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Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 1 Mantra 13

Mantra

aṅgu̍ṣṭha-mātraḥ pu̱ruṣo̍ jyotir i̱vādhū̍makaḥ |
ī̱śāno bhūta̍-bhavya̱sya̱ sa̱ evā̍dya sa̱ u śva̍ḥ |
e̱tad vai tat ||

puruṣaḥ = That Being; aṅguṣṭha-mātraḥ = the size of a thumb;, jyotiḥ iva = like a flame; adhūmakaḥ = without smoke; īśāna = the Ruler; bhūta-bhavyasya = of the past and the future;  saḥ = he; eva = indeed; adya = now, in all beings; u = and; saḥ = He will [exists]; śvaḥ = even tomorrow; etat vai tat = this verily is that.

That person, of the size of a thumb, is like flame without smoke, Lord of the past and future. He alone is even today, and will be verily tomorrow. This is verily That.

by Swami Chinmayananda:

That Purusha or Atman of the size of the thumb who is perceived by the meditator in his heart as Light or Jyothi, exists immutably through all times: past, present and future. He exists in all living beings now, and He will certainly be existing in all forms tomorrow also.

Some Sadhakas taking this line very literally start imagining “a thumb-like flame” as though burning bright within their bosom and meditate long upon it. Personally, this Sadhana had known an individual who had been imagining this “light” for the past twenty-three years, and who, recently approached the Swami with a very sad and melancholy face to complain of his “spiritual fall”, since he is not having now-a-days the Darshan “of his Atman!

Friends, this is only one instance of the desperation of a foolish Sadhaka who had come to believe that his imagination created delusory- flame-dream is his Atman! It is dangerous certainly to try to walk the Path of Knowledge without continuous study of the scriptures and constant Satsang with real Mahatinas; we mean, not the palm-reading, star-gazing, herb-selling-Mahatmas that flock the city streets of our unhappy land now-a-days! Let them be courted by the ignorant multitude that hustle out of the universities of India! But to a true seeker of Truth and to an intelligent follower of Religion, such Mahatmas are more ochre-clothed-criminals poisoning the very atmosphere of this sacred Land of the Rsis. When we shall have a Government, intelligent enough to feed the country better and provide its people with sufficient work, we shall have these red monsters wiped out from our market scene. Till then we must learn to endure what cannot be cured.

The thumb-like Jyothi, recommended by the great Rsis, is only to provide the meditator with a prop to develop his concentration during the early stages of his practices. The stone idol of Shiva is not in itself Shri Parameshwar; similarly, the Jyothi is but an idol for the Vedantin to meditate upon during his practices and it is Not Atman. If an idol is unfortunately stolen away from a temple, it doesn’t mean that God has been stolen away!

When a Sadhaka has developed his power of concentration he enters, by degrees, into the higher stages of meditation advised by the Sruti, in the various Upanishads, and he ultimately comes to realize his own identity with his own Atman, the Light-Power-Wisdom-Source within himself.

12-13. The self, for purposes of meditation for an early seeker, is described as a “thumb-sized person” dwelling in the heart.

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