Index…
Kathopanisad
Adyaya 1 Valli 2 Mantra 8
Lecture
Mantra
na nareṇāvarena prokta eṣa
su̱vijñeyo bahudhā cintyamānaḥ
ananya-pro̱kte gatir atra nāsti
aṇīyān hy atarkyam a̱ṇupramāṇāt
eṣaḥ = the Self; proktaḥ = spoken of; avarena nareṇa = by an inferior man, i.e., by a person of worldly understanding; na hi suvjñeyaḥ = is not certainly liable to be adequately understood; bahudhā, variously, such as “It exists”, It does not exist”; cintyamānaḥ = deliberated on, by the disputants; ananya-prokte = when taught by a teacher who sees clearly, who is Self-realized: atra = here, na asti = there does not remain; gatiḥ = cogitation; atarkyam = not subject to being argued about; aṇīyān = more subtle, aṇu-pramāṇāt = than an atom.
That [Atman] cannot be truly understood when taught by an inferior person, as It is conceived of in many ways. When taught by one who is fully Self-realized, there is no further disputation with regard to it. For it cannot be known by argument, being subtler than an atom.
bahudhā cintyamānaḥ: — thought of in many ways, or it may mean ‘much meditated upon’ or ‘conceived of as a plurality’ while the ātman is an absolute unity.
gatir atra nāsti — “There is no going thither” — may mean either there is nothing beyond the knowledge of Paramātman or there is no way back to Samsāra or worldly becoming; there is no more disputation about it; or it could mean there is no way to know about or realize the Self without access to a teacher.
atarkyam: — inconceivable, unprovable by argument. The Supreme Self is unknowable by argument, as It is subtle, beyond the reach of the senses and the understanding based on sense data. It can only be immediately apprehended by intuition.
ananya-prokte — a teacher who is non-different i.e., has realized his essential identity with Paramātman, having personal and immediate experience, he is lifted above sectarian disputes.
There are several different readings for this rather abstruse verse:
It may also simply mean;— “taught by someone other than the inferior mentioned earlier, i.e., a superior person who knows the truth. Or taught by another, someone other than oneself,” i.e., By some skillful teacher.
Some other rendering by Non-dual (Advaita) scholars;
(a) “When the (supreme) Self, that is non-different from, and is, one’s very Self is properly taught; there is nothing else to be known. The realization of the unity of the Self is the culmination of all knowledge. Therefore, as there is no knowable, there remains nothing to be known here”.
(b) “When the theory of the non-dual Self is taught followed by realization, there remains no further transmigration; for liberation which is the result of that realization, follows, immediately”.
(c) “When the Self is taught by a teacher who has become identified with the Brahman that he teaches, there is no “non-realization”. To the student, the realization, “I am that (Self)”, dawns, just as it did in the case of the teacher.”
The Qualified Non-dual (Visiṣṭadvaita) interpretation is: Thus, the Self is well understood when It is taught to be non-different (i.e., The essence of the taught) by a teacher who is well versed in the Scriptures. Otherwise, the Self becomes more subtle; even than an atomic particle. For It cannot be argued out – cannot be known through mere reasoning based upon one’s own independent intellect. If the Self is regarded as an object of argumentation and postulated to be atomic, someone else may hold It to be subtler than that, like a neutron, while still another may hold It to be even more subtle, thus there is no end to sophistry.
For Ramanuja, the understanding, that a person gets about the Self when taught by one who has realized Brahman is impossible to get when taught by a person of inferior capacity who has not realized Brahman. But the realization spoken of cannot be “identity with Brahman” as Shankara thinks, because if there is only One Atman and One Brahman which are both identical then realization would mean the total and exclusive non-perception of difference. Therefore, who would teach, and who would be the taught? It would in fact be like teaching one’s self while looking in the mirror!