अव्यक्तोऽक्षर इत्युक्तस्तमाहुः परमां गतिम् | यं प्राप्य न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम || २१ ||
avyakto 'kṣara ity uktas tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim yaṁ prāpya na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama
avyaktaḥ—the unmanifest; akṣaraḥ—the imperishable; iti—thus; uktaḥ—said; tam—that; āhuḥ—they declare; paramām—supreme; gatim—destination; yam—which; prāpya—having attained; na—not; nivartante—they return; tat—that; dhāma—abode; paramam—supreme; mama—My.
“That which is called the Unmanifest and the Imperishable—that, they declare, is the supreme destination. Those who attain it do not return. That is My supreme abode.”
The 'supreme abode' (parama dhāma) of the Lord is the eternal, spiritual realm beyond the material cosmos—Vaikuṇṭha or Goloka in the Vaishnava tradition. It is characterised by 'no return' (na nivartante), meaning those who attain it are permanently liberated from the cycle of birth and death.
The aspiration for a state of being from which one does not return—permanently free, permanently at peace—is the highest human aspiration. Hold it not as a distant fantasy but as the direction of every sincere spiritual act. Each moment of genuine peace, each instant of selfless love, is a foretaste of that permanent state.