Commentary on the Katha Upanishad uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata: kṣurasya dhārā niśitā duratyayā; durgam pathas tat kavayo vadanti. (14) KATOPANISHAD My dear children, do not think it is easy! Do not sleep and try to get this Atman. “Stand up, be awake, be conscious; obtain wisdom properly by being initiated from a competent EFFORT—understand this. Sharp it is, and cutting, as the edge of a razor, and hard to cross.” ‘Sharp’ and ‘cutting’ are the two epithets of the sword. The edge of a sword is cutting, so sharp is it. Such is the sharpness of this yoga – so subtle that you cannot even see it. The path of the Spirit is invisible. You cannot open your eyes and see it. It is like the track of the birds in the air, or the fish in water: they are there but cannot be seen. This path of supreme wisdom is subtle in the sense that it is a balance of everything. The Spirit is balance. And no one in this world can maintain a balance. We either fall this way or that. We go to either extreme but never are in the middle. ‘Balance is yoga—*samatvam yoga uchyate*.’ This is an exposition as well as guidance on the path of inward *sadhana*. The great method of meditation has been explained as the gradual self-withdrawal, not only in the realm of world-perception, but also beyond. It may look magnificent, but the Upanishad warns us of its difficulty. It may oftentimes look impossible. Hence, we are cautioned to be careful in every single day of practice. But this is extremely hard to do because, as the verse describing *karta *and *bhokta *states, our consciousness gets commingled with the mind and senses in every one of their activities. We as persons do not stand as Atman, as mind or as senses only, but all these blend and act as a focus, in which not only they, but we ourselves, become conscious of the world. We do not say ‘the senses see, the eyes see, the mind sees’; we say ‘I see the world’. This is so because the light of the Atman moves through the senses to the objects, as discussed earlier. Hence, the process of self- withdrawal is not merely of the senses. They are not the only culprits, and are not wholly responsible. Meditation of consciousness demands its extrication *firstly *from objects, *then *from the senses, and *finally *from the mind and intellect. Consciousness passes through the intellect, mind and then the senses. And in a secondary connection, we are not only attached to our body, but through it to many objects outside, and to those they are connected to. This is *samsara-chakra*, due to the original sin of consciousness getting identified with *buddhi*. So is the psychological creation of the universe, what is called *jiva-srishti*, the world of bondage, distinguished from *ishvara-srishti*. The yoga of the Upanishad is not any attempt at interfering with *ishvara-srishti*, but an honest attempt to withdraw from our own creation which has made a mess and not added a cubit to God’s doing. We have created many kinds of entanglements, consciously and unconsciously, all which add to our difficulties. Our objects may vary from day to day, but the way of perception is the same throughout our life. Yoga is a system of disentanglement of consciousness from its attachments. Hence, a seeker should be a very good analyst and psychologist. We have a false notion that the mind is inside our body, not knowing it is elsewhere. It is not always limited to the operation within. It has relations to circumstances, events and objects exterior to its own body, and hence we do not concentrate or meditate well. It may be working in a far-off land, while a part of it is in meditation. It works subconsciously also, without coming within the purview of the conscious mind. The mystery of the mind is that it can work doubly—the subconscious in object-thought, and the conscious in God-thought. The working in the subconscious level is such that even the conscious level may not be aware of it. This makes our meditation unsuccessful. The mind has subterranean realms. While the intellect may be connected to the conscious level, the feelings will be in the subconscious level, without connection to reason. So, CAN IT BE CORRECT TO SAY, yoga is a failure, and there is no joy in it. This knowledge is very essential in *pratyahara*. The process is not an ordinary psychological action. It is to be undergone with a simultaneous awareness of the internal psyche and the outer intellectual consciousness. Intellect alone cannot succeed in meditation. We have to attempt it with our total personality. It, therefore, is not the work of one of our faculties, but of our whole self as a unit of spiritual consciousness. The Atman will be revealing Himself in Himself only when the whole personality is withdrawn in all its aspects. We often believe that we are happy, not knowing the subconscious working of the mind. Man falsely thinks that he is all right. The yoga psychology is far deeper than the usual perceptual psychology of the West, because the student is a psychologist of himself, and not of things and persons of the world. The turnings of the mind to observe itself, is the unique step taken in yoga. You begin to study yourself instead of others. This is the difference. Because you are both the student and the teacher here, the Upanishad advises you to approach men of wisdom who have insight into the truth, to obtain knowledge from them and be cautious and vigilant, because this invisible track of the bird of consciousness is subtle and cutting, like the edge of a razor. It is so even to the intellect—let alone the mind and senses. The path of the spirit is balance, harmony; not a beaten path on which you can walk blindfolded. It is a subtle path which you alone can tread. And every individual has a path of his own. Though, broadly speaking, yoga may be one, subtly, there are as many paths as there are individuals, with difficulties different from person to person. Hence it is said: *prapya varan nibodhata*—know It by approaching the Great Ones. Impregnable is this fort, inaccessible is this path; hard to tread because of the subtlety of the edge. The advancing *sadhaka *faces many difficulties. Insignificant questions, silly things, will appear large and important to hinder your advance. The subtle body will begin to operate more and more. Now we are on the physical level only. But when we become more subtle in thought, more self-controlled, more weaned from objects, the subtle body begins to work in an intense manner. Then we face disturbances of a peculiar nature. We do not know the troubles of the subtle body as long as consciousness is lodged in the physical one, but when we advance, the subtle body vibrates not only when we act physically, but also when we think and feel. Later, we begin to see it as we see the outer body and its activities now. We become so sensitive that we cannot bear any disorder. As long as the mind is living in the gross body, it is mostly on that level connected to others. But when it withdraws itself more, it receives subtle vibrations of other subtle bodies, and it can feel and recognise circumstances on a level which is not only conscious, but far deeper. In this state, it receives vibrations from the denizens of other worlds and laws operating in the different realms of being, the *sthani-dharmas*. In the earlier stages, it may become receptive to lower spirits; in the higher, to divine ones. You may be taken aback when these hindrances come, just as when, in *amritamanthana*, poison came, the *devas *withdrew. In the *sadhaka*, the *devas *and *asuras *also work together within to get nectar, and in this contest between the higher forces and the lower ones for a common objective—happiness—poison alone comes first from the internal practice of churning. Because like the *asuras*, the senses too want nectar, and so there is often a fall in the lower levels of the practice of yoga, when the instincts get stimulated and become passions. Cutting, sharp and also invisible to perception; this is the meaning of the words: *ksurasya dhara *and *kavayo vadanti*. aśabdam asparśam arῡpam avyayam tathā arasaṁ nityam agandhavac ca yat anādy anantam mahataḥ paraṁ dhruvaṁ nicāyya tam mṛtyu-mukhāt pramucyate. (15)
My dear child, you cannot see anything there, because the Self is not an object of the senses. You cannot use the light of a torch and look. “It is soundless, touchless, undecaying; without taste. It is formless; the presupposition of all change. Without beginning, without end, It is not anything that can be equated with the processes of time.” All these are external to the Imperishable, and while the senses can grasp objects, It is imperceptible. Objects have a limitation of their own: a body— a location, and so you can observe them. But this Reality, which is beginningless, is raised above all empirical concepts. “It is ranging beyond the intellect, not merely the individual, but also the cosmic. Only after beholding the glory of this Infinite, one can be freed from the mouth of death.” KR IRS 25922 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZorOft_edV-%2BE2mK-83sUeOdf_k1L1CLRUhQ8D8Mm3b96w%40mail.gmail.com.
