Kathopanishad – 6

Valli 4

All our sense organs are created to look outwards for their experiences.  And so the mind is naturally extrovert and only experiences the anathma, the world of sabda, sparsa, rupa, rasa, gandha i.e. sound, touch, form, taste and smell.  But Athma is asabdham, asparsam, arupam, arasam, agandhavat , without sound, without touch, without form, without taste, without smell.  So a discriminating person desiring to look inward for realizing the Athma has to make the intellect subtle through ‘guru upadesa sastra vichara’. This vichara acts like a mirror.   When you look in the mirror it appears as though you are looking outside, but really you are looking at yourself only.   The wise person who has developed  vairagyam to anityam after discriminating between nityam and anityam, turns his vision inward, antarmukhatvam,  with ‘guru upadesa sastra vichara’  and realizes the Athma within. (Mantra1).  Such a wise person while living among the objects and experiencing the world, knows their impermanence and does not get attached to objects or persons just as we experience the blueness of the sky, knowing the blue colour is only an optical  illusion.   He also attains videha mukthi at physical death while others, the ignorant persons, continue to suffer the cycle of birth and death and samsara (Mantra 2)

In the succeding Mantras Lord Yama points out that Athma is of the nature of Pure Consciousness, which is also the nature of Brahman, thereby establishing the identity of Jivathma with Paramatma. He also states that this Chaitanyam, Pure Consciousness, is the answer to Nachiketas’ question through the phrase, ‘Etat vai tat (this is verily that)’. This explanation  he offers from different angles.                            Yena roopam rasam gandham shabdaan sparshaan cha maithunaan I

Etena eva vijaanaati kim atra parishishyate. Etat vai tat II  (2-1-3)

Through this (Athma) alone one knows color, taste, smell, sounds, touches, and conjugal pleasures. What is there unknowable to That in this world?  This is verily That.

The body mind complex by itself is inert.  It is the reflection of  Athma in the anthakarana that enlivens the mind which in turn makes the body sentient.  We identify ourselves with the sentient anthakarana, the experiencer of all experiences and mistake it as our real Self.  But it is the Athma,our real Self, that is responsible for the experiences of form, taste, smell, sound and interaction with people.  Since it is the ultimate cognitive power in the person, it is the real, passive experiencer, a silent know-all of everything.  It is this Athma, which is the answer to the question of Nachiketas.

Lord Yama describes Athma from another angle in Mantra 4. Every person passes through three states daily; wakeful state, dream state and deep sleep state.  In waking state he interacts with the outside world, experiencing its pleasures and pain. In this state, the person’s body, mind, organs of action and cognition are all awake, and he interacts with the persons and objects of the outside world  and this body is available to others also for interaction.  In the dream state, the body and indriyas are not awake, only the mind is awake and it interacts with a world it has created out of its vasanas, which is very much personal to it and cannot be accessed by others, and this dream world has its own time and distance scale and filled with objects and people of its own creation that are different from the waking world.  In the deep sleep state, even the mind is asleep and so there is total peace without any agitations or excitement. This is a state of total avidya in which only the internal involuntary functions are taking place in the prescence of Consciousness i.e. Athma, which is the real ‘I’, one’s true Self.  It is because of the Consciousness being awake in the deep sleep state as a silent witness to the involuntary function of pancha Pranas, one is able to be conscious of having slept well earlier.  It is because of its being awake in dream state, mind has  its dream experiences.  We saw in the earlier Mantra that waking state experiences also take place only with the blessings of this Athma.  When one knows his real nature as the boundless ‘I’ of Consciousness, he feels free of limitations and the sorrows, and the feeling of limitation ceases.

This Consciousness, which we can call Original Consciousness, when associated with individual body, is called Athma or Jivathma and when associated with the whole cosmos, is called Brahman or Paramatma.  Now in Mantras 5 to 9, Yama explains Jivathma Paramatma Ikyam  at microcosmic level, i.e. individual level, and at macrocosmic level, i.e. the level of Brahman.  Athma associated with wakeful state of individual is called Viswa; with dream state is called Taijasa; and with deep sleep state is called Prajna.  This is at micro level.  At macro level, Brahman associated with gross universe is called Virat, with subtle universe is called Hiranyagarbha, and with causal universe is called Ishwara. Yama through the identity of Viswa and Virat, Taijasa and Hiranyagarbha, and Prajna and Iswara, establishes that Athma which is Nachiketas’ real Self is same as Brahman. This identity he emphasizes again in Mantra 10:

Yat eva iha tat amutra yat amutra tat anu iha I

Mrityoh sah mrityum aapnoti yah iha naanaa iva pashyati II

What is here, the same is there; and what is there, the same is here. He goes from death to death who sees any difference between ‘there’ and ‘here’. (2-1-10)

What is here i.e. in oneself as Athma, the same is there as well i.e. as Brahman.  In the second line of this Mantra and next Mantra, Lord Yama advocates advaita vison and criticizes those who see only plurality in the universe by stating that those who do not perceive unity in creation keep on going unendingly in the cycle of birth and death.  That means there is no liberation for them.  “neha nanaasti kinchana ( there is no plurality at all here)”, is the emphatic declaration of Lord Yama in Mantra 11. Whatever differences seen are only in nama and rupa as everything in creation is only Brahman +nama + rupa.  And this Brahman can be realized only by a subtle sharp sensitive mind, fine tuned by karma Yoga and upasana yoga, and instructed in sastras by a Strotriya, Brahmanishta guru.  How, where and in what form the realization takes place is explained in Mantras 12 and 13, which once again stresses the Jivathma Paramatma Ikyam.

Angushtha-maatrah purushah madhye aatmani tishthati I

Eeshaanah bhoota bhavyasya na tatah vijugupsate. Etat vai tat II

Angushtha-maatrah purushah jyotih iva adhoomakah I

Sah eva adya sa u shvah. eeshaanah bhoota bhavyasya. Etat vai tat II

Athma, which is the size of the thumb (and) which is the lord of the past and the future, dwells in the heart of the body. After (knowing That), one does not seek security thereafter. This is verily that. (2-1-12)

Athma, which is the size of the thumb (and) which is the lord of the past and the future, is like a flame without smoke. That alone (exists) today; that alone (will exist) tomorrow. This is verily that. (2-1-13)

One’s heart is of the size of one’s fist.  The sacred space enclosed within the fist sized heart is that of the thumb.  And it is in this space Brahman is realized of the size of the thumb, ‘Angushtha-maatrah purushah’, as a Jothi that emits no smoke, ‘jyotih iva adhoomakah’.  The light within the heart is not any physical radiation, but the light of Pure Consciousness.  It reveals everything including darkness of one’s ignorance, unlike ordinary lights.  Athma that is Brahman is also not of thumb-size within the body, but it is so conceived for the purpose of meditation only.  Further realizing this ‘Angushtha-maatrah purushah’, who is the lord of present, past and future, one transcends fear and hate, the root of samsara.  In the last two Mantras, Lord Yama again reiterates, that advaita vision leads to liberation and dvaita vision to samsara.

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