The Kathopanishad: A Wondrous Epic of the Spirit : 4. Swami Krishnananda.

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Saturday, November 13, 2021. 7:00. PM.

The Kathopanishad: A Wondrous Epic of the Spirit : 4. Swami Krishnananda

(Spoken on June 19, 1972)

POST-4.

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The mind is the index of our nature, as they say, while the mind is the ruler of the subtle body. It is the king in this realm of the astral personality of ours. Unless that is disciplined, fasted down, the body, poor thing, is nowhere. The bodily discipline assumes a significance only when the subtle body, the real force within the physical body, is disciplined. That is the second day's fast. But that alone will not do. We are much more than what our mind is. This is what ordinary psychology cannot detect, that we are more than what the mind is. Psychology is merely a study of behaviour of the mind, but the mind is not the entire human individuality, as Indian psychology will tell us. While the bodily personality is only an outer crust of our real nature, even the mental personality, the subtle body within us, is not the whole of our individuality. There is a causal basis of our being which is the repository of forces, the reservoir of energies wherein we can find the seeds latently present of all our future incarnations. All the rebirths that we have to undergo in our future lives have their potent seeds in what we call our causal personality, which is invisible to us. We do not see our mind. We see only the bodily behaviour, but by reflection, by inference, by contemplation, we can get an idea of what our mind is. As to our causal nature, we have absolutely no idea.

Unfortunately for us, it is the causal personality that is the real personality. The tree of samsara has its roots in the causal body. It is the root. As long as the root is there, the tree will survive even if the branches are cut off. The mind and the body are only the ramifications of this root of the individuality that is the causal body. The third day's fast of Nachiketas is the drying up of the root itself, and then the spirit reveals itself before the seeking aspiration in all its might and main.

But here we may also bring to our mind the three processes of sadhana prescribed by the ancients: karma, upasana and jnana. What I refer to as the fasting of the physical, the mental and the causal nature is equivalent in many respects to the sadhana that we perform through action, through worship or devotion, and through knowledge. These are the three stages of the ascent of the spirit by which the whole personality or individuality is disciplined, focused and concentrated on the knowledge or wisdom that is to be imparted by the Master, or the Guru. It is only when this discipline is complete that we are in a position to receive the initiation from the Guru; otherwise, initiation has no meaning. Just as when the electrical installations within a house are complete the power connection is given from the powerhouse – and the connection cannot function when the electrical installation is not complete – so, in some respects, we may say that unless our personality is made ready to receive the inflow of the shakti or the divine power that is injected by the Guru through the process of initiation, there would be no question of the possibility of higher contemplation or meditation.

Meditation is nothing but the implementation of the knowledge that is received at the time of initiation from the Guru. Initiation is only a single act that is performed by the Guru, perhaps in a single minute. It is like striking a match, but we have to manufacture the match. We cannot strike a straw or a bamboo stick because it will not give a spark of fire. The preparation of the matchstick takes all the time, while the striking takes only a second. So is this striking of the match, we may say, which is the initiation that is received by the Guru. This initiation process is a tremendous encounter, though it may be for a short period. This encounter came before this master spirit Nachiketas also. After three days' discipline of fasting, Yama appeared before Nachiketas.

To be continued ...

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