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Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 2 Mantra 12

Mantra

e̱ko va̍śī sarva-bhū̱tānta̍rātmā
eka̍ṁ rūpam ba̱hudhā̍ yaḥ karoti |
tam ā̍tmastham ye̱’nupa̍śyanti dhīrā-
ste̱sāṁ su̱khaguṁ śāsva̍taṁ netareṣām ||

ekaḥ = the Supreme Reality is one; vaśī = the ruler or controller; sarva-bhūtāntar-ātmā = the inner Self of all beings; yaḥ = he who; karoti = makes; ekam = one; rūpam = form; bahudhā = manifold; tam ātmastham = Him residing in the individual Self; ye dhīra = those wise persons who; anupaśyanti = perceive, realize; teṣāṁ = to them; sukhaṁ śāśvataṁ = eternal happinss; na itareṣām = not for others [who are non-discriminating].

(That) One (Supreme) Ruler, the soul of all beings, who makes His one form manifold, those wise men, who perceive Him as existing in their own Self, to them belongs Eternal Happiness, and to none else.

 

by Swami Chinmayananda:

The self-arrogating ego centers viewing out of themselves through the shattering instruments of their mind and intellect, observe everywhere nothing more sacred than an eternal variety of endless plurality. Consequently, they suffer all the pains of life, their own self-created problems of life. The mind and intellect equipment has a prism effect when the undivided beam of the Self’s Light passes through it! The intelligence seemingly encased within the body can reach the outer world of sense objects and cognize them only through the coordinating agent, the mind. But the wise, transcending the limitations of both their mind and intellect, learn to look out through their faculty called intuition. Intuitively viewed, Truth alone is the experience available at all places, and at all times!

The Self is the source of the Light which, at the interception of the mental prism, seemingly disperses Itself into the variegated band of the innumerable names and forms, which constitute the Jagat. The Yogi in his discriminating wisdom, successfully withdraws his mind’s delusory hobnobbing with its own. Ignorance created plurality, and in the moments of his deep meditations, his Awareness comes to be aware of Itself as the Self.

Our Consciousness becoming conscious of Itself, the Pure Consciousness, as the Self, is the moment of Self Realization or Isvara darshan. In order to enjoy this moment of Supreme Bliss and Wisdom, the individual must necessarily be a highly evolved soul (Dhirah). Such cones alone can come to enjoy Eternal Bliss, That, theirs alone is the experience of continued, unbroken and infinite joy is indicated here by the Sruti. She says that only such wise men who have come to realize their Self, are the real men of bliss and not others. The worldly men who are engrossed in external objects and who are not endowed with discrimination are debarred by this statement to have ever a chance of enjoying Infinite Bliss through sense objects.

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Index…

Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 2 Mantra 11

Mantra

sūryo̍ yathā sarva-lo̱kasya̍ cakṣu-
rna̱ lipya̍te cakṣuṣair bā̱hyado̍ṣaiḥ |
eka̍s tathā sarva-bhū̱tāntar-ā̍tmā
na̱ lipya̍te loka-du̱ḥkena̍ bāhyaḥ ||

yathā = just as; sūryaḥ = the Sun; sarva-lokasya cakṣuḥ = the eye of the entire universe; na lipyate = is not tainted or defiled; cakṣuṣaiḥ bāhya-doṣaiḥ = by the external faults seen by the eye such as physical dirt or ritual impurity; tathā = similarly; ekaḥ = though one; sarva-bhūtāntar-ātmā = the Self within all beings; na lipyate = is not tainted; loka-duḥkena = by the suffering of the world; bāhyaḥ = as It (the Self) is beyond the world.

As the Sun, the Eye of the whole world, is not contaminated by the defects of the external eye, so being the Innermost Essence in all beings, Atman is not contaminated by the external sorrows of the world.

 

by Swami Chinmayananda:

Sarva lokasya Chakshuh (the Eye of Whole World) – Without the light energy provided by the Sun we would not have been able to make use of our eyes in discriminating the various forms and colors of the sense objects in the world. Nor would we have moon to provide us with moonlight at least during the bright fortnights, if the sun were not there to lend its light to the moon to reflect! Apart from all these, and probably built upon a thorough knowledge of the science of Fah, the ancient Rsis of the Upanishads have declared even in the Vedic period that the Sun is the presiding deity of the sense organ, the eye. Thus, it is most appropriate to term the Sun as the Eye of the Universe too.

“The light of the Sun illumines equally all the objects in all conditions of health and decay. Whether the sunlight illumines a scene of meritorious sacrifice or a dire scene of calculated villainy, the sunlight, as such, does not get either blessed or condemned by the qualities of the various scenes it illumines.

Similarly, the Atman is not tainted by the miseries of the world, arising from the kama and karma of the ego-centric individuals living the delusions of their own ignorance, All sorrows are created by our unrestrained desires and our attempts in the world of sense objects to fulfil our desires through passion motivated, self willed actions kama karma-udbhavam duhkham).

Whatever be the condition of the ghost in the post, the post is not in the least affected; whatever be the threatening aspects of the snake in the rope, the rope is not in any way affected; in whatever be condition be the surface of the mirage water, the desert is not at all affected! Similarly, whatever be the condition of the world and our experiences of it, in our present embodiment, the Truth, which is the substratum for the delusion created world myth, is not in the least, affected.

There are mainly two schools of thought among the Hindu philosophers as they try to explain the relative status of Truth and the World. Some claim that the Supreme Reality modified Itself to become this world; as the milk gets modified to become cfd. Vedantins condemn this point of view since it is faulty according to their line of argument. They condemn this theory on the score that if the Supreme Reality were to suffer Itself to undergo a modification, just as the milk is no more in the curd, the Supreme will have to end Itself to become the World, which is naturally absurd. Again, the Vedantins argue that if the world is a modification (parinam) of the Supreme Reality then according to the Parinamavadins the Supreme is available for change and that which undergoes change cannot be Eternal, but must necessarily fall within the boundaries of finiteness, Thus, if the Parinamavada is accepted, the Supreme Reality Itself becomes a finite perishable quantity!!

On the other hand, the Vedantins view the creation as a superimposition upon Truth, caused by the jugglery of the mind, termed as Maya. This argument of the ‘Vedantins is termed as the Vivartavada. Here, the Supreme undergoes no change at all but ever remains in its Eternal purity and Immortal grandeur; the rope undergoes no change, nor gains for itself even a drop of venom when a traveler in the dusk misunderstands it to be a snake.

The Mantra under discussion seems to support whole heartedly Shri Sankara’s standpoint. Anyway the “Theory of Modification” stands blasted in the presence of the more brilliant and satisfying “Theory of Superimposition” in explaining the Real and the unreal.

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