Verse 2.436

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

विद्वानेवैति तद्ब्रह्म ह्यभयं भयहेतु यत् ।
तमोमात्रावरुद्धत्वात्तत्प्राप्तेर्नान्यदस्ति हि ॥ ४३६ ॥

vidvānevaiti tadbrahma hyabhayaṃ bhayahetu yat |
tamomātrāvaruddhatvāttatprāpternānyadasti hi || 436 ||

English translation of verse 2.436:

Only the wise man attains Brahman in which there is no fear, but which is the cause of fear, because its attainment is obstructed only by the darkness of ignorance; and surely there is no other obstacle.

Notes:

Śruti maintains that only the man of knowledge (vidvān) attains Brahman, but not one who is ignorant of Brahman. This idea is brought out in the śruti passage beginning with yadā hyevaiṣa etasmin and ending with abhayaṃ gato bhavati.

The only obstacle to the attainment of Brahman is tamas, the darkness of ignorance. Attainment here consists in knowing the true nature of Brahman, and non-attainment is only ignorance of Brahman. In other cases like reaching a village, one may think of time (kala) and space (deśa) as obstacles. Getting the knowledge of the village which a person wants to reach does not mean reaching it at the same time. The village and the person are separated by distance. There is also the factor of time involved in reaching the village. It is, therefore, clear that in the case of reaching a village ignorance of the place to be attained is not the only obstacle. There are other obstacles like time and space as well. The position is quite different in the case of Brahman. Attainment of Brahman is not something which takes place after knowing Brahman. To know Brahman is to attain it; not to know it amounts to not attaining it. Hence, there is no other obstacle to attaining Brahman than avidyā.