Index…

Kathopanisad

Adyaya 1 Valli 2 Mantra 1

Lecture

Mantra

THE TWO WAYS
Yama’s Teaching

After testing Naciketa and knowing his fitness for receiving Brahma knowledge, Yama explains the great secret to him.

anya̍cchreyo’nyadu̱taiva preya-
ste u̱bhe nā̱nārthe̍ pu̱rusaṁ sinītah
tayo̍ḥ śreya ā̱dadānasya sādhu
bhavati hī̱yate’rthādya̍ u preyo vṛṇīte

śreyaḥ = the preferable, the Moral Good, the supreme goal (freedom from suffering); anyat eva (it) = is certainly different; tathā = similarly; uta = too; preyaḥ = the more pleasant; anyat eva = (is) different indeed; te ubhe = both of them; nānā arthe = serving divergent purposes; sinītaḥ = bind; puruṣam = a person: tayoḥ = of the two; ādadānasya = one who chooses [only]; śreyaḥ = the preferable, sādhu bhavati = well-being, good comes; yaḥ u = the one that; preyaḥ vṛṇīte =  selects the pleasurable; hīyate = gets alienated; arthāt = from this objective, from the human goal; [i.e. falls from the eternal supreme purpose].

(Yama said): There are two paths; the good and the pleasant. Different indeed are their purposes but both of them bind one. Of these two, it is well for one who takes hold of the good; but one who chooses the pleasant loses the very object of human life.

Every being is motivated by the drive to be free from suffering (dukkha) and achieve abiding happiness (sukha). As humans we do this through the pursuit of one of two paths: the path of pleasure and the fulfillment of desires known as the “delectable” — preyas; or through the path of śreyas or the “electable” which is the pursuit of liberation from Samsāra. One either hankers after prosperity, power, and pleasure to avoid the material causes of suffering or craves freedom from the root cause of suffering (ignorance — avidya) through emancipation (mokṣa). Therefore, everyone is said to be bound by these two in that they cling avidly to one or the other. But both of these paths are opposed to each other, inasmuch as the path of Pleasure is based on spiritual ignorance (avidya) and perpetuates one’s suffering and continued existence in Samsara; and the path of the Good arises from wisdom (vidya) and is conducive to one’s ultimate liberation from Samsāra. Everyone eventually must make the choice to pursue one or the other of these two paths. The question may be asked, “If we have free will in this matter why do most people cling to the pleasurable only”? This will now be answered.

Cp. Samyutta Nikāya I.4.2.6.
tasmā satañ ca asatañ ca nānā hoti ito gati | 
asanto nirayam yanti satañ saggaparāyaṇā ||

Therefore do the paths of the good and the evil of this world divide; the evil goes to hell but the final destination of the good is heaven.
In Samyutta Nikāya V.4.5.2 instead of saggaparāyaṇā, (going to heaven) we read nibbāna-parāyaṇam (attaining nirvana)

Next…