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Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 3 Mantra 15

Mantra

yadā̍ sa̱rve pra̍bhidya̱nte̱ hṛḏaya̍syeha̱ grantha̍yaḥ |
atha̍ ma̱rtyo’ mṛ̍to bha̱vaty e̍tāvadhy a̱nuśā̍sanam ||

yadā = when; sarve granthayaḥ = all the knots; hṛdayasya = of the heart – intellect; iha = here and now; prabhidyante = are shattered, destroyed; atha = then; martyaḥ = a mortal; amrtaḥ bhavati = becomes immortal; etāvat = thus far, this much; anuśāsanam = the teaching.

Hundred and one are the nerves of the heart; of them, one penetrates the crown of the head. Going upwards through it, man attains immortality, but others lead (the departed) differently.

by Swami Chinmayananda:

At this stage of your knowledge of Indian philosophy, you all may find it not too easy to follow the meaning of this Mantra, which is one of the rock-bottom foundations, in the philosophy of Yoga. A much more detailed analysis of the spiritual body encased within our physical form is supplied to us by some of the other Upanishads. In the Vedic Age probably there was wide currency for this knowledge that Lord Death is here only hinting at the particular creed in a passing statement. Chinmaya feels that it would not be adding anything to your total understanding of this Upanishad by a cumbersome and exhaustive explanation of this Mantra.

However, we may touch upon the problem. The subtle spiritual body is believed to be constituted of some 101 subtle nerves which the surgeon’s scalpel shall never dissect nor his eyes ever see them, the most important is the Shushumna, which runs parallel to the backbone all along its length and penetrates the top bone, called the Apex, extends itself up to the center of the human crown. The sensitiveness of the top center portion of the crown can be very well experienced by ourselves; Especially in a newborn child, one can feel the heartbeat very regularly at that place.

Whatever may be its physiological explanation and relative position as far as you, the seekers in the Path of Knowledge, are concerned, it is sufficient to know that the ego center of a meditator, who has realized during his life the Apara Brahman (Relative Truth), at the time of his death, escapes through the Shushumna and crossing distinct regions of experiences reaches Brahma Loka from where, ultimately at the end of Kalpa, with the dissolution of that world of experience, it reaches the Supreme State of Realization.

As for the one, who had realized the Eternal, All-pervading Truth in its attributeless pure essence, even while living in the body form, becomes a Jivan Mukta. To such a Gyani even the Sruti denies all passage of the journey (Na Tasya Parana Utkramathi). By knowing Brahman, he becomes Brahman. Such a complete and total liberation is called Kaivalya Mukti

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