KATHOUPANISHAD - 61. Swami Advayananda.

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Friday 26, Jul 2024 06:30.
Chapter 1.3:   
17 Mantras:  THE JOURNEY AHEAD
THE ROUTE OF THE JOURNEY
1.3.12:  Self Seen Only by Subtle Intellect 
Post - 61

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Mantram:1.3.12:  Self Seen Only by Subtle Intellect:

1 Eshah sarveshu bhooteshu = This (Atman) is in all living beings, 

2 goodhah aatmaa na prakaashate; = It is hidden there, and not visible (to the eye). 

3 drishyate tu agryayaa buddhyaa = It can indeed be ‘seen’ by the sharp intellect, 

4 sookshmayaa sookshma darshibhih. = with the subtle vision of the seers of the subtle. 

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LINK: Explanation on “GOING” & “MOVING” :

The Link passage between 3.11/3.12 gives in detail the view that “Knowing is 

Going.” The going is not physical but in the realm of knowledge. When we move in 

understanding, we are still in the Self at all times. This going or moving should never be 

confused with ideas such as going to heaven or hell, which are common among ignorant 

men. When it is said that “the Self is reached” it is a figure of speech only, to enable people 

to understand the idea from their own level. Words such as ‘going’, ‘moving’ and ‘reaching’ 

should not be taken literally. They refer to movements in knowledge. 

In the Vedas there is a mantram which says: 

“Those who want to get beyond the ways (of the world) do not walk on roads!” 

Sankaracharyaji explains the apparent contradiction of the Self being hidden in all beings, yet appearing to some. The explanation is summarised here. 

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“Self Does Not Appear” 

1-2 One does not see the Self due to Maya. The compassion of Shankaracharyaji 

overflows at the suffering of man due to his negligence to take the trouble of knowing the 

Self. He expresses his sadness in the Bhashya as: “How unfathomable, inscrutable and 

variegated is Maya, that every creature, although identical with the Self and taught it from a 

young age, does not grasp it in practice. On the contrary, without being told, it accepts as its 

Self the non-selves of body and senses. How illogical! Indeed, Maya’s deluding power has a 

firm hold on man in general.” 

 

“Self Appears”: 

3-4 To behold the subtle Self requires purity of the highest type, a subtlety of the 

intellect. Not all possess this, even among sincere seekers. The Self can be easily seen by the 

pure. 

Two qualities are essential for seeing the Self: 

i) Agryayaa: “sharpness”; this requires Chitta-Ekagrata or one-pointedness. 

ii) Sookshmayaa: “subtlety”; this requires Chitta-Shuddhi or purity. 

Sookshma Darshibhih: “seers of the subtle”. A pure and one-pointed mind ensures 

that the intellect is subtle and sharp enough to be able to discern the Self, not as a physical 

Presence but as the Reality of one’s being, which is also the Reality of all beings. Only a very 

subtle intellect can grasp the procedure outlined in mantras 3.10 and 3.11 of going from the 

grosser to the subtler all the way up to the Self.

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Next

Mantram: 1.3.13:Successive Merging from Speech to Self 

Continued

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