The Kathopanishad-3. Swami Krishnananda

Chinmaya Mission 

Advaita Awakening Youth Retreat, organized by the Chinmaya International Foundation, took place from 14th to 25th June 2023. This ten-day residential programme, conducted by the Acharya Shankar Sanskritik Ekta Nyas and the Department of Culture, Government of Madhya Pradesh, saw the participation of 47 youth from various parts of India. The retreat aimed to provide an immersive experience for the participants, focusing on the teachings of Sri Adi Sankaracharya's text, Atmabodha, through discourses by Swami Advayananda.

The retreat schedule included sessions of solitary reflection, group discussions mentored by CIF Sevaks, presentations, and doubt clarification. Swami Advayananda's profound discourses on Atmabodha delved into the depths of Vedantic concepts, bringing clarity to the participants. Alongside the enlightening discourses, the retreat featured activities such as yoga, chanting, games, bhajans, and satsangs.

On 24th July, the campers enjoyed a special excursion to Vadakkumnatha Temple in Kalady, followed by a relaxing boat ride in the backwaters of Kumarakom. The retreat concluded with a memorable valedictory ceremony, including Gurupaduka puja, heartfelt sharing of camp impressions, and an inspiring oath to continue the journey of self-enquiry through dedicated study, reflection, and service to the nation.

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Friday, 07 Jul, 2023. 06:15.

Article

Scriptures

Post-3.

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The good is the proper path. What is the good? While we know something about the pleasant, what is the good, then? “I will not follow the path of the pleasant; I will follow the way of the good. But I should understand what is good.” This also is a little difficult question. The ultimately good is to be considered as really good. He who will help us at the time of the death of this body is our real friend. That which will come with us when we are departing from this world is our real comrade. Anything else is not our friend. That which appears to be good now and is bitter tomorrow may not be considered as good. It should be always good. As they say, “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” So also is the case with the good. The good should be always good, like a well-meaning mother. 

Nothing in this world, as far as the objectivity of things in the world is concerned, can be regarded as always good. There is nothing in this world which can be considered as always good. It appears to be good for some time only, for some reason. We have covered ourselves with blankets because it is cold; it is good to have a blanket over the body. But will it be good always, all the 12 months, all the 365 days of the year to cover ourselves with blankets and woollen clothes? No. It is relatively good, under certain conditions only; under other conditions, it is not. All appetites, all needs, all requirements, anything that we consider as necessary – all these are relative to conditions, circumstances prevailing within us as well as without us. Therefore, nothing in this world can be regarded as finally good.

Yet, there is something that is the good of the soul of an individual. That which is permanent can be regarded as good; and as things in the world are transient and passing, they cannot also be regarded as finally good. We also pass away as far as our body is concerned, but the soul will not pass away. Therefore that which is commensurate with the needs of the soul of a person may be regarded as really good – and there is nothing in this world which can feed our soul. The world can feed our sensations. Our mind and intellect and ego can be fed by the diet of this world. But the soul is suffering. The soul is hungry. Its appetite cannot be met properly by anything in this world, because the impermanent cannot satisfy that which is permanent, and the permanent cannot be obtained through that which is impermanent. That is, that which is relatively good cannot be set in tune with the soul which is ultimately good. So one has to follow the path of the good.

Now, here the good does not necessarily mean an ethical instruction that is being given or imparted to Nachiketas. “Here is a good person.” When we make a statement like this, we mean that in conduct and character and behaviour the person is socially adaptable to conditions, and therefore we say, “Here is a good person.” But the goodness that we are referring to here in the context of the Upanishadic teaching is a spiritual good. It is not a conditioned good – under such circumstance we have to behave in this way, under another circumstance we may have to behave in another way. If this is the mandate of ethics and morality, all ethical and moral instructions stand relative to circumstance. But the metaphysical good, the spiritual good, the ultimate transcendental good is that which is good for the soul. It is not good only for some time, or only for some people, or only for certain conditions – it is good for all conditions and all times and for all individuals. This is the soul, and Nachiketas was asking what happens to the soul.

A vague answer comes forth in the Kathopanishad to this great question. A complete, satisfying answer can be found in certain other Upanishads, such as the Chhandogya and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishads. Tentatively Yama tells Nachiketas that when the body is shed, one takes rebirth. One can become anything according to the thoughts and the feelings entertained by the person during the tenure of this life. Our thoughts and feelings will congeal into a solid substance, as it were, of the personality which we will assume in the next incarnation. The process of incarnation is actually the process of the evolution of things. 

As I mentioned sometime earlier, the evolutionary process is the process of the cessation of one condition to bring about the birth of the subsequent condition. Something has to die in order that something may be born. If nothing dies, nothing will be born. There will be no transformation and no improvement of any kind if death does not take place. Many parts of the body have died in order that we could become this adult personality that we are now. If evolution is something worthwhile, death is also worthwhile. Unless some previous condition dies, the new condition cannot be born. So everyone will be reborn because of the fact that the birth of a body, such as this body of ours which is now with us, is the instrument manufactured by the psychological organ within us for the fulfilment of its needs, desires and wants.

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To be continued

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