when he leaves this world. One should bear this in mind and meditate accordingly.
Word-for-word explanation:
Sarvam idam, all this; khalu; no doubt; brahma, is Brahman; tajjalān, from this everything comes, into this everything disappears, and on this everything is sustained; iti śāntaḥ upāsīta, meditate on this fact quietly; atha khalu kratumayaḥ puruṣaḥ, because each person has a mind of his own; asmin loke, [therefore] in his present life; yathā kratuḥ puruṣaḥ bhavati, just as a person wills; itaḥ pretya tathā bhavati, he becomes that when he leaves this world; saḥ kratum kurvīta, [therefore] he should be careful about what he wants.
Commentary:
The word brahman means ‘the oldest,’ ‘the biggest.’ Tejas (fire), jala (water), and pṛthivī (earth) emerged from Brahman in that order, so they are called tajja. Then they disappear in Brahman in the reverse order, so they are called talla. In the past, in the present, and in the future—they are sustained in Brahman. They are, therefore, one with Brahman. The Upaniṣad says here to think over this with kratu—that is, with great effort, and with deep concentration.
Kratu also means will, or will power. It is your will that decides your destiny. Śrī Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna (Bhagavad Gītā 8.6): ‘O son of Kunti, at the time of death when a person leaves the body, he attains whatever object he thinks of, as he has been [previously] constantly absorbed in its thought.’ This shows the importance of your kratu.
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
NILKANTHA: “Please bless me.”
MASTER: “Yasoda went mad with grief because she was separated from Krishna. She went to Radhika, who was meditating. Radhika said to her in an ecstatic state: ‘I am the Ultimate Prakriti, the Primal Power. Ask a boon of Me.’ Yasoda said to her: ‘What shall I ask of You? Please bless me, that with all my body, mind, and speech I may think of God and serve Him; that with my ears I may hear the singing of God’s name and glories; that with my hands I may serve Hari and His devotees; that with. my eyes I may behold His form and His devotees.’
“Your eyes fill with tears when you utter the name of God. Why then should you worry about anything? Divine love has grown in you.
“To know many things is ajnana, ignorance. To know only one” thing is jnana, Knowledge — the realisation that God alone is real and that He dwells in all. And to talk to Him is vijnana, a fuller Knowledge. To love God in different ways, after realizing Him, is vijnana.
“It is also said that God is beyond one and two. He is beyond speech and mind. To go up from the Lila to the Nitya and come down again from the. Nitya to the Lila is mature bhakti.
“I love that song of yours about aspiring to reach the Lotus Feet of the Divine Mother. It is enough to know that everything depends on the grace of God. But one must pray to God; it will not do to remain inactive. The lawyer gives all the arguments and finishes his pleading by saying to the judge: ‘I have said all I have to say. Now the decision rests with Your Honour.'” (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
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