KATHOUPANISHAD - 76. Swami Advayananda.

==============================================================================

Thursday 16, January 2025, 10:15.

KATHA UPANISHAD  

Part 2 – Total 49 Mantras 

Chapters 2.1, 2.2 & 2.3 

Chapter 2.1: (15 Mantras) 

BRAHMAN – ABSOLUTE INTELLIGENCE 

Mantram - 2.1.11: Mind – Centre-Stage for Sadhana

Post - 76.

================================================================================

Mantram - 2.1.11: Mind – Centre-Stage for Sadhana:

1 

Manasaa eva idam aaptavyam = This is to be attained through the mind alone. 

2 

na iha naanaa asti kinchana; = There is no diversity here whatsoever. 

3 

mrityoh sah mrityum gacchhati = He goes from death to death, 

4 

yah iha naanaa iva pashyati. = who sees any difference between ‘there’ and ‘here’, 

==================================================================================

There are statements in the Srutis which may appear to contradict the assertion made here that the whole Sadhana is attained through the mind. Elsewhere we are told that the Self is attained only when the mind is transcended. 

The mind is the centre-stage for the Sadhana to lead us to the Self. With the help and co-operation of the mind, we can quieten it, purify it and then two aspects of the mind’s annihilation: 

===============================================================================

1.

1. Through Training & Discipline

“This is no contradiction. When Sruti says that mind is the only vehicle, she only means that the mind is to be trained through its controlled and regulated application to minimize its activities to a zero, when it dies off itself. The process of ‘mind annihilation’ is to be achieved not through a murder but through a suicide! However great the Guru may be, and however powerful the scriptures be, they cannot bring about the final ending of the mind unless the seeker is ready to end it himself, and by his own efforts.” 

2. Through Obtaining Knowledge:

This aspect has to precede the previous one. The training and disciple require knowledge of the Self. This knowledge has to be obtained by the intellect. Then the knowledge is used to take us beyond the mind. Without knowledge, it is of no use training the mind and bringing it to a thought-free state, as we would not know what to do with it thereafter. 

Acharyaji summed this up as: “In duality, get the knowledge of non-duality, and then go beyond duality.” One does not actually ‘go’ anywhere to attain it – it is our own Self. 

 =================================================================================

2. 

When the Self is attained, diversity (Duality) has to leave – lock, stock and barrel! When Light enters, darkness has to go, every trace of it. The Bhashya emphatically states that not even a trace of Plurality can remain. 

Acharyaji added an example here. The Sankhya philosophy dwindles duality down to just two principles, namely, Prakriti and Purusha. Not even this minimal duality of the Sankhyas can remain when the Self is realized. The corollary to this is that Avidya will continue till the last drop of Duality is dissolved. 

3-4. 

Repetition is part of Lord Yama’s advertising skills! 

=================================================================================

TWO SCHOOLS OF VEDANTIC THOUGHT:  

At this point, Acharyaji taught us the key differences within Advaita Vedantins  themselves. The two schools of thought are called Bhamati and Vivarna. Sri Adi Shankaracharyaji teaches from the Vivarna school, but recognizes that the goal of both is the same, and that both approaches are effective, depending on the type of student: 

i) Bhamati: considers the mind to be one of the senses; by doing so it considers that Nididhyasana, and not Sravana, is what brings knowledge. 

ii) Vivarna: considers Sravana, a mind function, to be the means for obtaining knowledge; Nididhyasana then firmly establishes it. 

 ================================================================================

THE KEY ROLE OF THE MIND:

Acharyaji  gave us the following insight into the key role of the mind in Sadhana: The mind is brought to single-pointed focus, achieved through Chitta Shuddhi and Chitta Ekagrata (purity and clarity). In this state it withdraws of its own accord from the external Upadhis which bind it. This done, it then has to hand itself over to the Self. It needs to understand thoroughly the knowledge of the Self before it can make this total surrender. It has to learn to see itself as only a “flutter of Consciousness”. 

When the mind gives up anything, it gets rest. For example, when we stop its outgoing nature, it soon accepts it and adjusts to it happily. The mind that is trained in this manner eventually dissolves into its own nature of pure consciousness. This process is called the dissolution of the mind, as opposed to the destruction of the mind. Dissolution is enabled in the process called Nididhyasana or meditation. The mind’s surrender to the Self occurs at the threshold of this process. 

The process may be summarised as follows: The journey of Self-knowledge is a journey taken by the mind, through the mind, and out of the mind into Oneness. The teaching on Oneness is the very heart of Vedanta. It is Advaita’s unique gift to the world. It is the rock-bottom strength of the Hindu religion.

*****

Next

Mantram - 2.1.12 & 13: Upasana: The “Thumb-Sized” Brahman  

Continued

=============================================================================================