Chapter 6 JnAna and Moksha
6-5 Katha Upanishad
6-5-23 Katha 2.1.5 to 2.1.10 Some technical terms used by the Upanishad need explanation. Brahman is all-pervading Original Consciousness (OC). It is AtmA at the individual level. The OC manifests through matter, the Reflecting Medium (RM). It is Reflected Consciousness (RC). OC is only one, but RCs are as many as RMs. The quality of RC depends upon RM. The OC remains unaffected. The material universe is divided into three pairs: three belonging to the microcosm and three belonging to macrocosm. Consciousness reflects in any of the six mediums. There are 6 mediums RM1 to RM6 and six reflected consciousness RC1 to RC6. At the individual level, there are three mediums: RM1 (physical -gross), RM2 (mental-subtle) and RM3 -causal.
When Consciousness expresses through the physical body (RM1), it is waker-consciousness (visva – RC1). When expressing through the mind alone (RM2), it is the dreamer consciousness (taijasa – RC2). When expressing through the dormant causal body (RM3) in sleep state, it is prajna (RC3) illuminating the total blankness of the sleep state. One OC expresses through the various media. Subtle body reflects consciousness. Gross body alone does not manifest consciousness. It is enlivened by consciousness via subtle body. At the cosmic level, total gross body is RM4 and when OC reflects in RM4, it is Virat (RC4- vaisvanara) = OC+ total gross body. Total subtle body (RM5) with reflected consciousness is Hiranyagarbha (RC5).
At the end of a cycle of creation, the universe is resolved in OC. The resolved universe is the total causal body. It is the mAyA power of Brahman. It has no independent existence other than Brahman and is therefore lower order reality. Brahman is the Absolute Reality. MAyA is unmanifest. MAyA with reflected consciousness (RC6) is Isvara which is responsible for unfolding of the mAyA (total causal body) in stages into creation. The universe constituted of three cosmic bodies borrows existence from OC and is lower order of reality.
Hiranyagarbha is the first born (manifested) followed by Virat at macro level. Later on, individual gross and subtle bodies are born at micro level. They are the manifestations of OC because they borrow existence from OC just as water manifests as a small wave as well as the vast ocean. The essence of the wave and the ocean is water. Similarly, the essence of the micro individual and macro universe is the same Consciousness.
The core message of mantras 5 to 10 is that there is one OC expressing through six RCs. It is vision of oneness. Nachiketa wanted to know Atma, the OC. There is glory of Isvara because OC is reflecting in the subtlest medium. Since the reflection is in the vast and subtlest, it is the brightest. The individual is less bright because of the inferior medium. The essential nature of a jivA is same as that of the Isvara who is witness of past, present and future. Because of the limitation of the reflecting medium, a jivA thimks that he is a limited entity. This is Self-ignorance. As a result, he becomes a doer, an enjoyer. He is a samsAri and suffers in his assumed limited identity. The Upanishad calls him the eater of honey. A wise man understands that though he is outwardly a samsAri, inwardly he is established in OC and transcends samsAra and insecurity.
The subtle body has 17 components – five sense organs of knowledge, five organs of action, five vital forces, the mind and the intellect. Each component is presided by a deity. Hiranyagarbha is total of all the deities. Hiranyagarbha is referred to as presiding deity of prAna because the latter is the most important component. One can manage without the function of an organ but cannot survive without prAna. In deep sleep, all the organs resolve except prAna. The macro-Hiranyagarbha is present in the micro-individual as taijaisa in the heart referred to as cave. It experiences the world through the mind and the sense organs.
This taijasa-Hiranyagarbha pair is manifestation of pure Consciousness. Virat is consciousness expressed through the tangible and visible universe like fire principle. The fire that we experience outside our body is Virat. The digestive fire that we experience inside us is called Vaisvanara agni. This Virat- Vaiavanara- pair is none other than Atma, the Consciousness that Nachiketa wanted to know. Hiranyagarbha is sutrAtmA because every deity, being its part, depends on it for survival like a wave rising, resting and resolving in the ocean. The sun, the presiding deity of eyes, rises at creation and then resolves at pralaya into Hiranyagarbha. Likewise, all other deities rise and resolve into Hiranyagarbha.
2.1.10 says that one absorbed in the mediums sees plurality and is prone to making comparisons and causing six vices – lust, anger, greed, delusion, arrogance and jealousy and above all fear of death. It will end only with the knowledge that I am the immortal Consciousness, and I transact through the mortal body. When I know that I am the Consciousness, I know that everyone else is also the Consciousness (Verse 5.18 – Bhagavad Gita). This is seeing one-ness in everything (Advaita-vision). There is plurality in the transactional world, but I am not affected by it. One who sees plurality in this world goes from death to death. Even in one life, he experiences many imaginary deaths and one final death. The fear of death is constantly present in his lifetime. There is another interpretation of this statement. Because we are born time after time, we also die time after time and samsAra continues.
6-5-24 Katha 2.1.11 Knowledge takes place as thoughts in the form of modifications of mind. The sound comes through the ears, but the knowledge of the sound takes place in the mind. Both the ears and the mind are needed for the knowledge to take place. Mind also serves as the instrument of knowledge through reasoning. At the end of reasoning, the conclusion takes place in the mind which is the locus of knowledge. Thus, mind is the locus of Self-knowledge. Security, happiness, and peace are elusive in the absence of Self-knowledge. There is no diversity. One who fails see this is ever in the grip of death.
Contd Part 22