Index…

Kathopanisad

Chapter 1 Valli 2 Mantra 15

Lecture

Mantra

Sarve vedāh yat padam āmananti
tapāmsi sarvāni cha yat vadanti;
yat icchhantah brahmacharyam charanti
tat te padam sangrahena braveemi:
Om iti etat.

Sarve vedāh all the Vedas; yat padam  as the Goal; āmananti  declare; tapāmsi by all penances; sarvāni cha or acts of austerity; yat vadanti  that proclaim; yat icchhantah wishing for which; brahmacharyam Brahmacharya; charanti practice; tat that; te to you; padam Goal; sangrahena braveemi briefly declare; Om iti etat It is “OM”.

Yama says to Naciketas:

4-5 Lord Yama answers Naciketas’s re-phrased boon directly by stating what the answer is, without giving any explanation. This is the briefest possible answer “OM”. The first approach to this Truth is via a symbol that has been unanimously accepted by the enlightened Rishis of the Vedic period as being OM. Yama is providing an answer to the boon in the briefest manner. Under the symbol OM is found every possible detail in the scriptures of the path that leads to the Self. It is a perfect point to begin. The symbol Om is used in three different contexts, as given in this verse in its first three Padas, i.e. goal. These may be considered to be three more ways of expressing the same boon. In any case, it is the way Yama has understood the boon to be:

• Used widely in all the Vedas: Its use has scriptural authority. It is an accepted symbol for the Everyone will understand what is meant when the sound symbol OM is referred to.
• The Objective of All Tapas or Austerity: People perform many kinds of austerity, undergoing great hardship. However, the meditation upon Om is said to cover all these forms of austerities whether one wishes to attain merit or spiritual
• The Reason Why Brahmacharya or Celibacy is Observed: The greatest of all austerities is the vow of Brahmacharya, because it is the most difficult. There are two types of people who observe Brahmacharya: i) that observed by students of the Vedas during their period of study; or ii) the life-long observance of it for the purpose of making oneself fit to do the intense Sadhana to realize the Self. Conservation of energy for higher purposes is the principle behind this austerity.

The symbol OM stands for all these. It is a blanket term for all Upasanas directed towards a goal beyond the ordinary earth plane. This is explained further.

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Index…

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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