KATHOUPANISHAD - 86. Swami Advayananda.

 

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Monday 12, May 2025, 10:30.

KATHA UPANISHAD  

Part 2 – Total 49 Mantras 

Chapters 2.1, 2.2 & 2.3 

Chapter 2.2: (15 Mantras) 

THE SEARCH FOR BRAHMAN 

Mantram - 2.2.8: Answer 2: When Knowledge Dawns 

Post - 86.

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Mantram - 2.2.8: Answer 2: When Knowledge Dawns: 

1 

Answer 2

Yah eshah supteshu jaagarti = The Purusha remains awake, while we are in sleep, 

2 

kaamam kaamam purushah nirmimaanah; = He shapes the countless objects of our desire. 

3 

 tat eva shukram tat brahma = He alone is Pure, He is Brahman; 

4

tat eva amritam uchyate; = He alone is known as the Immortal; 

5 

tasmin lokaah shritaah sarve = in Him rest all the worlds; 

6 

tat u atyeti na kashchana. = verily, there is none who can transcend Him. 

7 

Etat vai tat. = This is verily That! 

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The first two Padas continue Answer - 1. From Pada 3-7 we have Answer 2.

1-2

 Answer 1 (Contd.):  When Karmic debts are yet to be paid and Knowledge of the Self is yet to be acquired, answer 1 still applies. In this case, when we die, “we are in sleep”. While we are ‘sleeping’, the Purusha is awake and busy shaping the circumstances for our next birth on earth. What desires remained unfulfilled when we die get carried forward to shape our next birth. That keeps the Purusha (Ishwara) busy or ‘awake’. 

Kaamam Kaamam: “endless attempts to get happiness”. The Lord gives us a long rope to have our experiences in search of happiness. We may search in all different directions, covering the full range of sensory pleasures, but He knows that ultimately that search will bring us to Him, the only true and reliable Source of permanent happiness. 

ANSWER 2:  

3-7 

Should we succeed in clearing our Karma debts completely so that the balance is nil, and should we become firmly established in the Knowledge of the Self, then we merge completely into the immanent Reality. This is Answer 2 to “What remains?”. It is nothing short of Self-realisation itself. It is the ultimate Goal of life.  

3-5 

The nature of the Reality to be attained is described. The basic nature is: Shukram, Amritam, Shritaah: “Purity, Immortality and Dependability”. These are basic attributes by which Brahman is known by the intellect. He is the Immortal One behind all the changing names and forms that engage our attention outwardly. 

6

 Once we attain the goal through developing this nature, there is nothing beyond it to be attained. That is the summum bonum of life. The spiritual quest ends here. 

7 

This is the Mahavakya of this Upanishad. “This” is verily “That”, namely, Brahman. 

THE TRANSCENDENT BRAHMAN:

 From 2.2.9 up to 2.2.15, our search for Brahman takes us into transcendental realms. From the restrictions of the “City of Eleven Gates”, we have expanded to include the whole universe and see Brahman in every aspect of it. Now we go into the abstract realm and attempt to discover the transcendental Supreme Divine, untouched by any contamination. 

Link passage: In his introduction to this Upasana, Sri Shankaracharyaji supports in strong terms the use of repetition in these verses. Truths need to be hammered home sometimes. Sankaracharyaji says, “The proofs that are not reiterated do not find a lodging 

in the hearts of those scholars of mediocre intellects, whose minds can be swayed by the perverted intellect (Kubuddhi) of numerous logicians (Tarkika).” 

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Next

Mantras - 2.2.9/10/11: The Immanence & Transcendence of the Self: 

Continued

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