Index…
Kathopanisad
Chapter 2 Valli 3 Mantra 12
Mantra
naiva̍ vā̱cā na mana̍sā prā̱ptuṁ śa̍kyo na̱ cakṣu̍sā |
astī̍ti bruvato̍’nya̱tra̱ ka̱thaṁ tad upala̍bhyate ||
na eva = not even; vācā = by speech; na manasā = neither by thinking; na cakṣusā = neither by seeing; śakyaḥ = can [It]; prāptuṁ = be apprehended; kathaṁ = how; tat = that; upalabhyate = can be attained, comprehended; anyatra = except; asti iti bruvataḥ = by one who says “It is”.
The self cannot be reached by speech, nor by mind, or nor even by the eye. How can it be Realized otherwise than from those who say, ‘He is’?
by Swami Chinmayananda:
The Atman is the controller of the entire mechanism of life. Just as a driver, while driving the car, cannot get himself run over by the same car, so also the sense organs, mind, and intellect functioning because of the Life Centre behind them cannot turn themselves upon the very Atman and know Him as one of the objects of their cognition, feeling or understanding!
Naturally, Lord Death here in his exclamations conveys to his dear disciple the accepted belief in Vedanta that there is no other source of knowing the existence of the Atman, than the sacred Divine words of scriptural declarations (Sabdha Pramanam) and their living symbols, the realized saints. Whatever arguments you may bring out in favor of the essence of the One Atman in all living forms, there can be equally efficient, intellectual, and metaphysical arguments to meet and completely floor down the arguments of a Seer and prove just the opposite - the non-existence of the Atman! No amount of metaphysical arguments can help a seeker reach the Absolute Truth. Every seeker will have to start his own pilgrimage with his indomitable courage and faith in the words of his Master.
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