Index…

Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 2 Mantra 9

Mantra

a̱gnir ya̍thaiko bhu̱vana̍ṁ pravi̱ṣṭo̱
rū̱paṁ rū̍paṁ pra̱ti-rū̍po babhūva |
ekastathā sarva-bhūtāntar-ātmā
rūpaṁ rūpaṁ prati-rūpo bahiś ca ||

yathā = just as; agniḥ = fire; ekaḥ = is one; praviṣṭaḥ = having entered; bhuvanam = this world; rūpaṁ rūpaṁ = in conformity with each form [of combustible material]; prati rūpaḥ babhūva = takes on that form; tathā = similarly; sarva-bhūta-antarātmā = the Self that is in all beings; ekaḥ = though only one; rūpaṁ rūpaṁ = in conformity with each form [of physical body]; prati rūpaḥ = assumes that shape; bahiḥ ca = and yet it is outside [like space].

Just as Fire, after it has entered the world, though one, assumes different forms according to the shape it enters, so does the eternal Atman, of all living beings, though one, takes a form according to each shape It enters and also (in itself) It exists beyond them.

by Swami Chinmayananda:

Of the 108 accepted Upanishads, there is none so melodiously poetical (for its mellifluous words, its rhyme and rhythm and for the exquisite ic ideas and pictures) as Kathopanishad is. It would be a safe commentary to say that Kathepanishad is a touch stone for both poetry and philosophy in Sanskrit Literature. In no other language in the world have we such magnanimous flights of human thoughts expressed in such breathless poetry!! In Kathopanishad we have a love kindling arbor where poetry courts successfully her paramour, philosophy!!

The Mantra under discussion is ample evidence to prove the truth of our previous statements.

The same-colored fluid in a flat bottle would look long and in a flask, it would look as though spherical. Because of the different shapes we cannot label down the same fluid differently. Similarly, the dynamic Life Center remaining the same, it illuminates different forms. The forms are different but the spiritual substance is universally the same.

The electric current that passes through a fan, a bulb, a refrigerator and a heater is certainly the same, although, because of difference in the instruments through which it passes, it manifests itself differently as air, light, cold, heat, etc. The Atma-tattva, similarly, remains the same, in spite of the different make-up of the different minds that it comes to function through. Its’ manifestations are of different forms. Thus, it is that you are not me, nor am I you, because my mind is constituted differently from yours. Yet our Atman is the same.

Bahisca (beyond also) — Pure Consciousness, the All-pervading Truth, certainly presides over every form, vitalizing every cell in them, but adds the Sruti “Truth is not limited to cover only the area or extent occupied by the manifested life!”

Life in the millions of universes put together is but, according to the Lord’s own words in the Gita, only a fraction of the Divine Total. This is indicated by the Sruti here by emphasizing that Absolute Truth not only pervades every visible form and invisible world, but also transcends them all. In short, the Supreme Reality is at once immanent and transcendent.

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