Kathopanishadbhashya 239

239

If it is argued that the root of the world, by knowing which people are said to become immortal, does not exist at all, and that this [universe] has emerged from non-existence alone—that is not so. "Whatever this" universe is—the entire universe moves, trembles, "in prāṇa", in the supreme Brahman, and having emerged, having come forth from that alone, it proceeds, it functions regularly. That Brahman which is thus the cause of the creation and so forth of the universe is "a great fear"; it is both great and a fear: beings fear this, hence it is "a great fear"; like "an upraised thunderbolt", as if a thunderbolt were held up. Just as servants, seeing their master facing them with a thunderbolt raised in his hand, strictly abide by his command, in the same way this universe, characterized by the moon, sun, planets, constellations, and stars, along with its rulers, functions regularly without resting even for a moment; this is the meaning. "Those who know this", the one Brahman who is the witness of the activity of their own self, "become immortal", having the nature of deathlessness.