तद्यथा राजानमायन्तमुग्राः प्रत्येनसः सूतग्रामण्योऽन्नैः पानैरवसथैः प्रतिकल्पन्तेऽयमायात्ययमागच्छतीति ।एवं हैवंविदं सर्वाणि भूतानि प्रतिकल्पन्त इदं ब्रह्मायातीदमागच्छतीति ॥४,३.३७ ॥
In plain words
As when a king comes, the nobles, the officers, the charioteers and the village headmen wait upon him with food and drink and lodging, saying, "He is coming, he is here" — so all beings wait upon one who knows this, saying, "Brahman is coming, Brahman is here."
The commentators
Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣadbhāṣyam· Leaf 9.264· avatāraṇikā
तत्र अस्य इदं शरीरं परित्यज्य गच्छतः न अन्यस्य देहा- न्तरस्योपादाने सामर्थ्यमस्ति, देहेन्द्रियवियोगात्; न च अन्ये अस्य भृत्यस्थानीयाः, गृहभिव राज्ञे, शरीरान्तरं कृत्वा प्रतीक्षमाणा विद्यन्ते; अथैवं सति, कथम् अस्य शरीरान्त- रोपादानमिति । उच्यते- सर्वं ह्यस्य जगत् स्वकर्मफलो- पभोगसाधनत्वाय उपात्तम्; स्वकर्मफलोपभोगाय च अयं प्रवृत्तः देहाद्देहान्तरं प्रतिपित्सुः; तस्मात् सर्वमेव जगत् स्वकर्मणा प्रयुक्तं तत्कर्मफलोपभोगयोग्यं साधनं कृत्वा प्रती- क्षत एव, ‘कृतं लोकं पुरुषोऽभिजायते’ इति श्रुतेः- यथा स्वप्नात् जागरितं प्रतिपित्सोः । तत्कथमिति लोकप्रसिद्धो दृष्टान्त उच्यते-
In plain words
Once this self lets go of the body and moves on, no one else can build a new body for it — there is no thread left connecting them, no shared sense or nerve. And it is not as if a household of servants somewhere has already finished building a new house and stands waiting for their king to arrive. So how does a new body get ready in time? Here is the answer: the whole world has already been claimed, quietly, by your own past actions, set aside for exactly the experience those actions are due to yield. You, driven by your own doing, are already on your way from one body toward another; and because of that, the world your past actions assembled is standing by, fitted precisely to what you are owed — the scripture says it directly: a person is born into the very world he made. It is no different from falling asleep already carrying, somehow, exactly what your dream will need. How that actually works is what the next illustration shows.
Close to the Sanskrit
There, for this one who abandons this body and departs, no other has the capacity to take up another body for him, since [that other] is disconnected from his body and organs; nor are there others belonging to him, like servants, who, having made ready another body in advance, wait for him the way [servants prepare] a house for a king. If this is so, how does he take up another body? It is said: the entire world has been laid hold of by him for the purpose of being an instrument for the experience of the fruit of his own action; and, set upon experiencing the fruit of his own action, this one proceeds, desiring to go from body to another body; therefore the entire world, set to work by his own action, having made ready an instrument fit for the experience of that action's fruit, waits, precisely — according to the scriptural text, 'a person is born into the world he has made' — just as it waits for one desiring to pass from dream into the waking state. As to how that is, a well-known worldly illustration is now stated —
Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣadbhāṣyam· Leaf 9.266· bhāṣya
तमेवं जिगमिषुं के सह गच्छन्ति ; ये वा गच्छन्ति, ते किं तत्क्रियाप्रणुन्नाः, आहोस्वित् तत्कर्मवशात् स्वयमेव ग- च्छन्ति — परलोकशरीरकर्तृणि च भूतानीति । अत्रोच्यते दृष्टान्तः-- तद्यथा राजानं प्रधियासन्तम् प्रकर्षेण यातुमि- च्छन्तम्, उग्राः प्रत्येनसः सूतग्रामण्यः तं यथा अभिस- मायन्ति आभिमुख्येन समायन्ति, एकीभावेन तमभिमुखा आयन्ति अनाज्ञप्ता एव राज्ञा केवलं तज्जिगमिषाभिज्ञाः, एवमेव इममात्मानं भोक्तारम् अन्तकाले मरणकाले सर्वे प्राणाः वागादयः अभिसमायन्ति । यत्रैतदूर्ध्वोच्छ्वासी भव- तीति व्याख्यातम् ॥
In plain words
Who actually travels with you when you are ready to go? Do your faculties follow only because your own past actions push them, or do they come entirely on their own — and what about the elements that will build your next body: are they pulled the same way? Here is how to see it: picture a king about to set out on a journey, eager to be gone. His guards, his officers, his charioteers and headmen all converge on him at once, facing him, moving as one — and no one had to order them there; they simply know he is leaving, and they come. That is exactly how it is for you. At the moment of death, every one of your faculties — speech and all the rest — converges on you, the one who has been experiencing through them all along. What it means for the breath to start pulling upward has already been explained.
Close to the Sanskrit
Who goes along with this one thus desiring to depart? Or, do those who go, go driven by that action of his, or do they go entirely of their own accord — and are the beings that are to form his body in the next world likewise driven? To this it is replied — here is an illustration: just as, when a king, intending eagerly to go, is about to set out, the ugras, the pratyenas, the charioteers and headmen come toward him — 'they converge facing him' meaning they come together as one, facing toward him — not commanded by the king, but simply knowing his intention to depart — in exactly the same way, at the time of the end, at the time of death, all the vital faculties, speech and the rest, converge upon this self, the experiencer. [The phrase] 'when this one becomes one whose breath goes upward' has already been explained.