सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म तज्जलानिति शान्त उपासीत । अथ खलु क्रतुमयः पुरुषो यथा क्रतुरस्मिल्लोके पुरुषो भवति तथेतः प्रेत्य भवति स क्रतुं कुर्वीत ॥
sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma taj-jalān iti śānta upāsīta | atha khalu kratumayaḥ puruṣo yathā kratur asmil loke puruṣo bhavati tathetaḥ pretya bhavati sa kratuṁ kurvīta ||
(Chāndogya Upaniṣad: 3.14.1; cited in Prīti Sandarbha 51)
“All of this is verily Brahman, that from which everything manifests, by which everything is taken [i.e., into which everything dissolves], and in which everything exists. Therefore, be peaceful and meditate [upon Brahman]. Now, verily, a living being is made of intention (kratu). As is a living being’s intention in this world, so the living being becomes upon departing from here. [Therefore,] one should form an intention.”
Commentary
This verse is one of the main statements in śāstra from which the concept of tat-kratu-nyāya developed. The word kratu has a broad scope of meaning: intelligence, power, ability, plan, design, purpose, resolution, determination, desire, will, deliberation, inspiration (Apte); intention, understanding (MMW); wisdom, wish (Macdonell); conviction, resolve. Jīva Gosvāmī notes that Śaṅkārācārya glosses kratu as it is used on this passage as saṅkalpa, which can be taken primarily to mean a definite intention, a resolve, or a determination.
Ananta Dāsa Bābājī in his Sudhā-kāṇikā-vyākhyā of Prema-bhakti-candrikā renders the second sentence of this passage as follows: “Even after departing from this place, that is, even after leaving the body, the jīva remains imbued with the type of bhāva which he adheres to in this world. Therefore, the sādhaka should adhere to a bhāva.”