Kathopanishad – Glimpses (This is a new series.)
A couple of nights back, I woke up suddenly around 2:00 in the morning, with a sudden sense of unexplainable disquiet, and could not go back to sleep comfortably. Right in front was my book-shelf, and on an impulse, I took the book on Upanishads, and started reading after opening a random page. The portions were from Kathopanishad, and were so absorbing that I could not put it down for over 2hrs before I finally drowsed off to sleep around 5 in the morning.
(Note: Incidentally this book is printed by Gita press; an institution which makes available such religious books at incredibly low prices. This hard bound volume dealing with about 9 Upanishads, with word to word translation is priced Rs45/! The only problem is that those that are Hindi translations are the ones where the quality is exceptionally good. The English ones are very ordinary, and the book under reference is in Hindi).
In tune with my own jignyaasaa, and the felt need to re-iterate these for my own satisfaction, I thought it would be a good idea to attempt an English translation of a few verses in my own way, and put it in the blog for all of our folks, as these to my mind were shareable. So here I am. A few lines in introductions, about the Upanishad to start off, would be I think, in order.
A Brahmin (Uddhaalaka) in the course of a yagnya, in which as part of rituals, one is required to donate cows etc, decides to just rid himself of all his useless, old ones. His boy (Nachiketa) feeling uneasy about what he perceives as his father’s guile, asks him repeatedly in half jest, as to whom he wants to donate his own son, namely himself. In exasperation, the father replies, that he would donate him to the God of Death namely Yama . The boy’s immediate reflection is that, if his father had indeed chosen to donate thus, there must be some divine purpose, and so thinking goes to the abode of Yama. Finding the latter away, the boy decides to wait for 2 days without food or water, in Yama’s quarters till he finally arrives.
Having kept an aththi, hungry for days, Yama is aghast, and profusely apologizes. He also asks the boy to name anything he wants as recompense. The boy is not interested in anything other than “to know” about what happens to the soul after the body perishes, and refuses every allurement Yama could offer, instead. The story ends with yama after being fully satisfied about the boy’s steadfast determination, imparting him with knowledge of the Brahman.
Now let me get to the “pankthis” ; one advocating absolute free-will, and the other leaving everything to His Grace, or an unequivocal saranaagathy. They go somewhat like this:
1. The individual soul having separated itself from the Universal, takes repeated births, in this thick jungle of material world, searching for that eternal peace and happiness, roams about in vain, totally clueless, helpless, aidless, and constantly betrayed . To his succor, out of His limitlessly immense love and grace, the Universal soul, has given it (a) a fully equipped and a beautiful human body, which can be taken as a chariot (b) sensory organs as the horse that will draw the chariot (c) A mind as a rein for this horse, and (d) an intellect as the hands of a charioteer with the individual soul itself as the master.
So long as this individual soul eternally impels its intellect (the hands of the charioteer), to rein in (the mind) to steadily dwell on His name, figure, abode, praises, so as to steer the sensory organs(the horse) to tread the righteous and steady path, the destination will be reached easily.If however the intellect (charioteer) is directed to give a free rein (to the mind), and allow the senses( horses) to go where they fancy, one will only end up going round and round and be caught in this sansaara chakra perpetually.
(One has an absolute free-will to follow either of these paths, follow the righteous and attain moksham or enjoy ephemeral worldly pleasures, and continue to be in the cycle of repeated births/ deaths).
The second pankhthi;
2. The merger with that absolute, is neither obtainable with intellect, nor by finery in discourse after deep study of copious literature, nor by the logical interpretations of one who is arrogant of his intellectual prowess, but to one who is ever intoxicated by listening to His greatness, His leelas, His praise, and accept Him as the sole “succor”, does not depend on his own intellect , cannot contemplate one moment without Him, and waits patiently for His Grace. To him, He showers His Grace, removes the curtain of “maya” obscuring realization, and reveals Himself.
(Apparently there is no free-will. There is only just pure bhakthi or love, and saranaagathi in the true “all is Thy Will” quote of Jesus.)
There are some vague thoughts floating in my mind to come to terms with this apparent contradiction, but quite unable to coherently pen it now. I will reserve this for later.
I will conclude with another two pankhthis, to make this piece wholesome. These go like this
When the rain drops fall on the top of the hills, they do not stay there, they percolate down taking different hues, and gathering dust just lose their way. Similarly the individual souls born in various forms such as devas/asuras/humans etc, who believing themselves to be separate and worship Him as such, are destined to take re-births into various yonis and lose their way.
But the same rain water, when it falls on crystal clear water, it dissolves itself, and becomes as pure. Thus one who has identified with Him, and is able to transcend from the material universe, is able to just merge with Him in absolute Bliss.
Love Vichu
Namaskarams!
ReplyDeleteFantastic.
Thank you digging this out again, and re-iterating & rephrasing so beautifully.
As for the "thoughts floating, ... apparent contradiction ... unable to pen" PLEASE please do whenever. Waiting.
I feel an urge to pen something on the contradiction immediately. If you will indulge:
The text by giving both pankthi's, as also the last two ones of your mail, seems to say, all the 'free will' is only for 'succour', since 'lost, clueless', etc. given out of 'infinite grace'. That also, only so your soul for the moment (the period of your life), can use the intellect, and thru it the mind, and thru it to somehow control the senses so that the chariot goes around ok doing things. Am being only as disparaging as the stuff sounds to me at the moment. Lump of sugar (succour) for a crying baby.
But, if you want great stuff like 'realisation' and 'merger', like water, then just 'give up'. Entirely! Reaching a state where neither of the above johnnies (mind, intellect, etc.) hold. And that is NOT by choice. You cannot choose to reach there. That's mind again. The "cannot contemplate one moment without Him" sounds exactly like what 'lovers' often feel, and is a state very similar to the "Cannot do without at all", that I often see / read / hear about for different great artists and their work.
All from me at the moment.
But sahab, your role and effort in bringing this to me much appreciated and much greater than any of my above jabber,
Thanks again,
Anand