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वर्तमानः एकं जीवाख्यं पादं नोर्क्षिपति नोद्धरति नोपसंहरति रूपं रूपं प्रतिरूपोऽवतिष्ठत इत्यर्थः ।श्रूयते च कठवल्लीषु—‘एकस्तथा सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा’ इति ।कस्मात्पुनरेकं पादं नोर्क्षिपतीयत आह—तं जीवाख्यं पादं सततं संततयायिनं यदि उत्क्षिपेत् स्वमायया स्वमात्मानं प्राणाद्यनन्तभेदं कृत्वा तेष्वनुप्रविश्य जीवात्मना यदि नावतिष्ठेत्, तदा न मृत्युः न जननमरणादिलक्षणोऽनर्थः संसारो भवेत् संसारिणो जीवस्याभावात् ।तथा अमृतम् अमृतत्वं मोक्षो न भवेत् अननुप्रविष्टस्य द्रोणासंभवात् ।तथा च तदर्थमेव अनुप्रवेशं दर्शयति—‘रूपं रूपम्’ इति ।तथा चाथर्वणी श्रुतिः—‘एकं पादं नोर्क्षिपति सलिलाद्धंस उच्चरन् ।स चेदुत्क्षिपेत्पादं न मृत्युर्नामृतं भवेत्’ इति, ‘एकं रूपं बहुधा यः करोति’ इति च ।यः पादरूपेण जीवात्मना निषादरूपेण चित्सदानन्दाद्वितीयेन ब्रह्मात्मनावस्थितः, तं परमात्मानं योगिन एव पश्यन्ति ॥
In plain words
The single foot of the divine, manifest as the living soul, is never lifted, never drawn up, never withdrawn. It abides, reflected in form after form. As the Katha Upanishad declares: 'He is the one inner self of all beings.' Why does the Lord not withdraw this single foot? Because if He were to lift it—if, deploying His own power of illusion to project infinite forms from prana onward, He did not enter them and abide as the individual soul—then there would be no death, no transmigrating life of birth and suffering, for lack of any living being to experience it. Nor would there be liberation, for without the divine entering within, attainment is impossible. Scripture reveals this very entry when it says: 'Form after form.' And the Atharva Veda states: 'The swan rising from the waters does not lift up its single foot; if it were to lift the foot, neither death nor immortality would remain,' alongside the verse: 'He who makes the one form manifold.' He who thus stands as the non-dual reality of pure consciousness, existence, and bliss, wearing the guise of the individual soul—that supreme Self is perceived by the wise alone.
Close to the Sanskrit
Abiding, one foot designated as the jiva is not lifted up, is not drawn up, is not withdrawn; the meaning is that it abides as a counterpart in form after form. And it is heard in the Katha Upanishads: 'Thus the one inner soul of all beings.' From what reason does he not lift up the one foot? — to this he says: If he were to lift up that foot designated as the jiva, constantly moving, projecting his own self through his maya by making infinite distinctions beginning with prana, and if he were not to abide by entering into them as the individual soul, then neither death nor samsara characterized by birth, death, and the like would exist, due to the absence of the transmigrating jiva. Likewise, immortality (moksha) would not exist, due to the impossibility of attainment for one who has not entered. And thus, to show this very entry, he exhibits: 'Form after form.' And the Atharvanic scripture: 'The swan rising from the waters does not lift up one foot; if he were to lift the foot, neither death nor immortality would exist,' and 'He who makes the one form manifold.' He who abides as the supreme Self, non-dual, consciousness-existence-bliss, in the form of the foot and the individual soul — that supreme Self is seen by yogis alone.