Satsangatve nissangatvam nissangatve nirmohatvam, nirmohatve niscalatattvam niscalatattve jivanmuktiH.
Index…

Kathopanisad

Chapter 1 Valli 3 Mantra 6

Lecture

Mantra

yastu̍ vi̱jñāna̍vān bhava̍ti yu̱ktena̍ ma̱nasā̍ sadā
ta̱syendri̱yāṇi va̱śyāni̱ saḍaśvā̍ iva̱ sāra̍theḥ

yaḥ tu = but that [intellect]; bhavati = becoming; vijñānavān = skilful, having insight and discrimination; sadā = being always; yuktena manasā = with a controlled or disciplined mind; tasya = his; indriyāṇi = the senses; vaśyāni = controllable; sat aśvā iva = like well-behaved horses; sāratheḥ = of the charioteer.

One who is always of unrestrained mind and devoid of right understanding, his sense-organs become uncontrollable like the vicious horses of a charioteer.

by Swami Chinmayananda:

Having explained the analogy if the Sruti were not to expose her intentions in making the analogy it would have been an idle indulgence in word-play. In the style of the Upanishads brevity is the law, and to use therein even a single alphabet unnecessarily is considered as a great sin. Here, from this mantra on we have a team of four stanzas which in their contents express the purpose which was in the mind of the Sruti when She launched out this analogy;

In this Mantra an inefficient charioteer allows his reins to be loose, and, naturally, the sturdy steeds run wild and mad as they list, dashing the chariot into bits and wrecking the Lord on the Roadside. In the language of the analogy we are to understand that if we allow an indiscriminate intellect to let our minds loose, then the Indriyas (sense-organs) running wild among the sense-objects shall wreck the body in sensuous excesses. The implication is that if an individual seeker wants to lead a religious life of perfection and hasten his evolution, he has to keep his mind steady with his discriminating intellect, and thus guide the sense horses properly in full restraint and under perfect control. This is hinted at in the following stanza.

by Swami Gurubhaktananda:

  1. Yah tu avijnānavān bhavati     He who is of a non-discriminating intellect
  2. ayuktena manasā sadā;             having an unrestrained mind always
  3. tasya indriyāni avashyāni         his senses are uncontrollable
  4. dushta ashvāh iva sāratheh.    like the wild horses of the charioteer.

This one and the next mantra focus on the intellect, which can be of two opposite types:

1-4 The Avijnana-vani: The undiscriminating charioteer is the most dangerous person to entrust for this work. A dull intellect filled with Tamas or a restless Rajasic intellect cannot be relied upon to take one safely across Samsara.

An unthinking driver will cause a lot of problems. Which owner, after having spent a fortune on a brand new Mercedes salon, will entrust it to a dull-witted, reckless driver?

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