Index…
Kathopanisad
Chapter 1 Valli 2 Mantra 23
Lecture
Mantra
nāyamātmā pra̱vacane̍na labhyo
na̱ medha̍yā na ba̱hunā̍ śrutena
yam-e̍vaiṣa vṛṇute te̱na labhya-
stasyai̍ṣa ā̱tmā vivṛ̍ṇute tanūṁ svām
ayam = this; ātmā = Supreme being; na labhyaḥ = cannot be attained (known); pravacanena = through discourse; na medhayā = neither through intellectual reasoning; na bahuna śrutena = neither by much listening; yam eva = he whom; eṣa vṛṇute = this One chooses; tena labhyaḥ = by him is He attained; eṣa ātmā = this Supreme Being; tasya = to him; vivṛṇute = he reveals; svām tanuṁ = His own nature.
This Atman cannot be attained by the study of Veda nor by intelligence, nor by much hearing. It is gained by him who chooses It alone. To him this Atman reveals Its own true nature.
by Swami Chinmayananda:
Mere book knowledge is no knowledge at all. This is the uniform opinion of all the Śrutis known to us. An individual having a fair knowledge of the language technicalities of Sanskrit can discourse endlessly upon the word meanings of the Śruti texts which in their style adopt the simplest words that language can command. But Śruti denies to such professional “temple-talkers” and men of noise and sound any actual blessing that can be gained from the real Knowledge the subjective experience of which is the theme of the Upanishads, source of all dynamism, Atman and life in us.
There are some ignorant Pundits who claim that Self-realization can be only through an initial memorizing of the sacred texts. ‘Medha’ means, the power of the intellect which specially manifests in its retentive capacity. There are some who can repeat from memory all the four Vedas and they are honored as Caturvedis among Pundits. There is a Malabar Brahmana, who is known to this Sādhu, who can repeat from memory the entire Bhagavatam text with Śridacharya commentary. Many are the Mahatmas who can recapitulate and sing all the Mantras in the ten main Upanishads often with the texts of the Śaṅkara Bhashyam. Admirable though these achievements be in the material plane where we are ready to adore, admire and appreciate the powers of the intellect, the Śruti here pooh-pochs them as a sheer waste and filthy discharge! A mere memorizing of the stanza or even cultivating a capacity to discourse upon the Mantras shall not take any individual to the Goal pointed out by the Śruti.
Again, there are some who place an undue importance on merely attending Satsangas. Such men are ready to undergo any amount of botheration, undertake any long journey, and however often it needs be only if they can be in a hall where some spiritual discourse is at full swing. And having reached
the hall many of them invariably discover a comfortable comer where, in the diffused light, can gloriously retire and, leaning on a wall or pillar, can silently set their minds to race backwards towards their homes and friends! Bodily they sit in the Sat Sangh but mentally and intellectually they are closed bottles ever reveling in their own poison contents!
This Swami is not exaggerating; there must be at least, half a dozen here who have not heard what we have been just now roaring through this deafening microphone!
If neither study, nor memorizing, nor Sat Sangh can give us a subjective experience of the Reality, does it mean that Self-realization is an impossibility? The Śruti Mantra in its second half asserts that realization is possible; only, that we have to pursue the methods advocated by the Rishis with sincerity, faith and consistency. Hence Śruti says that the aspirant who seeks diligently the Atman, to him the Atman reveals Itself.
The root ‘vr’ means to choose, to cover. So ‘vrnute’ means chooses; and ‘Vivrnute’ means uncovers or reveals. The seeking consists of the slow removal of all the negativities in our physical and psychological make up, such as caste and class prejudices, vanities of being rich or pre-occupation with the tragedies of our poverty, the selfishness, egoism, hatred, jealous, greed, and lusts which in their aggregate constitute the barricade that keeps us away from the land of our own Real Nature. The details of this gruesome self-created mistake, by which we have come to sign our own self-chosen exile, are hinted as in the following stanza.
by Swami Gurubhaktananda:
Here we have one of those verses which a Sadhaka on the spiritual path has to hang on to throughout his Sadhana. It contains the essential spirit of all Sadhana.
“The Self and Self alone has to be chosen by us, for no reason other than wanting It. Anything else that we do in the name of the Self, without keeping in mind the Self before us, will only be paraphernalia, and not bear any spiritual fruit.”
If the Self is forgotten any amount of study is of no avail;
- Forgetful of the Self, the most powerful and sharp intellect is of no use; any amount of lectures that we hear or knowledge that we obtain cannot help move us an inch closer to Study and hearing lectures have meaning only to take us closer to God.
- Only if we choose the Self, that is, if we really long for God from the bottom of our heart, can we attain Acharyaji on “Longing for God”
3-4 Acharyaji’s words on this Pada were awe-inspiring:
“If the means are not right, we cannot know the Self. The right means is devotion to the absolute Truth. It is by the power of dedication, love or Bhakti that we can attain It. Our call must be for the Self, from the heart. Once we lose the heart for what we do, we lose our goal. Then it becomes a hunt for ‘I want to achieve’. One becomes a ‘Swami Achievananda’!
“We have to choose to want God, then He will catch us and draw us to Him. Have we chosen Him or have we chosen just the Upanishads? When we choose the Upanishads, is it just the words? Mere head only guides; it is the heart that leads. Once we choose Him with our heart, only then the head can tell us ‘How’.
“Sita symbolizes the Jiva in captivity in Lanka. She only yearned for Rama. That is all she could do. Her head did not care about the ‘How’. But that was enough to bring Rama, the Supreme Soul, to her. Rama did the rest – He crossed the mighty ocean, He destroyed the demons, He killed Ravana, and so on. She did only one thing – longed intensely for Him!
“The Self is attained by the mere fact that we have chosen It. Once chosen, It reveals Itself to us in due course of time.
“This is indeed a verse of great importance. It tells us what our inner fire should be in our quest. It shows the passion, the heart we have to bring into our quest for God. Many may be ‘good’ but they may not be ‘good enough’. ‘Good enough’ means wanting God and God alone for His sake!”
Thus did Acharyaji teach us to love our studies for God’s sake alone!
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