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Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 2 Mantra 14

Mantra

tad e̱tad i̍ti manyante’ni̱rdeśya̍ṁ para̱maṁ su̍kham |
katha̍ṁ nu tad vi̱jānī̍yāṁ ki̱m ubhā̍ti vi̱bhāti̍ vā ||

tat = that [knowledge of the Self]; anirdeśyam = indescribable; paramaṁ sukham = of the nature of supreme bliss; etat iti = this is that; manyante = consider; kathaṁ nu = how indeed; vijānīyām = may I know it; kim u tat bhāti = does it shine of itself; vibhāti vā = or shine in reflection;

They (the sages) perceive that indescribable, Highest Bliss as “This is That. How shall I know That? Does it shine (of Itself) or does it shine by another light?”

by Swami Chinmayananda:

This Mantra can be considered as a question raised by Lord Death Himself, only to be answered by himself in the next Mantra. But, personally, Chinmaya would like to understand it as a sincere question raised by the supreme student of Vedanta in Nachiketas.

In a previous stanza Lord Death had already explained that the Self is beyond the sense perceptions or the mind’s cognitions or the intellect’s determinations, yet, in the last two stanzas, Lord Death was dilating upon the sure and permanent joys of those who come to “behold the Self”. Naturally, the intelligent students feel confused. Again, in the first half of the very same Mantra, Lord Death asserts that the men of discrimination during their deep meditations come to the divine achievement of realizing the pervading Truth intimately in a subjective experience as “This is That”.

Tadetaditi (This is That) — Truth is not perceived or felt or determined. Perception, feeling and determination are the functions of the sense organs, the mind and the intellect respectively; and these three can function only in the plane of plurality, the world of sense objects, thoughts and ideas. When the intelligent sage has successfully withdrawn all his ideas of identification with these three, at the moment (when he has thus completely transcended himself beyond the painful limitations of these three) he comes to realize that, what he has till now been seeking, was the nearest factor in him, his own Self!

At this moment the disciple is raising his doubt which is marked by his own understanding of the philosophical discourses so far given by his master. In the sense organs, the mind and the intellect are flouted and transcended, Nachiketas asks what exactly would be the nature of the instrument used and the individual who used the instrument in realizing the Self as “This is That”; Even those of you who can at least come to appreciate at this moment of our discussion the entire implications in the doubt of Nachiketas, can be considered to have thoroughly and well followed all the discussions made by the Sruti so far.

We have already shown, in a previous discussion, how, in order to cognize and understand an object, we need the help of light. We then also found that for perceiving the gross light of the physical world, and in seeing the subtler objects of the mind, such as thoughts, etc., we have the Light of Intelligence. So far, Nachiketas also seems to have understood well. But, when Lord Death says that the Vedantic seer transcending the regions of his mind and intellect comes to Behold the Self the Brahman child feels confused!

Kimubhathi (does it shine) — A lamp is seen because of its own light, as opposed to the dull objects which get their light borrowed from a lamp (Vibhati Va. or does it shine by another light ?).

In the philosophy of Vedanta, the question is answered by the great masters very vividly. It is a case of the Self becoming aware of Itself, When the meditator has successfully hushed the mind and the intellect, in the throbbing silence within, his Awareness becomes conscious of Itself. This is a state of intuitive experience and not a physical cognition. It is to show this intimate “Self-Awareness of the Self” that we have, in the inimitable language and style of the scripture, the expression, “this is that”.

The Self, being itself the Light of Wisdom, needs no other light to light irl; when the clouds have moved away, the Sun, that comes out from behind the screening clouds, needs no other torch to make us see him, he being in the nature of nothing but a mass of light. Similarly, when the veiling disturbances of the mind and the intellect, caused by our own ignorance of the Self, are stopped, the Atman, in Its own Self Effulgence comes out to shine forth in all glory. Intelligence needs no other intelligence to light Itself.

In the next Mantra we have the answer to the question raised in this stanza.

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