Month: February 2024

Kathopanishad Chapter 2 Valli 3 Mantra 13

Satsangatve nissangatvam nissangatve nirmohatvam, nirmohatve niscalatattvam niscalatattve jivanmuktiH.
Index…

Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 3 Mantra 13

Mantra

astī̍ty e̱vopa̍labdhavyas ta̱ttva-bhā̍vena̱ cobha̍yoḥ |
astī̍ty e̱vopa̍labdhasya ta̱ttva-bhā̍vaḥ pra̱sīda̍ti ||

asti iti eva upalabdhavyaḥ = It should be apprehended as simply existent then; tattva-bhāvena = its true nature [is realized] ubhayoḥ = of the two aspects, conditioned and unconditioned, immanent and transcendent; tattva-bhāvaḥ = the true essential aspect; asti iti eva upalabdhasya = of that very self which was earlier accepted as immanent; prasīdati = becomes favorably disposed for Self-revelation.

He should be known to exist as ‘Be’ (Asti) and also aHe really is. Of these two, to him (the seeker), who knows Him to exist, His true nature becomes manifest.

 

by Swami Chinmayananda:

Though the stanza will read as a riddle to the not well­ initiated, it is a direct statement to all those who know the Sastra; and this Sadhu is sure that all of you in this Yagnasala are today really full-blown Vedantins to whom this passage must be auto­matically clear.

The Atma-chaitanya can be realized either as conditioned in Its manifestations, or in Itself and as such without any of Its attributes and therefore as a Pure Witness of all the states of consciousness. At many places during His discourses lord Death had already pointed out to Nachiketa that a meditator meditating upon the symbol of Truth, OM, considering it to represent the lower Brahman, shall attain the joys of the Hiranyagarbhaand if, on the other hand, one meditates upon ‘OM’ as a symbol of the attributeless, Pure Consciousness, the practitioner fulfills his meditations and actually realizes in him the Absolute and the All-pervading Reality. Sree Sankara in his commentary comments upon this stanza in the true spirit of the very text-book.

Many of you might find if you are following the Ramakrishna Math edition or the Yoga Vedanta Forest University Publication of Rishikesh, that both of them had felt almost an unnecessary urge to find a defect in Sree Sankara’s commentary! We, however, find it difficult to accept this amendment which they have suggested.

Sree Sankara comments upon this Mantra and says that the Sruthi is here warning the seekers against meditating upon Truth as manifested with attributes and that she is vigorously advocating the meditation upon the Absolute Truth, unmanifest and attributeless.

According to the above textbooks, Sankara’s commentary falls short of the mark, and a closer hit would have been· gained by directly explaining the Mantra to hint at a warning that the meditator should meditate upon Truth as Existence (Asti) and not as Non-existence (Nasti) as some of the Buddhistic schools of philosophers maintain along with a section of the Indian Logicians (Naiyyaikas).

He who realizes the Atman as the very Essence of Existence has realized the AtmanIn this realization, the successful seeker in his meditation comes to contact himself with a plane of cons­ciousness, wherein, he realizes the Source of all Life to be Pure Existence alone. “Existence-in-Itself” is a term used to differentiate the existence of a thing from the existence as such. “Exis­tence of a thing” is well known to us, but here the existence is known in its qualified or conditioned state.

Truth is the subjective knowledge of Existence as such to be the very nature of the knowledge Absolute. The pure state of ‘being’ (Kevala Astitva Bhava) is declared in the Upanishads as the essence of the Self-realization-moment. He who reaches this state of Knowledge reaches the Supreme Goal of life and rises from the seat of meditation, not as the very same mortal who went to it, but as a God-man upon earth.

Previous…                                                                                                           Next

 

 

No Comments Uncategorized

Kathopanishad Chapter 2 Valli 3 Mantra 12

Satsangatve nissangatvam nissangatve nirmohatvam, nirmohatve niscalatattvam niscalatattve jivanmuktiH.
Index…

Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 3 Mantra 12

Mantra

naiva̍ vā̱cā na mana̍sā prā̱ptuṁ śa̍kyo na̱ cakṣu̍sā |
astī̍ti bruvato̍’nya̱tra̱ ka̱thaṁ tad upala̍bhyate ||

na eva = not even; vācā = by speech; na manasā = neither by thinking; na cakṣusā = neither by seeing; śakyaḥ = can [It]; prāptuṁ = be apprehended; kathaṁ = how; tat = that; upalabhyate = can be attained, comprehended; anyatra = except; asti iti bruvataḥ = by one who says “It is”.

The self cannot be reached by speech, nor by mind, or nor even by the eye. How can it be Realized otherwise than from those who say, ‘He is’?

 

by Swami Chinmayananda:

The Atman is the controller of the entire mechanism of life. Just as a driver, while driving the car, cannot get himself run over by the same car, so also the sense organs, mind, and intellect functioning because of the Life Centre behind them cannot turn themselves upon the very Atman and know Him as one of the objects of their cognition, feeling or understanding!

Naturally, Lord Death here in his exclamations conveys to his dear disciple the accepted belief in Vedanta that there is no other source of knowing the existence of the Atman, than the sacred Divine words of scriptural declarations (Sabdha Pramanam) and their living symbols, the realized saints. What­ever arguments you may bring out in favor of the essence of the One Atman in all living forms, there can be equally efficient, intellectual, and metaphysical arguments to meet and completely floor down the arguments of a Seer and prove just the opposite -­ the non-existence of the Atman! No amount of metaphysical arguments can help a seeker reach the Absolute Truth. Every seeker will have to start his own pilgrimage with his indomitable courage and faith in the words of his Master.

Previous…                                                                                                           Next

 

 

No Comments Uncategorized