Kathopanishad – 5

Valli 3

Anthakaranam is inert by itself.  But it has the unique capacity to reflect Chaitanyam and this reflected Chaitanyam makes the mind sentient. This sentient mind in turn makes the senses sentient. The reflected Chaitanyam which is associated with the body mind complex is called Jivathma, and the Chaitanyam which is all pervading and not limited to the boundaries of the body, that can be called as original Chaitanyam is the Paramathma.  This original Chaitanyam though all pervading is only realizable in the sacred space in the mind, which is called thaharakasa.  In Mantra 1, Yama compares the original and reflection to light and shadow. The reflection with the body mind complex is the kartha and the bhoktha, and is experiencing the karma phala directly while the original which is not a bhoktha or kartha but only a silent witness, sakshi, only appears to be a bhoktha and a kartha and as experiencing karma phala.  In karma kanda the focus is on Jivathma and in Jnana kanda the focus is on Paramatma. 

Following this Yama paints chariot imagery in mantras 3 to 9.  The principal constituents of the chariot imagery are spelt out in Mantras 2 & 3 as below:

Aatmaanam rathinam viddhi shareeram ratham eva tu I

Buddhim tu saarathim viddhi buddhim tu saarathim viddhi II1-3-3II

Indriyaani hayaan aahuh vishayaan teshu gocharaan I

Athma-indriya-manah yuktam bhoktaa iti aahuh maneeshinah II1-3-4II

Know the jivathma to be the master of the chariot; (and) the physical body to be the chariot. Know the intellect as the charioteer and the mind as the reins.

They say the sense organs are the horses and the sense objects are the roads. The wise men declare that (the jivathma) associated with the body, sense organs and the mind is the experiencer.

The constituents of the chariot imagery as spelt out by Yama are:

1.    Jivathma                          Traveller

2.    Chariot                             Physical body

3.    Horses                             Sense organs

4.    Reins                               Mind

5.    Charioteer                       Intellect

6.    Roads (path)                   Sense objects

7.    Destination (Goal)         Sreyas/Preyas

So this body is only a vehicle to reach one’s goal and not one’s Self.  And to reach one’s goal the body should be maintained healthy; and intellect should have the control over the mind and direct the sense organs properly in their contact with the sense objects. That person who has a well informed intellect, through sastraic study under a guru, and dispassion towards worldly goals and who with mind and senses well under control chooses the goal of sreyas, exercising discrimination is called Vijnavan, a person of awakened intellect (Mantra 6).  Such a jiva reaching the highest goal is not born again (Mantra 8 & 9). The highest goal is Athma Jnanam, the firm knowledge of  Jiva Brahma Ikyam, and reaching the goal is mentally dropping the notion of separateness and  getting established in the knowledge of oneness.  This is achieved through dropping of abhimana for the five layers of one’s personality i.e. annamaya kosa, pranamaya kosa, manomaya kosa, vijnanamaya kosa,  and anandamaya kosa , that together constitute the anathma.  Kosas are arranged in the order of subtlety, with each kosa being subtler than the previous kosa, and anandamaya kosa is the subtlest kosa.  And Athma is subtler than the anandamaya kosa.  Every individual is a mix of sentient Athma and insentient anathma.   The intellectual exercise of  clearing the misidentification  of  the ‘I’ with the kosas of anathma one by one in the order of subtlety starting from annamaya kosa to arrive at  correct identification of the ‘I’ with Athma  is the inward  journey, a person of  awakened  intellect has to undertake (Mantras 10 & 11). 

Since Athma is subtler than the subtlest and can be realized only in the subtle space in one’s mind, thaharakasa, the intellect is to be made sensitive through nitidyasanam, the vedantic meditation, by a person who has awakened to his ignorance of Self and has acquired doubt free knowledge of Self through sravanam and mananam.   Nitidyasanam helps to get established in the knowledge of the Self, ridding one of all residual vasanas that makes the knowledge not available all the time, especially in a crisis, mental, physical or emotional.  This also makes the mind subtle.  A subtle mind is one that does not resort to objectification of everything.  Mantra 14 opens with the call made famous by Swami Vivekananda “Utthishtatha, Jaagratha i.e Arise, Awake”.

Uttishtatha jaagrata, praapya varaan nibodhata I

kshurasya dhaaraa nishitaa duratyayaa

durgam pathah  tat kavayah vadanti II

“Arise! Awake! Having reached the great ones, learn from them!  The wise declare that the path (of Self-knowledge) is difficult to tread, (just as) the sharp edge of a razor is difficult to tread. (1-3-14)

Here ‘Utthishtatha’ refers to waking up to one’s ignorance of one’s Self- and ‘Jaagratha’ to taking efforts to remove that ignorance. This Mantra also sounds a note of warning that this path to Self-knowledge is a difficult one and negotiating it is like walking on razor’s sharp edge. So the importance of guru in getting the Self-knowledge is emphasized through the line ‘Prapya varaan nibodhatha’ which enjoins on the awakened person to seek a guru and ask for the knowledge. This emphasis on Guru’s guidance for acquiring Self-knowledge is also made in Mundaka Upanishad (1-2-12) by Guru Angiras to the sishya Saunaka in the following words: “tadvijnanartham sa gurumevabhigacchet, samitpanih srotriyam brahmanistham (To attain knowledge (of Self), he must necessarily approach, with samit in hand, a guru who is learned in scriptures and established in Brahman)”.

Athma lakshanam is given in Mantra 15.

  Asabdam asparsam aroopam avyayam,

            tathaa arasam nityam agandhavat cha yat I

Anaadi anantam mahatah param dhruvam

            nichaayya tat mrityu-mukhaat pramuchyate II  

This is soundless, touchless, colorless, tasteless, smell-less, beginningless, endless, decayless, deathless, changeless, and beyond Mahat.  Having clearly known that, one is totally freed from the jaws of death. (1-3-15)

Athma is without sound, without touch, without form, without taste, without smell.  So it is not available for outward perception by five jnanendriyas, ear, skin, eye, tongue and nose. It is without decay, and has no beginning or end; eternal and changeless;  subtler than Hiranyagarbha, Brahman with total subtle universe.  Realizing this Athma, one is freed from the notion “I am mortal, subject to death and decay”, which is called freedom from mortality.  This Valli ends with glorification of the parayanam of this chapter 1, consisting of Vallis 1,2,& 3, of the Upanishad.  With this the first chapter also comes to an end.

------------------------