The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

╭ chapter fifteen
is appropriate that his “home,” the highest goal of all, is
described. It is an abode of light and eternal life. By its very
nature, it is beyond the description of human language. Verse
4 uses an elemental and ancient word for the ultimate reality
that defies all description, all human thought: Tat, which
means simply “that” or “it.” Here the Gita personalizes Tat to
the extent of giving It a home: avyayam padam, the immortal
home, the eternal goal. Pada also means foot or step, and it is
of interest here to recall a myth from the Vedas. At the beginning
of time Vishnu took three steps that measured out the
entire cosmos. The third and highest step became a heavenly
world, the realm of the blessed. In the Rig Veda (I.154.5), the
poet longs to find himself in this home of the god:
May I go to his blessed world
Where those who love the gods rejoice;
For there, truly, is the company of the far-stepping god,
A fountain of honey in the highest step of Vishnu.
The Gita describes Krishna’s home as a realm of light
beyond the light of the sun (15:6). Here we might compare the
Gita with the Katha Upanishad (5:15):
There shines not the sun, neither moon nor star,
Nor flash of lightning, nor fire lit on earth.
The Self is the light reflected by all.
He shining, everything shines after him.
Even here, though, we are reminded that Krishna lives not
just in this highest realm but also in the world below, where
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