KATHOUPANISHAD - 82. Swami Advayananda.

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Monday 07, April 2025, 11:15.

KATHA UPANISHAD  

Part 2 – Total 49 Mantras 

Chapters 2.1, 2.2 & 2.3 

Chapter 2.2: (15 Mantras) 

THE SEARCH FOR BRAHMAN 

Mantram - 2.2.4: When the Body is Negated, What Remains?

Post - 82.

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Mantram - 2.2.4: When the Body is Negated, What Remains?

1 Asya vistram samaanasya = As this gets loosened or detached, 

2 shareera-sthasya dehinah; = the embodied Self, the indweller of the body, 

3 dehaat vimuchya maanasya = gets freed from the body. 

4 kim atra parishishyate. = What then remains here? 

5 Etat vai tat. =  This is verily That! 

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1-3 The seeker is being taken step by step from body-consciousness to actually feeling that he is the spirit within the body. The whole meditation is designed to shift our attention from the gross body to the subtlest part of our being – the Self within. But that can only be done is stages. 

4 When death comes, the Prana ‘departs’ from the body. What remains? The question is very deep. The direct answer is not given here; we have two possible answers and they lie at two extremes. Which is correct? 

Two Interpretations Possible:

There are two ways of looking at this verse: The first is from the perspective of the seeker engaged in Sadhana to liberate himself. The second is from the perspective of an ordinary soul who does not question life until he comes face to face with death. 

 A. As Negation During Meditatio: 

The first is to see the “loosening and detaching” as the process of negation applied by the Yogis during their meditation. What remains after negation of all the gross and subtle bodies is the pure Presence of the Self. This suits the overall thought-flow of the text, which has in this chapter begun taking us deeper into our Being and wants us to recognise ourselves as the Eternal Self, while living.

B. As the Approach of Death: The second is to see it as referring to the approach of death, when the Prana and subtle body constituents get “loosened and detached” from the gross body. Then what remains? – Just a rotting lump of flesh and bonesabout to be pulverised into ash! This is the more literal approach and, strangely, one that both Sri Shankaracharyaji and Pujya Gurudev tend to give their approval to. 

We shall soon discover that these two are not contradictory, but represent the two extreme ends of the same Path of Evolution of man.

 

The similarityin the two interpretations is that, in both cases, the body, mind and intellect complex is seen to be of secondary value. They constitute the Upadhis or limitations within which the Self resides. The King of the city is the Self or Atman. He is the enlivening Presence that matters most in the life of the body-city. When He departs, all the people (i.e. the subtle body constituents) also depart with Him as His followers.

The differencethe Self in the two interpretations lies in “What remains?” In the former, it is 

that remains. In the latter case, it is the lifeless body, the Not-Self, that remains.

  

So it all depends on which side of the fence we are sitting, the Self or the non-Self. 

The truth is we evolve from the not-Self to the Self. 

The next mantram probes into this a little deeper . . . 

*****

Next

Mantram - 2.2.5: When Prana is Negated, What Remains?  

Continued

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