Index…
Kathopanisad
Chapter 1 Valli 3 Mantra 10
Lecture
Mantra
i̱ndriye̱bhyaḥ pa̍rā hya̱rthā̱ a̱rthebhya̍ś ca pa̱ram ma̍naḥ |
mana̍sa̱ś ca pa̍rā bu̱ddhi̱r bu̱ddher ā̍tmā ma̱hān pa̍raḥ ||
arthāḥ = the objects; parā hi = are higher indeed; indriyebhyaḥ = than the sense-organs; param ca = and superior arthebhyaḥ = to the sense-objects; manaḥ = is the mind; parā ca = and higher still; manasaḥ = than the mind; buddhiḥ = is the intellect; paraḥ = higher; buddheḥ = than the intellect; ātmā mahān = is the Great Self.
Beyond the senses are the sense objects; beyond these objects is the mind; beyond the mind is the intellect and beyond the intellect is the Great Self.
by Swami Chinmayananda:
This and the following Mantra together provide the Sadhaka with a line of thinking which he could pursue during his deep meditations upon the Immortal and the Eternal Essence which is the core of his existence. Earlier we had already explained that in the language of our philosophical text-books, “beyond” or “within” indicate the comparative subtleties between two or more factors; subtleties in such cases being measured by the greater pervasiveness of one factor over the other. The Sruti here starts with the grossest manifestation of Truth, and, slowly guiding the student through degrees of greater and greater subtleties, ultimately introduces him into the very realm of the subtlest of the subtle, the Atman that resides in the holy of the holies in us.
This Mantra also is clearly echoed in Gita. The meaning of the various portions of this Mantra, though clear in themselves, present some obvious difficulties in understanding the opening statement that the sense objects are subtler than the sense organs themselves, Modem science explains to us that there is no mechanism conceived of by man in his laboratories which is as subtle as the sure Dictaphone provided in our ears or the ready camera adjustments of our eyes, or for that matter the sensitive equipment in our organs of touch or taste. None of the above has ever been beaten even by the best of the discoveries of man, even during this Era of Science! Yet, the Sruti dares to declare that ‘subtler than the sense organs are the sense objects’. It is natural then that the student reading and wondering over this Mantra should come to wonder how the “forms” are greater than the “eyes”, or the “sounds” greater than the “ears” or the “taste” greater than the organ of “taste”.
This portion of the Mantra is explained by teachers to their disciples in the Himalayan valleys very clearly. For example, this very Sadhu found it difficult to gulp this statement down, and had to approach his master for extra-explanations, Doubts in philosophy have a knack of exhausting the student at their very first appearance and when the explanations come from a true master, all of a sudden, the student finds himself wondering how the doubts ever arose at all in him when their explanations were so simple and obvious!
Were it not for the different “forms” available in the world outside we would not have been able to feel or assert that we have “eyes”; if the world were to be steeped in silence all would have been deaf; for, in such a condition the sense organ. “ear” has no justification for or proof of its very existence. In “this sense the sense objects are the very cause for the sense organs.
It may be clearer if we take a modern example from our own political life. The President of the Indian Republic, or for that matter, the very Parliament itself would not have any existence if the Indian Janata were not there! The people of a country are the cause for the State and for the Government of that country. Certainly, the total might and power of the State is not to be found in any of the individual Indians; yet, the Janata of the country is the cause for the State in that country.
In this sense, the sense objects are the causes for the sense organs. Since cause is always subtler than its effects, the Sruti is fully justified in explaining to us that beyond the sense organs, lie the fields of sense objects such as form, sound, taste, smell and touch.
Beyond the object is the mind — The significance is self-evident. Mind is certainly much more subtle than the causes of sense organs. But for the mind, the sense impulse reported by the sense organs as they come in contact with the sense objects would not have been registered and synchronized together to give us the total impression of the objects, as the table, the chair, etc.,
Beyond the mind is the intellect — In our early discussions on the fundamental principles of Vedanta we had discussed the scope and structure of the human mind when we said that the mind was the “receiving-and-dispatching clerk” in the inner secretariat. The mind receives impulses sent in by the five sense organs and synthesizes them into one consolidated report and passes it up to the intellect.
The decisiveness of the intellect is that which finally disposes of the “report”; there, the impulses received are checked up with the previous experiences of similar impulses, which are stored away in the memory, and, with reference to and in terms of the past experiences, the present impulses are revalued and correctly classified. The intellect thereupon passes down its judgment, which, in its turn, is, for the necessary execution of orders, pushed back by the mind, to the five sense organs, who implicitly act as they are required in the outer fields of the sense objects.
Here, the scheme of the inner Government is so elaborately discussed, only to show the greater importance the intellect has over the mind. The scripture is perfectly justified in making her statement that the intellect is subtler than the mind.
Beyond the intellect is the Great Self – Naturally so. The Great Self is what we have so far discussed in our earlier lectures as the Total Mind or the Total Intellect, the Hiranyagarbha. In our false sense of egoism and delusion-created sense of separateness we presume generally that we think our own thoughts, totally independent of the thoughts of others; We also presume that our thoughts are exclusively our own and nobody need worry about the texture or the quality of our individual secret thought! This is an absurd and false statement worthy to be blabbered only by a thoughtless, uneducated, barbarian! Nobody can think even a single thought in absolute independence and freedom from the whole.
Let us take an example and try to understand it. Mr. Das returning from his office, takes his tiffin, and lying on an easy chair in his pajamas, comes to entertain an idea that he must go to the “pictures”. He soon comes to feel that he has a wish to see the “pictures, and that it is his wish. Now friends, do you accept that this clerk after his day’s work resting in his verandah is the sole author of this idea! Is he not a product of the thoughts and values of his age (his great grandfather would never have thought of such an idea, since there was no cinema in his time), a slave to the conscious and the unconscious influences that he has been receiving in the society during the week and a victim of the silent murmurings of the innumerable advertisements that he must have seen and the thousands of laudatory statements heard from his friends who applauded this particular “picture”: And however intelligent he may be, he would yet shamelessly declare that, “go to the pictures” was his own independent individual idea which came to him that evening!
In fact, none of us can independently feel or think. We, each of us, live every moment of our life influenced by others; and if we be true in our convictions and noble in our values of life we shall be, to that degree, influencing the total.
The Total Intellect is the concept of the God-principle. Here the “intellect” stands for the entire “inner instrument”, Antahkaran. It must certainly be obvious to us now that the Total Intellect is certainly subtler than the individual intellect.
by Swami Gurubhaktananda:
- Yah tu vijnānavān bhavati But he who is of a discriminating intellect
- yuktena manasā sadā; having restrained his mind always
- tasya indriyāni vashyāni his senses are controllable
- sad ashvāh iva sāratheh. like the tame horses of the charioteer.
The Vijnana-vani: This is the discriminating driver who is cautious about following all the road rules, who is skilled in driving, who takes great care to rein in the mind so that the horses are well-controlled. A good intellect is the key to a successful journey.
A good charioteer is sane and sober, thoughtful and discerning, understanding and knowledgeable, he is patient, careful and alert to avert any danger on the road. For the owner’s peace of mind, it is worth giving the intellect the highest salary.
The Vijnana-vani is capable of choosing Sreyas instead of Preyas. He possesses the fortitude to walk the path of Vidya. As discrimination is the key to the whole journey, it pays to take time and get the intellect trained to do this task well – even if that means spending two years on a Vedanta Course!
The message we take from these two verses is: “Let the Lord be the charioteer of our lives. He makes all the difference. Let us place our intellect in His hands. Let us invoke the Grace of Gayatri to raise our Buddhi towards the Light and keep it there. Let it not linger in the darkness of ignorance.”
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