KATHOUPANISHAD - 85. Swami Advayananda.

 

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Monday 05, May 2025, 11:00.

KATHA UPANISHAD  

Part 2 – Total 49 Mantras 

Chapters 2.1, 2.2 & 2.3 

Chapter 2.2: (15 Mantras) 

THE SEARCH FOR BRAHMAN 

Mantram - 2.2.7: Answer 1: While in Ignorance 

Post - 85.

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Mantram - 2.2.7: Answer 1: While in Ignorance 

1 

Yonim anye prapadyante = Entering a (human) womb, some 

2 

shareeratvaaya dehinah; = embodied souls are destined to have a body; 

3 

sthaanum anye anu-samyanti = other souls continue only as plants. 

4 

yathaa karma yathaa shrutam. = It all happens as per one’s Karma and Knowledge.

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This gives Answer 1 to Yama’s question “What remains?” For the man who is still in Ignorance, his balance of Karma and his accumulated Knowledge is what remains.

The two options so far - i) unite with the Self; or ii) become a pile of ashes and terminate existence once and for all – are two extreme cases of the spectrum. There is an intelligent third option between these two being unveiled in this verse. This option is exactly the knowledge that Nachiketas asked for in boon three.

ANSWER 1:

4

 Our life rests on our Karma (deeds) and our knowledge or experience gained. These are the two factors we take with us when we die. They determine the type of birth we get. We get what we deserve as per our actions (Karma) and our intellectual growth (Knowledge). The whole theory of Rebirth is based on this (see box on next page). 

1-3

 The range of bodies is very vast – it varies from the human birth which is the highest type, to that of plants or trees or perhaps insects and worms, which are of the lowest type. This places a huge premium on the human birth; it is something very rare and 

precious. What body we get in depends entirely on how choose to actand think.

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Next

Mantram - 2.2.8: Answer 2: When Knowledge Dawns 

Continued

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