Index…

Kathopanisad

Chapter 1 Valli 2 Mantra 19

Lecture

Mantra

hantā̍ cen ma̱nyate̍ hantuṁ hanta̍ś cen ma̱nyate̍ hatam
ubhau̍ tau na vi̱jñānī̍to nā̱yaṁ ha̍nti na̱ hanya̍te.

cet = if; manyate = one thinks: hantuṁ = for the sake of killing; hantā = that he slays; cet = and if;  manyate = one thinks; hataḥ = it is killed; ubhau tau = both of them; na vijñānītaḥ = do not comprehend their own Self; ayaṁ = this one [Self] na hanti = does not kill; na hanyate = and is not killed.

If the slayer thinks ‘I slays‘ or if the slain thinks ‘I am slain‘, then both of them do not know well. This slays not nor is This slain.

by Swami Chinmayananda:

Again, to point out in the Gita, a parallel in thought which amounts to almost an actual borrowing, we may notice therein the above Mantra repeated, especially in its second line, if a murderer feels that by wounding the body, the Atman is killed, or if the murdered comes to despair at his death-bed that his Atman is dying, both of them are under a delusory conception that the body is the soul. The stupidity of such thinking becomes more poignantly apparent to us if we were to say that we have broken the space-in-the-cup when we throw the cup down!!

This Mantra reveals itself its meaning to anyone who has carefully followed our discussions upon the previous Mantras.

by Swami Gurubhaktananda:

Per Gita Gita 2:19,
ya enaṁ vetti hantāraṁ yaścainaṁ manyate hatam
ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate

One who deems the Self a slayer, and one who thinks of it as slain — both are ignorant; for the Self neither slays nor is slain.

Ramanuja comments on this verse:

Though the root ‘han’ (to slay) is directed at the Self [in the context], it signifies causing the separation of the jīva from the body and not the destruction of the jīva. Scriptural injunctions like ‘You shall not cause injury to beings’ and ‘A Brahmin shall not be killed’ indicate acts that are forbidden because they cause the separation of the jīva from the body.

Here is the answer to the question of Nachiketas about the mystery of death. The self is unborn (aja) eternal (nitya) and death does not refer to it. In this verse, the main point is to expound the doctrine of “Doership”. In this doctrine, the spiritual view is that one is not the doer, whether acts or is acted upon.

“Killing” is only an example of an action; it should not be taken literally. Any action would suffice for the purpose of illustrating ‘doership’. In the context of Nachiketas interviewing the Lord of Death, the example chosen is quite appropriate, albeit gruesome to sensitive readers. To prove a point the worst case is usually considered. The choice of an example of killing could have been for that reason. There is no greater pain we humans feel than the loss of someone through a killing, both physically and emotionally. Indifference in such an extreme case proves the point more dramatically than any other example.

“Sānkhya Yoga” as in the Geeta:

• The doer is defined as one who does an If one thinks that he is acting, then he takes on the role of ‘doer’.
• The doer is also one on whom an action is done. If one thinks that he is being acted upon, then he takes a share in the ‘doing’.
• In both cases, the role of doership is falsely taken on by the individual. It is not the individual who acts, not at.
• The real ‘Doer’ is the individual ego, who is the false “I”. The Self, which is the true “I”, is not the one who acts or is acted The verse is written from the Self’s viewpoint. A seeker has to remember this principle in all actions that he engages in.

The Self is untouched by whatever happens to the body, even if the worst possible thing happens, such as a gruesome slaying. In a spiritual sense, we are all “untouchables”! Whatever happens to us in this world, our true Self remains unaffected, untouched.

If the hurting were only emotional and not physical, the simile would apply just the same. The Self is not touched even by emotion, meaning that the Self is not the mind also.

The Self may be compared to the space in a pot. Regardless of what happens to the pot, even if it is crushed to bits, the space occupied by it is not crushed at all. It goes on existing as before and simply merges with the outside space.

The Shankara Bhashya deduces from this verse that the knower of the Self has to be beyond virtue and vice, which can logically apply only to the relative plane of existence. Only from the perspective of the Self, there is neither virtue nor vice.

How is the Self to be known?…

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Index…

Kathopanisad

Chapter 1 Valli 2 Mantra 18

Lecture

Mantra

Na jāyate mriyate vā vipasci-
nnāyam kutashcinna babhūva kashcit;
ajo nityah shāshvato’yam purāno
na hanyate hanyamāne sarīre.

Na jāyate mriyate = The intelligent Self is neither born; vā vipaschit = nor does It die; na ayam kutashchit = It does not originate from anything;  na babhūva kashchit = nor does anything originate from It; ajah nityah = It is birthless; shāshvatah = eternal and undecaying; ayam purānah = it is ancient; na hanyate = It is not killed; hanyamāne sharīre = even when the body is killed;

The intelligent Ātman is not born, nor does He die; He did not spring from anything, and nothing sprang from him; Unborn, Eternal, Everlasting, Ancient, He is not slain although the body is slain.

by Swami Chinmayananda:

Earlier in our discussions we emphasized how the Kathopanishad Mantras were evidently an immediate inspiration to Bhagavan Vyasa to crystallize his matured thinking and full-realization of the Truth, in his own Upanishad-poem, the Shrimad Bhagavat Gita. You all know how in Gita the entire first chapter and portions of the second are spent in providing an inimitable background, similar to the story of Naciketa in this Upanishad, wherein to the presence of an immortal Teacher, Lord Krishna, a disciple, Sri Arjuna, is brought in an attitude of surrender, devotion and seeking. And in the second chapter of the Divine Song, sung by the Lord Himself, there is a substantial reproduction of even the very words of the Mantra that is now under discussion – (the last line of this Mantra is repeated as such).

You must all remember that the pointed question of Naciketa was to explain to him that which Lord Death had experienced Himself personality, that Eternal Factor which is beyond virtue and vice, which is other than cause and effect and which is other than past or future. During our discussions of the stanza, we clearly found that the aspiring Brahmin boy was enquiring after the nature of the ever-witnessing spark of Awareness, the

Atman in the body. Lord Death, in answering him, we also found, had first dealt with the Symbol of Truth, Om! Now in this stanza the teacher is directly hinting at the Divine Spark that presides over the matter envelopments constituting our body, mind and intellect.

Atman is not born nor does it die – All perishable finite things undergo modifications and the entire set of modifications are classified under five headings, namely, birth, growth, disease, decay and death. In this stanza we are told that the Truth Principle gracing our within, is without the first and the last of these pentamerous modifications, i.e., the birth and the death. Naturally, they mean to incorporate within themselves all the

other unsaid three modifications also. – That which undergoes modifications is a perishable finite quality; in denying modifications the teacher is hinting at the Eternal Nature of the Soul of man.

We must note here that the word Vipascit is used for Atman and it is no accidental usage or a meaning blown into it due to the circumstances. It comes from the root ‘vip’ – to quiver or tremble; hence its adjective ‘vip’ – inspired; its noun ‘vipas’ – inspiration; so ‘vipaschit’ – knowing inspiration – born of the experience of the pure Knowledge.

The soul is unborn; only the body is born. You must be remembering our preliminary talks when we discussed exhaustively these points in general. And yet, to help you at your recapitulation we may add here the following:

The pot-maker makes a pot. The pot is born. But the space in the pot being itself eternally one with the outer space is not created or born. The pot may break. That which is made is perishable. But with the breaking of the pot the pot-space is not broken. The unborn pot-space knows no death.

Similarly, the Self or the Truth is never born and naturally never dies. The false egocentre, through vulgar meditations and ignorant thinking, has molded out a perishable body-mind-and-intellect equipment in which the all-pervading eternal Truth seems to be confined. The body equipment might perish, but not the Truth Principle.

And again, the pot-maker did not make a pot and then pour ‘some space’ into the pot; the pot-maker worked in space and as he molded the pot, he could mold it only with space already inside.

Similarly, the body is born in Atman, with Atman and this Truth Principle is ever the presiding deity within, and it is without the body during the physical body’s birth, growth, decay, disease and death:

With the above ideas in mind the second line of the Mantra must now stand out self-explained.

by Swami Gurubhaktananda:

We now begin the answer to the boon in terms independent of any symbol. This is the direct approach using first principles. Only the power of understanding of one’s intellect is needed. This is considered to be the most efficient means of transmitting knowledge.

• The words “is neither born nor does It die” are to be taken to refer to all the six Vikriyas, namely, birth, existence, growth, decay, old age, and death. All these Vikriyas apply to the body only. Hence the Self is said here to be beyond the changing
• The Self does not arise from anything different from It, nor does it produce anything different from It. It is beyond Causation; it is not a cause, nor does it produce and Whatever appears different is a mere illusion, like water in a mirage. There is no Reality other than the Self.
• The Self is that which always has been, always is, and always will be. There are no Vikriyas (modifications) in the Self.
• This is because the Self is a totally different transactional plane from the world we know. When we see the Self, we do not see anything else. Everything is seen as the Self.
• One needs to shift to another level of consciousness to become aware of the Self.
• That is the key message Yama wishes to get across to his young disciple Nachiketas.
• The last sentence directly answers Nachiketa’s original phrasing of the boon: “Does It exist or not after the death of the body?” The answer is “Yes”. From the angle of the Self, It alone exists, there is nothing else besides. It is Non-dual.

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