That unmanifest which was called the Imperishable, that very unmanifest 'bhāva' named the Imperishable, they call the supreme, the highest course. The supreme 'bhāva' which, having reached, they do not return for transmigration: that abode, that station, the highest, is My supreme footing, the footing of Viṣṇu. The means to its attainment is told.

That unmanifest, called the imperishable in such texts as 'but those who worship the imperishable, the indefinable, the unmanifest' and 'the one on the peak is called imperishable', the knowers of the Veda call the supreme goal; this very thing is what is indicated by the word 'supreme goal' in 'he who departs, giving up the body, goes to the supreme goal', namely the imperishable, the self abiding in its own form freed of contact with matter. Having attained which, abiding so in its own form, they do not return, that is My supreme abode, My supreme place of governance. Insentient matter is one place of governance; the soul-nature joined with it is a second place of governance; freed of contact with the unconscious, abiding in its own form, the liberated own-form is the supreme place of governance. And that is of the form of no-return. Or the word 'abode' (dhaman) denotes light, and light here means knowledge: distinct from the self joined with matter, which has bounded knowledge for its form, the liberated own-form, which has unbounded knowledge for its form, is the supreme abode. The Lord says that the thing the man of knowledge is to attain is utterly distinct from that.

This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.

Madhva's commentary treats verses 8.20 through 8.21 as a single passage; it is given in full at verse 8.20.