As in a mirror, so in the Ātman; as in a dream, so in the world of the ancestors; as in water, so in the sphere of the gandharvas — thus are the abodes of Brahman. Knowing this, the true knower does not grieve.

This verse presents the doctrine of the lokas (worlds/planes of existence). Each level of reality reflects the previous with greater subtlety: the physical world is like a mirror of the Ātman, the dream world (svapna) reflects the pitṛloka (world of the ancestors), and so on until Brahmaloka. The knower of mokṣa-dharma (doctrine of liberation) understands that all these are graduated projections of ultimate Reality and, therefore, neither clings to nor grieves for any of them.