Jewels From Upanishads: 2.9 Good, Ye Know Brahman, If Not, Death Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

Good if you know Him in this life,
If not, alas what a great strife,
Searching Him birth to birth, the wise
To state of immortal they rise.
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The transliteration of the verse:

Iha chet avedīt atha satyam asti na chet iha avedīt mahatī vinaśhţih |
bhūteśhu bhūteśhu vichitya dhīrāh pretya asmāt lokāt amritāh bhavanţi ||Kena 2.05 ||

iha:here (on Earth)
chet avedīt:if (Brahman)has been known, realised
atha:then, of course
satyam asti:it is fairly well
na chet iha:if not here (in this world)
avedīt:(He isnot)realised
mahatī:(it is)great
vinaśhţih:calamity, utter ruin
bhūteśhu bhūteśhu:from life to life, or in all beings, from creature to creature
vichitya:having searched, investigated
dhīrāh:the wise
pretya:after death/leaving
asmāt lokāt:from this world
amritāh:immortal
bhavanţi:become

The verses # 4 and 5 reveal the power of atman, the self will. There are three energies:
ātma-shakti: The power of self/the atman, will
prārabdha-shakti: The power of destiny, one's fate
ichċhā-shakti: The power/keenness of dreams and desires
(+, +, +) = ordinary soul; all the three are there in different proportions
(+, -, +) = brilliant soul, depends little on destiny
(+, -, -) = enlightened soul; made solely of the self will, the power of his atman.

The verse stresses on human birth/life. Only here one can take positive action to further evolutionary journey. In other life form it is not possible, when life subsists on instincts, and neither can think, nor perceive higher values.

The next two cantos are in the form narrative told in prose. In their struggle with asuras, the evil, Brahma helped them conquer the evil. It was good succeeding over evil. But gods feel elated in their victorious achievement, feeling the glory was their own. Brahma decides that it was time for them to learn a lesson, and appears to them as yaksha, a venerable and unknown being. Indra, the head of heaven, asks Fire to find out. He goes and introduces himself. Yaksha asks him to show what power he can summon. ‘I can burn up all the Earth', he says with great pride. Yaksha places a straw in front of Fire god, asking him to burn it. But he could not and returns to report back. Indra then asks Air to go. The same test and he also fails to dislodge that piece of straw, returning to report back. This time gods request Indra himself to go and find out. On knowing what is what their vain pride id deflated, and an important lesson is learnt.

Topic: soul