KATHOUPANISHAD - 71. Swami Advayananda.

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Tuesday 10, December 2024, 06:15.
KATHA UPANISHAD  
Part 2 – Total 49 Mantras 
Chapters 2.1, 2.2 & 2.3 
Chapter 2.1: (15 Mantras) 
INTELLECT – INDIVIDUAL INTELLIGENCE 
Mantram -2.1.5:  Keeper of Karmic Accounts 
Post - 71.

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Mantram -2.1.5:  Keeper of Karmic Accounts 

1 yah imam madhvadam veda = He who knows that the enjoyer of this honey 

2 aatmaanam jeevam antikaat;=  is one’s own dear Atman, the sustainer of his life, 

3 eeshaanam bhoota-bhavyasya = the Lord of the past and the future, 

4 na tatah vijugupsate. = no more thereafter does he “wish to save himself”. 

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Nachiketas, in mantram 1.2.14, re-phrased his third boon. He asked about the Self which is “beyond virtue and vice, beyond cause and effect, and beyond past and future”. That aspect of the Self is now being answered by Lord Yama. 

 1 Madhvadam: 

“Enjoyer of honey”; this word has been effectively chosen to  summarise all enjoyment through the sense objects. Like bees gathering honey, we gather Karma, merit or demerit, for our enjoyment. Paapa and Punya is a result of the Karma we perform to acquire merit. ‘Honey’ represents this Paapa and Punya connected to ‘virtue and vice’. It draws the distinction between Dharma and Adharma. The Self is beyond both Dharma and Adharma. That is the significance of the “honey” we collect and enjoy.

2 Antikaat: 

“as one very near or close”. This word tells us how close and dear the Self  is to us as the sustainer of our very life. 

3 Bhoota-Bhavyasya: 

“Past and future”. The Self is also the Lord of Time, meaning that He transcends Time. The Self is not in the realm of Time. This relates to Nachiketas’s reference to cause and effect, as well as past and future. The Self is beyond both of these, but when conditioned as the intellect, it experiences these due to the Karma it has accumulated through its deeds. The Pure Self is unaffected by them. 

4 Vijugupsate: 

Knowing himself to be that Self, the wise person does not have any desire “to save or protect oneself”, as he has no more fear. Fear only comes when we see duality, when there is ‘another’. One who has a purified intellect is freed from the Upadhis of body and mind and does not see anything different from his own vast spiritual Being. He has the non-dual vision by which he sees unity in all creation. We now move on to a macroscipic glimpse of the Self through Hiranyagarbha. 

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Table:  THE COSMIC HIERARCHY: 

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BRAHMAN   (The Supreme Reality) 

1. Brahman at Causal Level:

   ISHWARA (when viewed through MAYA) 

       THE UNMANIFESTED   

    JIVA   (when viewed through AVIDYA)   

2. Brahman at Subtle Level:

       HIRANYAGARBHA  

        THE “THRESHOLD”      

          THE SUBTLE ELEMENTS   

          THE SUBTLE CREATION   (Ego, Mind, Intellect, Prana, Senses) 

3. Brahman at Gross Level:

      VIRAT  

       THE MANIFESTED   

        THE GROSS ELEMENTS   

        THE GROSS CREATION (the 14 Worlds, Bodies) 

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HIRANYAGARBHA – TOTAL INTELLIGENCE:

A table relating all the mantras that follow is given below: 

Mantras 6-8 explain the implication of the all-pervading form of the Self, that is, its influence beyond our individuality, how it influences all beings and things in the Cosmos. 

Specific Vedantic terms are given in the above hierarchy, which are explained below. 

Mantras 6 and 7 speak of the Self as Hiranyagarbha, the consciousness associated with the Cosmic Subtle Body. Verse 8 speaks of the Self as Virat, the consciousness associated with the Cosmic Gross Body.

Hindu philosophy has a wide vision of the Supreme Reality. The Western term ‘God’ does not do justice to denote the full scope of Reality, hence we use the term Brahman. 

The cosmic hierarchy stretches from Brahman to the gross creation. We see that  

Hiranyagarbha is at the pivot of this hierarchy. She is at the “threshold” between the Unmanifested and Manifested.

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Table: RELATING Mantras 2.1.6 to 15

THERE: Brahman The Supreme Self 

2.1.9 

2.1.12 

2.1.14  

2.1.10 

2.1.13 

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HERE: Hiranyagarbha The Cosmic Womb (Prana) 

2.1.6 

2.1.7 

2.1.15 

2.1.8 

2.1.11:  Virat Fire; the gross objects  

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Next

Mantram- 2.1.6 & 7: Hiranyagarbha – Brahman in Subtle Creation  

Continued

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