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Kathopanisad

Chapter 1 Valli 2 Mantra 14

Lecture

Mantra

anya̍tra dha̱rmād anya̍trādharmād a̱nyatrāsmāt kṛtākṛtāt
anya̍tra bhū̱tāc ca̍ bhavyāc ca ya̱t tat paśya̍si tad-vada

anyatra = different; dharmāt = from right action – i.e. from the performance of scripturally enjoined duties, their results, and their accessories; adharmāt = different from wrong action; asmāt kṛtākṛtāt = different from the effect, and the cause; bhūtāt = from what was, bhavyāt = or will be; yat tat paśyasi = whatever it is that you see, you know with surety; tat = that; vada = tell me.

Naciketas said: Tell me about that which you see beyond Dharma and Adharma, beyond cause and effect, beyond past and future.

anyatra dharmāt anyatra adharmāt: beyond Dharma – Dharma here refers to all those actions prescribed by the Shastras, their auxiliaries and their result which is heaven. beyond and Adharma – Adharma refers to all those actions which are proscribed by the Shastras and which lead to hell.

Vedic religion prescribes many methods for achieving enjoyment in svarga (heaven) and avoiding naraka (hell) but this is still a continuation of the earthly material struggle of all beings which is a perpetual search for happiness and avoidance of suffering. Vedic religion as such constitutes spiritual materialism. This is opposed to the Upanishadic quest for enlightenment and Liberation from all conditioned states of happiness and suffering be they material or spiritual.

Rāmānuja says that Naciketas is asking about (1) the nature goal (prāpya svarūpam), (2) the nature of the means of attainment (upāya-svarūpaṁ) and the nature of the attainer (prāptu-svarūpam). Dharma means upāya or method different and distinct from the well- known means to attain svarga. Adharma is the goal and the aspirant is referred to by the term “asmāt kṛtākṛtāt (what is done or not done). According to Shankara this is construed as “effect and cause”, being our Karma. (krtam kāryam, akṛtaṁ kāraṇam).

If we take Dharma and Adharma to refer to the paths of right and wrong action and then “what is done and what is not done” will refer to actions which are prescribed and prohibited.

bhūtāt ca bhavyāt ca (beyond Past and future): the eternal is a ‘now’ without duration. Naciketas is asking about the nature of Reality which is beyond the reach of all empirical experience, and is not limited by the three times (past, present, and future);

Naciketas asks for an account of that deepest ontological reality free from all extraneous externalities of religiosity, freed from the constraining bonds of dogma; free from our conditioned experience of actions and their results; the real which is deeper than all the chimera of time and space.

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Kathopanisad

Adyaya 1 Valli 2 Mantra 1

Lecture

Mantra

THE TWO WAYS
Yama’s Teaching

After testing Naciketa and knowing his fitness for receiving Brahma knowledge, Yama explains the great secret to him.

anya̍cchreyo’nyadu̱taiva preya-
ste u̱bhe nā̱nārthe̍ pu̱rusaṁ sinītah
tayo̍ḥ śreya ā̱dadānasya sādhu
bhavati hī̱yate’rthādya̍ u preyo vṛṇīte

śreyaḥ = the preferable, the Moral Good, the supreme goal (freedom from suffering); anyat eva (it) = is certainly different; tathā = similarly; uta = too; preyaḥ = the more pleasant; anyat eva = (is) different indeed; te ubhe = both of them; nānā arthe = serving divergent purposes; sinītaḥ = bind; puruṣam = a person: tayoḥ = of the two; ādadānasya = one who chooses [only]; śreyaḥ = the preferable, sādhu bhavati = well-being, good comes; yaḥ u = the one that; preyaḥ vṛṇīte =  selects the pleasurable; hīyate = gets alienated; arthāt = from this objective, from the human goal; [i.e. falls from the eternal supreme purpose].

(Yama said): There are two paths; the good and the pleasant. Different indeed are their purposes but both of them bind one. Of these two, it is well for one who takes hold of the good; but one who chooses the pleasant loses the very object of human life.

Every being is motivated by the drive to be free from suffering (dukkha) and achieve abiding happiness (sukha). As humans we do this through the pursuit of one of two paths: the path of pleasure and the fulfillment of desires known as the “delectable” — preyas; or through the path of śreyas or the “electable” which is the pursuit of liberation from Samsāra. One either hankers after prosperity, power, and pleasure to avoid the material causes of suffering or craves freedom from the root cause of suffering (ignorance — avidya) through emancipation (mokṣa). Therefore, everyone is said to be bound by these two in that they cling avidly to one or the other. But both of these paths are opposed to each other, inasmuch as the path of Pleasure is based on spiritual ignorance (avidya) and perpetuates one’s suffering and continued existence in Samsara; and the path of the Good arises from wisdom (vidya) and is conducive to one’s ultimate liberation from Samsāra. Everyone eventually must make the choice to pursue one or the other of these two paths. The question may be asked, “If we have free will in this matter why do most people cling to the pleasurable only”? This will now be answered.

Cp. Samyutta Nikāya I.4.2.6.
tasmā satañ ca asatañ ca nānā hoti ito gati | 
asanto nirayam yanti satañ saggaparāyaṇā ||

Therefore do the paths of the good and the evil of this world divide; the evil goes to hell but the final destination of the good is heaven.
In Samyutta Nikāya V.4.5.2 instead of saggaparāyaṇā, (going to heaven) we read nibbāna-parāyaṇam (attaining nirvana)

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