एवमेवैष सम्प्रसादोऽस्माच्छरीरात्समुत्थाय परं ज्योतिरुपसम्पद्य स्वेन रूपेणाभिनिष्पद्यते स उत्तमपुरुषः स तत्र पर्येति जक्षत्क्रीडन्रममाणः स्त्रीभिर्वा यानैर्वा ज्ञातिभिर्वा नोपजनं स्मरन्निदं शरीरं स यथा प्रयोग्य आचरणे युक्त एवमेवायमस्मिञ्छरीरे प्राणो युक्तः ॥ ८.१२.३ ॥
In plain words
just so this serene one, rising up out of this body and reaching the highest light, comes forth in his own form. He is the highest person. There he moves about laughing, playing and rejoicing with women or chariots or kinsmen, not remembering this body he was born with. As a draught animal is yoked to a cart, so is the breath yoked to this body.
The commentators
Chāndogyopaniṣadbhāṣyam· bhāṣya
यथा अयं दृष्टान्तो वाय्वादीनामाकाशादिसाम्यगमनवद्- विद्यया संसारावस्थायां शरीरसाम्यमापन्नः अहममुष्य पुत्रो जातो जीर्णो मरिष्ये-इत्येवंप्रकारं प्रजापतिनेव मघवान् यथो- क्तेन क्रमेण नासि त्वं देहेन्द्रियादिधर्मा तत्त्वमसीति प्रति- बोधितः सन् स एष संप्रसादो जीवोऽस्माच्छरीरादाकाशा- दिव वाय्वादयः समुत्थाय देहादिविलक्षणमात्मनो रूपम- वगम्य देहात्मभावनां हित्वेत्येतत्, स्वेन रूपेण सदात्मनै- वाभिनिष्पद्यत इति व्याख्यातं पुरस्तात् । स येन स्वेन रूपेण संप्रसादोऽभिनिष्पद्यते-प्राक्प्रतिबोधात् तद्भ्रान्तिनि- मित्तात्सर्पो भवति यथा रज्जुः, पश्चात्कृतप्रकाशा रज्ज्वात्म- ना स्वेन रूपेणाभिनिष्पद्यते, एवं च स उत्तमपुरुषः उत्तम- श्चासौ पुरुषश्चेत्युत्तमपुरुषः स एव उत्तमपुरुषः । अक्षिस्वप्नपु- रुषौ व्यक्तौ अव्यक्तश्च सुषुप्तः समस्तः संप्रसन्नः अशरीरश्च स्वेन रूपेणेति । एषामेव स्वेन रूपेणावस्थितः क्षराक्षरौ व्याकृ- ताव्याकृतावपेक्ष्य उत्तमपुरुषः ; कृतनिर्वचनो हि अयं गीतासु । सः संप्रसादः स्वेन रूपेण तत्र स्वात्मनि स्वस्थतया सर्वात्मभूतः पर्येति कचिदिन्द्राद्यात्मना जक्षत् हसन् भक्षयन् वा भक्ष्यान् उच्चावचान् ईप्सितान् कचिन्मनोमात्रैः संकल्पादेव समुत्थितै- र्ब्राह्मलौकिकैर्वा क्रीडन् स्त्रीयादिभिः रममाणश्च मनसैव, नो- पजनम्, स्त्रीपुंसयोरन्योन्योपगमेन जायत इत्युपजनम् आ- त्मभावेन वा आत्मसामीप्येन जायत इत्युपजनमिदं शरीरम्, तन्न स्मरन् । तत्स्मरणे हि दुःखमेव स्यात्, दुःखात्मकत्वात् तस्य । नन्वनुभूतं चेत् न स्मरेत् असर्वज्ञत्वं मुक्तस्य ; नैष दोषः । येन मिथ्याज्ञानादिना जनितम् तच्च मिथ्याज्ञानादि विद्यया उच्छेिदितम्, अतस्तन्नानुभूतमेवेति न तदस्मरणे सर्व- ज्ञत्वहानिः । न हि उन्मत्तेन ग्रहगृहीतेन वा यदनुभूतं तदुन्मा- दाद्यपगमेऽपि स्मर्तव्यं स्यात् ; तथैहापि संसारिभिरविद्या- दोषवद्भिः यदनुभूयते तत्सर्वात्मानमशरीरं न स्पृशति, अवि- द्यानिमित्ताभावात् । ये तु उच्छिन्नदोषैर्मृदितकषायैः मानसाः सत्याः कामा अनृतापिधाना अनुभूयन्ते विद्याभिव्यङ्ग्य- त्वात्, त एव मुक्तेन सर्वात्मभूतेन संबध्यन्त इति आत्मज्ञान- स्तुतये निर्दिश्यन्ते ; अतः साध्वेतद्विशिनष्टि—' य एते ब्रह्म- लोके' इति । यत्र क्वचन भवन्तोऽपि ब्रह्मण्येव हि ते लोके भवन्तीति सर्वात्मत्वाद्वह्मण उच्यन्ते ॥
In plain words
As in this example, where the wind and the rest go into sameness with space, the serene one, in the state of saṃsāra, had come through knowledge into sameness with the body, thinking, 'I am the son of so-and-so; I was born, I have grown old, I shall die.' Awakened, as Maghavan was by Prajāpati, in the order described—'You are not one with the body, the senses and their properties; you are That'—this serene one, the jīva, rises from this body as the wind and the rest rise from space, understands the Self's own form as other than the body and all the rest, lets go of taking the body for the self, and comes into its own form, as the Self that is Being itself. This was explained earlier. And the own form in which the serene one comes into its fulfilment is this: before the awakening, through error, the rope becomes a snake, and afterwards, once light is brought, it comes into its own form as the rope; just so, it is the highest person: highest, and a person; he alone is the highest person. The persons of the eye and of dream are manifest; the one in deep sleep is unmanifest; this one is whole, utterly serene and bodiless, in his own form. Standing in his own form, he is the highest person beyond the perishable and the imperishable, the manifest and the unmanifest; the Gītā has already said what that word means. That serene one, in his own form, resting in his own Self, having become the Self of all, moves about there: now as Indra and the others, laughing, or eating the foods he wants, high and low; now playing with the things of Brahmā's world that rise from his will alone, or with women and the like, delighting in the mind alone, never remembering the body he was born into, called upajana because it is born of the union of woman and man, or because it is born as the self or close to the self. To remember it would be nothing but sorrow, for sorrow is its nature. 'But if the liberated one does not remember what he went through, he is not all-knowing.' That is no fault. What gave rise to the body, false knowledge and the rest, has been cut off by knowledge; so it was never really lived through at all, and not remembering it takes nothing from his knowing all. What a madman, or a man seized by a spirit, went through is not something he must remember once the madness has passed. So here too, what people in saṃsāra go through, carrying the fault of ignorance, does not touch the bodiless Self of all, because the ignorance that caused it is gone. But the true desires of the mind, hidden under the untrue, which are known to those whose faults are cut off and whose impurities are crushed, because knowledge brings them to light, these alone belong to the liberated one who has become the Self of all; and they are named here in praise of the knowledge of the Self. So the text rightly specifies: 'those which are in the world of Brahmā'. Wherever they are, they are said to be in Brahman's own world, because Brahman is the Self of all.
Close to the Sanskrit
As in this example, like the going of wind and the rest into sameness with space and the rest, having come to sameness with the body in the state of saṃsāra through knowledge, in the manner 'I am the son of so-and-so, I was born, I have grown old, I shall die'; awakened, as Maghavan was by Prajāpati, by the order described, 'you are not one with the properties of body, senses and the rest; you are That', this serene one, the jīva, rising up from this body as wind and the rest from space, having understood the Self's own form as distinct from the body and the rest, that is, having given up the notion that the body is the self, reaches fulfilment in its own form, as the Self that is Being itself: this was explained before. The own form in which the serene one reaches fulfilment: before the awakening, owing to the error, as the rope becomes a snake, and afterwards, when light has been brought, reaches fulfilment in its own form as the rope, so too it is the highest person: highest and a person, hence 'highest person'; he alone is the highest person. The persons in the eye and in dream are manifest; the one in deep sleep is unmanifest; the whole, utterly serene and bodiless is in his own form. Standing in his own form, he is the highest person in relation to these same, the perishable and the imperishable, the manifest and the unmanifest; for it has been defined in the Gītā. That serene one, in his own form, there, in his own Self, being established in himself, having become the Self of all, moves about: sometimes as Indra and the rest, 'eating', that is, laughing, or eating the foods, high and low, that he desires; sometimes playing with things of the world of Brahmā that arise from mere mind, from resolve alone, or with women and the rest, delighting in the mind alone, not remembering the upajana: upajana because it is born through the coming together of woman and man, or because it is born as the self or near the self: this body is the upajana; not remembering that. For in remembering it there would be only sorrow, since it is of the nature of sorrow. 'But if the liberated one did not remember what he had experienced, he would not be omniscient.' This is no fault. That false knowledge and the rest by which it was produced has been cut off by knowledge; therefore it was never experienced at all, and so in not remembering it there is no loss of omniscience. For what is experienced by one who is mad, or seized by a spirit, is not to be remembered even after the madness and the rest have gone; so here too, what is experienced by those in saṃsāra who have the fault of ignorance does not touch the bodiless Self of all, because the cause, ignorance, is absent. But those true desires of the mind, covered by the untrue, which are experienced by those whose faults are cut off and whose impurities are crushed, because they are revealed by knowledge, they alone are connected with the liberated one who has become the Self of all: so they are pointed out in praise of the knowledge of the Self. Therefore rightly does it specify: 'those which are in the world of Brahmā'. Wherever they are, they are in the world of Brahman itself: so they are spoken of, because Brahman is the Self of all.