Kathopanishad Dialogue with Death

Subhash Mittal Integral Yoga Studio www.integralyogastudio.com www.yogawithsubhash.com 919-926-9717 subhash@yogawithsubhash.com

What are Upanishads?

• Literal meaning – “sitting near” – implying sitting near a teacher to get knowledge; upanishad=knowledge

• Represent an earnest quest for Truth

• End part of the Vedas – Vedanta

• Each Veda has four sections – Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka, Upanishad

• Two major sections of Vedas – ritualistic part and knowledge part

• Ritualistic part for personal and material gains - lower knowledge

• Upanishadic knowledge: higher knowledge - of self and transcendent states of awareness.

• Some Upanishads attack the ritualistic practices of the Vedas (explicitly and implicitly)

What are Upanishads (cont.)

• Vedas are without beginning – they contain eternal spiritual laws discovered by sages

• No human author attributed to the Vedas – called Shruti (“heard” during meditation)

• Subsequent texts like Puranas, Mahabharat, Ramayana etc called Smritis (created by human)

• Religion and philosophy of vedas called Sanatana Dharma (Eternal Religion)

What are Upanishads (cont.)

• 108 Upanishads are well known

• 10 considered most significant: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, MandUkya, Taittirlya, Aitareya, Chandogya, and Brihadaranyaka

• Not well organized - not a product of human intellect

• Contain knowledge revealed to rishis in deep meditation states – called Shruti (heard)

• No coherent or definitive philosophy; thus open to interpretation and difference of opinion

• Brahmasutra and Bhagavad Gita – organized and coherent formulation of Vedanta philosophy

Upanishads – basic information • Shankaracharya wrote commentary on ten principal

upanishads from Advaita viewpoint

• Main theme: discuss Brahman, cosmic soul – impersonal, mysterious, and supreme being

• fit for contemplation, concentration, speculation and philosophical enquiry - not devotional or ritual worship.

• non-communicable and unapproachable in ordinary state of consciousness

Upanishads – basic info (cont.)

• Atman – individual soul – suffers from impact of Maya

• Two ‘mahavakyas’ (great sayings) define the link between Brahman and Atman

• "tat tvam asi" (you are that)

• "aham brahmasmi" (I am Brahman)

• These represent the oneness of God and soul

Upanishads – basic info (cont.)

• Result of tireless and bold adventure into human depth

• Not done under coercion or force, but as free pursuit of truth

• Living philosophy, open for verification in any time and place

Kathopanishad – Brief Intro

• Dialog between a young boy, Nachiketa and Yama, the ruler of death

• Nachiketa's father gives away old and sick cows as his offering in Vishwajit Yajna (sacrificial ritual)

• Nachiketa is upset and wants to know whom his father will give him away. The father says "to death".

Nachiketa’s Three Boons

• Nachiketa goes to Yama, the Lord of Death, but has to wait for three nights before he gets to see Yama

• Yama grants him three boons, one each for the three nights that N had to wait

• N's first boon: my father should be free from anxiety and recognize me without anger when I go back - granted

• N's second boon: tell me all about the fire that can lead me to heaven where there is no pain etc - granted and the fire is named after N

Nachiketa’s Three Boons (cont.) • N's third boon: after death whether the Self exists or doesn't.

• Yama dissuades N from insisting on this boon as even gods have trouble understanding the truth about Self.

• Yama promises N many sons and grandsons, any amount of wealth, cows, horses, elephants, as much of the earth as you want, live as long as you desire, all kinds of pleasures, celestial beauties who can sing, dance and play instruments – essentially anything but knowledge about Self

Nachiketa’s three boons (cont.)

• N insists on learning about life after death

• N says what you offer is a curse, not blessings as these are temporary pleasures

• You, being the king of death, know all about life and death and are most qualified to teach me

• You can keep all these treasures, these dances and songs for yourself

• Yama had no choice but to give him the ultimate knowledge about death, the Self etc.

Shreyas (desirable) and Preyas (pleasurable)

• The wise man chooses the desirable, unwise man the pleasurable

• Desirable leads to wisdom and pleasurable to ignorance

• Nachiketa refused to choose the pleasurable despite enticing offers by Yama.

• He picked the desirable so Yama is pleased.

• Yama establishes the qualifications of himself as the teacher and of Nachiketa as the student, Yama being worthy of imparting the knowledge and N being worthy of receiving it.

Nature of Self

• Name of God = AUM = Brahman; must grasp its full significance through meditation (1.2.15)

• Self is never born, never dies – eternal, everlasting (1.2.18)

• Atman is subtle and cannot be perceived by ordinary mortals.

• Self is smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest, motionless and yet capable of going everywhere (1.2.20)

• Joyful and joyless, present in all forms yet itself formless; the self is all pervasive (1.2.21)

Nature of Self (cont.)

• Birthless, eternal, everlasting and ancient, It is not killed when the body is killed. (1.2.18)

• That which always remains awake throughout the different states of wakefulness, dream state and deep sleep, is the Self.

• It is manifested in everything.

• Individual self and supreme Self are like light and shadow

• For a man of discrimination, Atman dwells in the body; however, it is not the body

Chariot Analogy

Chariot Symbol Significance

• Chariot = Body/life

• Five horses = five senses

• Reins = mind

• Charioteer = intellect

• Passenger = self (ego)

• Road = sense objects

Nose Tongue Eyes Ears

Skin

self (ego)

Intellect

Chariot

Mind

Transcendence Hierarchy

• The sense-objects are higher than the senses

• Mind is higher than the sense-objects

• Intellect is higher than the mind

• Great Soul is higher than the intellect.

• The Unmanifested is higher than Great Soul

• Purusha, the Supreme One, is higher than the Unmanifested

• There is nothing higher than the Purusha. He is the culmination, He is the highest goal.

• [1.3.10, 1.3.11; also 2.3.7, 2.3.8]

Not Qualified to attain Atman (Self) • Whose mind is restless, whose behavior is improper, who indulges in

vicious actions, who does not have a concentrated mind and who has endless craving for sensual pleasures (1.2.24)

• Those who let their senses get tempted by the object of senses without any check.

• While the sense-organs devour the ‘grass’ of sense-objects, enemies such as lust, anger, greed, delusion, egoism and jealousy attack the master of the chariot leading to inner and outer turmoil

• Conquered by the enemy called sense-objects, the senses surrender their freedom, leading to personal and collective ruin.

• Inelligent Self is not known through much study, nor the intellect nor through hearing. (1.2.23)

How to Realize the Self

• Arise, awake, meet the enlightened people and learn from them. Remember that this path is very difficult; it is like walking on a razor’s edge (1.3.14)

• If the intellect is pure, and the mind and the senses restrained, then the Atman attains its goal of liberation - freedom from the cycle of birth and death.

• If the intellect is impure and is controlled by personal prejudices and desires (ego), then one remains in the cycle of birth and death

• The discriminating man should merge speech (senses) into the mind, the mind into intellect, intellect into the Self and the Self into Supreme peaceful Self (1.3.13)

How to Realize the Self (cont.)

• In the secret cave of the heart, two are seated by life's fountain. The separate ego drinks of the sweet and bitter stuff, liking the sweet, disliking the bitter, while the supreme Self drinks sweet and bitter neither liking this nor disliking that.

• There is a city with eleven gates of which the ruler is the unborn Self, whose light forever shines. (2.2.1)

• Eleven gates: • 11 openings in the gross body - two eyes, two nostrils, two ears,

mouth, the two of evacuation, navel and the crown of the head

• Eleven gates of the subtle body: five organs of knowledge, five organs of action, mind

• Tree of life: The beginning-less Ashwatha tree has the root above (the Self) and branches below representing “all the worlds” (2.3.1)

How to Realize the Self (cont.)

• One does not survive by prana and apana; breath is dependent on something else - the Self. (2.2.5)

• After the death of the physical body, some souls take birth again in the form of a body or an immobile organism (like trees). This depends on the actions performed in their life time. (2.2.7)

• It is one like the same fire assuming different forms, the same air present in every breath; it is both within and without. The one who realizes this Truth, attains bliss. (2.2.9, 2.2.10)

• He who is free from desire and free from grief, with mind and senses tranquil, beholds the glory of the Atman.

• When the five senses and the mind become controlled and the intellect is steady and sharp, that is called yoga (2.3.11)

Nachiketa attains the Supreme Self • Becomes free from virtue and vice

• Free from desire and ignorance

• Understands Yoga in totality

• Others too, by knowing the inner Self will attain Brahman, the supreme Self.