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Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 3 Mantra 14

Mantra

yadā̍ sa̱rve pramu̍cyante̱ kā̱mā ye̍’sya hṛ̱di śri̍tāḥ |
atha̍ ma̱rtyo’mṛ̍to bha̱va̱ty a̱tra bra̍hma sa̱maśnu̍te ||

yadā = when; sarve = all; kāmā = desires; pramucyante = fall off, are shed, liberated; ye = which; hṛdi śritāh = nestle within the heart i.e., the intellect; asya = of the one pre-enlightenment; atha = then; martyaḥ = a mortal; amrtaḥ bhavati = becomes immortal; atra = here itself; brahma samaśnute = attains the state of Brahman.

When all the desires that dwell in the heart are destroyed, then the mortal becomes immortal, and he attains Brahman even here.

by Swami Chinmayananda:

The State of Desirelessness is the State of Kaivalya or Illumination. That state can be reached even while the individual lives his life within his mortal form. Here, Sruti is amply clear in her support of the Advaitin’s claim that man can realize Godhood in this very birth and reach the state called Jivan Muktha.

We have already discussed during our lectures on Kenopanishad that there is a school of thinkers who believe that the final state of realization can come only in the very last moments of life and that after realization the body falls off; this school believes only what is technically termed as the Videhamukthi (liberation after death).

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