Chapter 6 JnAna and Moksha
6-5 Katha Upanishad
6-5-9 Katha 1.2.25 The mantra reads: How can one know thus as to where It (the Self) is, for which both the Brahmin and the Kshatriya become food, and for which death takes the place of a curry? Brahma Sutra 1.2.9 clarifies who is the eater. Is it fire or the individual soul, or is it the supreme Self? The doubt is because Nachiketa has asked Yama about three entities-fire, individual soul, and the supreme Self.
BSB 1.2.10 says the context reveals that Brahman is the eater of the whole world. The place of the mantra shows that the context is not jivAtmA which is talked about later in the Upanishad. Since the second boon is over, Agni is not talked about. The mantra is regarding the third boon. It comes after Nachiketa asks a question in 1.2.14 about what is beyond dharma and adharma. The aphorist establishes that the eater is the supreme Self who devours all movable and immovable objects inasmuch as He withdraws everything into Himself during dissolution thus establishing His majesty also. The eater does not have any location because eater is not in space. It is the eater of space
Brahmins draw spiritual strength, and kshatriyAs draw physical strength from AtmA. They represent cosmic order, former protect dharma by living and teaching the dharmic lifestyle and the latter protects dharma by destroying adharma. Life and death are food for Him. As the light of the great sun swallows up all the lesser lights of the universe, similarly all worlds are subsumed in His effulgence The creation arises from, remains in and is dissolved in Atma. Time is an integral part of creation and therefore origination of creation is the origination of time. Therefore, it is illogical to ask when the creation came into being. It is the same as saying when time came into being.
6-5-10 Katha 1.3.1 There is a higher Self (ParamAtmA) of the nature of consciousness. It is all-pervading. It has entered the intellect in the cave of the heart. It is the reflected consciousness (jivAtmA). The knowers of Brahman call the all-pervading consciousness as light and the reflected consciousness as shadow. Householders who perform five fire- sacrifices or three Nachiketa fire-sacrifices also call them light and shadow. Reflected consciousness is engaged in action and enjoys the fruits of action. Since, original consciousness is not separate from the reflected consciousness, it appears that the latter also enjoys the fruits of action though it is neither a doer nor an enjoyer.
BSB 1.2.11 and 1.2.12 analyse katha 1.3.1. In the mantra, neither the word jivAtmA nor ParamAtmA is used. It talks about two entities in the heart experiencing the fruits of action. They are like shade and light thereby indicating two things. The sutras explain that they are jivAtmA and ParamAtmA because both are sentient. According to purva paksha (PP), they are jivAtmA and the intellect and it cannot be not ParamAtmA for it would mean that He is an enjoyer of fruits of action which is not accepted in Advaita. The second defect is that ParamAtmA cannot be located in the heart because He is all pervading. The VedAntin counters that there is a defect in PP view. Intellect being inert cannot be an enjoyer of fruits of action. If PP holds that the intellect is figuratively used, then the VedAntin counters that ParamAtmA is an enjoyer in a figurative sense. He appears to enjoy due to proximity with intellect. As He is all pervading, He is in the heart also. That ParamAtmA and jivAtmA are like light and shadow does not violate non-duality because Vedanta accepts difference between them from empirical angle and their identity from the Absolute angle.
6-5-11 Katha 1.3.2 For those who are interested in rituals, Nachiketa fire-sacrifice is a bridge to go to supreme Brahman at the other shore. The significance is that one should acquire the knowledge of Brahman in both manifested and unmanifested form. He is manifested as the Lord of sacrifice for those who follow the path of ritual. He is the unmanifested, eternal, universal Supreme Being for those who follow the path of wisdom. The “other shore,” is the realm of immortality, is beyond fear. Disease, death, and all that which torment the mortals are not there. The Upanishadic message is that both the inferior and the transcendental Brahman, which are the refuge of the knowers of rites and Brahman respectively, are worthy of realization.
6-5-12 Katha 1.3.3 to 1.3.9 The Upanishad uses the metaphor of chariot to convey an important message. Jiva is the traveller seated in the back seat of chariot which is the body. Intellect, the discriminative faculty is the driver, who controls the wild horses of the senses by holding firmly the reins of the mind. The roads over which these horses travel are external objects which attract or repel the senses. Each sense, unless restrained by the discriminative faculty, seeks to go out towards their respective objects. A jiva is mature whose organs are integrated, the mind obeys the intellect, the sense organs obey the mind is a mahatma. While enjoying the life experiences, he is a jnAni in the making. In due course, he changes his identification with BMS to identification with Atma (OC) and accomplishes freedom.
6-5-13 Katha 1.3.10 The sense-objects are higher than the senses, and the mind is higher than the sense-objects; but the intellect is higher than the mind, and the AtmA is higher than the intellect.
The intellect cannot grasp the attribute-free consciousness because it is designed to deal with the objects. The Upanishad takes the seeker gradually from the objective world to AtmA, the subject and the innermost. The focus of our mind is taken from the gross physical personality to the energy personality to the emotional personality to the intellectual personality and then to AtmA. This is the inner spiritual journey – i.e. disidentification with the grosser body and gradual identification with the subtler components progressing from the body to mind to intellect to bliss to AtmA. Each inner personality is subtler, stronger, and closer to one’s nature. The subtlest AtmA, the true nature of a jiva, is all pervading. There is nothing beyond Atma. It is the highest.
The mantra is subject matter of BSB 3.3.14 and 3.3.15. It is said that the main idea of mantra is not to teach relative superiority of sense objects, mind, and intellect because it does not serve the intended purpose of revealing AtmA. There is nothing beyond Atma. That the Atma is the highest is the teaching.
Contd Part 20