Index…

Kathopanisad

Chapter 1 Valli 2 Mantra 25

Lecture

Mantra

yasya̍ bra̱hma ca̍ kṣa̱tra̱ṁ ca̱ u̱bhe bha̍vata o̱dana̍ḥ
mṛtyu̍r-ya̱syopa̍seca̱na̱ṁ ka̱ itthā̍ veda̱ yatra̍ saḥ

yasya = That [ātman] for which; brahma ca kṣatraṁ ca = the priests who are upholders of Dharma and the Kings who maintain social order; ubhe = both of whom; bhavataḥ = become; odanaḥ = food; yasya = for which [ātman]; mṛtyuḥ = Death; though it is the destroyer of everything; upasecanaṁ = [is as a] supplement to the food; kaḥ = who [devoid of the moral preparation]; veda = knows; itthā = in this manner; yatra = where; saḥ = It is?

To whom, the Brahmana and the Kshatriya classes are (as it were) but food and death itself a condiment (curry or pickle), how can mortal ones thus know where that Ātman is !

by Swami Chinmayananda:

(Thus ends the Second Valli of the First Chapter)

The Supreme Reality, which is the Self, sought by the seekers is the presiding Factor that makes possible the worlds of names and forms to exist and function.

Truth envelops all Jagat. The inert and Reality’s dead shadow can work themselves out only in a medium of Pure Consciousness or Pure Existence. The perceived worlds of names and forms can exist only in Existence. This idea is poetically hinted at in this Mantra when it says that even the Brahmana and the Kshatriya classes, who are considered to be the very best among men (and man is the very roof-and-crown of things), are but mere cooked rice to be swallowed and digested with comfort and ease by the Supreme! In short, all the manifested world is but a morsel for Him to be digested within a few moments and to such a Supreme, even the threatening process of death is but a pickle that adds extra taste to its appetite.

When such is the might and power of Pure Consciousness in Its Absolute Nature, the trend is that it is rather difficult for ordinary mortals to realize their identity as the Atman, unless, of course, they are ready to undergo the earlier explained processes of self-purification and self-perfection.

21-25. How then realize this Self; Intellectuality, Scholarship, Erudition, Study, all these by themselves, are in vain. But io the purified, tranquil, collected soul the Supreme Soul is realizable in intimate experience. All others, irrespective of their position or status, are “food for death.

by Swami Gurubhaktananda:

The last verse of this chapter paints a rather humorous picture. The Self is depicted as being at His dinner table. The scene may be imagined as something quite awesome: It is midday and the Lord has just come home very hungry. The Earth itself is the Lord’s dining table; what His Dining hall must be like can just be imagined. And what is His food? This is where the verse begins…

The people on Earth make up the Lord’s various dishes!

1-2 The most sagely and valorous ones are the Brahmanas and Kshatriyas. They comprise the choicest, largest or main dish of His meal, the Odanah or cooked rice.

• The rest of humanity such as the Vaishyas and Shudras, who live such lives as make them playthings in the hands of Death due to repeated cycles of births and deaths, make up only His Upasechanam, the side-dish, i.e. the pickle of His meal. He just licks them at his leisure! They classify only as snacks in His menu! In the verse these people are themselves called “death itself”. They live only to die!
• Now for the best part of the simile. With all four groups of people who perform their allotted duties already taken care of, where would we put the people who “know thus”, i.e., who live the kind of life described in the previous verse – the sinful conduct of eating, drinking and making merry? They don’t even have a place on the Lord’s dining table!

Acharyaji humorously said that perhaps they will not even feature in His great “burp” after His meal! What an unusual simile to manifest in the luminous mind of the Rishi!

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