Katha Upanishad And The Deathless Self Part II

The Two Paths,

The Good and the Pleasant.

In the Katha Upanishad,

Death teaches the aspirant the two paths,

The good,

Shreyas,

And the pleasant,

Prayas.

One leads to eternal life,

And the other keeps one tied to the cycles of rebirth,

Samsara.

In choosing the good,

One renounces the pleasant.

This illustrates that the spiritual path is a path of renunciation.

Prior to the introduction of the good and the pleasant in this Upanishad,

The reader is introduced to Nakitas,

The young protagonist,

Who is given to death by his own father.

Nakitas represents the spiritual aspirant who wants to know how to escape the temporal and geocentric realm and find union with Brahman.

Death grants Nakitas three wishes.

On his third wish,

Death is hesitant to offer Nakitas his wish and goes on to offer him earthly wealth and pleasures.

Nakitas,

Being the wise,

Sees through all these pleasures as temporal and transient.

He wants that which is eternal.

Immediately after the three wishes,

Death goes on to teach him about the two ways.

In chapter one,

Section two in the Katha Upanishad,

We hear Yama,

Death,

Say to Nakitas,

Different is the good,

And different indeed is the pleasant.

These two,

With different purposes,

Bind a man.

Of these two,

It is well for him who takes hold of the good,

But he who chooses the pleasant fails his aim.

Both the good and the pleasant approach a man.

The wise man,

Pondering over them,

Discriminates.

The wise chooses the good in preference to the pleasant.

The simple-minded,

For the sake of worldly well-being,

Prefers the pleasant.

The spiritual aspirant is wise when they choose the good rather than the pleasant.

In choosing the good,

One is able to escape the bind of samsara,

The cycles of rebirth.

One is bound to reincarnation by choosing the pleasant,

Which are based in temporality.

Connecting this back to the theme of time,

The pleasant is time is transience that one experiences in the geocentric realm.

The difficulty in that,

That the pleasant tends to seem like the right choice in the moment,

But it always leads to suffering eventually.

Paradoxically,

Those who choose the good,

Even if it's unpleasant,

Will transcend death.

What is this good that the wise prefers to the pleasant?

Well,

It is that which allows one to identify or align with the self,

Which is the only thing that is eternal.

To a degree,

It is not so much what one chooses,

But the intention or attitude behind that decision.

For instance,

One can choose to take a certain job,

And it could be considered either the good or the pleasant,

Depending on one's attitude towards it.

If the individual chooses the job with the attitude that their happiness or joy is inherently wrapped up in this job,

Then one might say that they are choosing the pleasant.

However,

If the person chooses the job with the realization that it is only a job,

Which is part of this temporal reality,

Then an attitude of detachment can arise,

Allowing one to not identify with the job as who they are or as the source of their happiness.

However,

On another level,

The good and the pleasant also entails the difference between immediate gratification and something that is eternal and lasting.

The eternal requires effort and time to achieve,

Though.

This aspect of the pleasant,

The immediate gratification,

Is what makes choosing the good so difficult and why so few choose it over the pleasant.

The pleasant is something that an individual can have and enjoy immediately.

The one thing is is that the pleasant does not last.

It is transient.

Once you obtain the house or car,

Slowly through time,

That happiness or enjoyment begins to fade.

This is connected to the idea of time as transience that was discussed in the first part of this talk.

The pleasant can be viewed as things people grasp after,

Whether that is a material object,

An emotional,

Physical state of being,

Or even one's body.

These are all part of the geocentric realm that is transient,

Which is to say it all comes and goes.

The unwise are not able to discern a world beyond the material,

As death teaches in the Kathi Upanishad.

What lies beyond shines not on the simple-minded,

Careless,

Who is deluded by the glamor of wealth.

Thinking this world exists,

There is no other.

He falls again and again into my power.

In contrast,

The good is what the wise choose in that they realize that there is something that transcends the pleasant or worldly things in life.

In addition,

It is in choosing the good that one renounces the pleasant.

In chapter one,

Section three of the Kathi Upanishad,

Death mentions the role of renunciation for the aspirant,

Stating,

That bridge for those who sacrifice and which is the highest perishable Brahman for those who wish to cross over to the farther fearless shore,

That Nikita fire may we master.

The stanza is referring to renunciation when it speaks of sacrifice.

The bridge symbolizes the crossing over from time to eternity as the bridge that crosses over the sea of time and space,

Which can be considered samsara.

The bridge is what separates both worlds and unites them.

Thus,

It is through the sacrifice and renunciation that the aspirant is able to cross over the bridge of samsara and thus receive knowledge of Brahman.

Renunciation of the pleasant is necessary for the aspirant in order to escape the bind of samsara.

Swami Kriyananda,

A direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda,

States,

Samsara is the world of delusion in which we all live,

The cosmic dream.

It also signifies emotional involvement with the dream.

For the few wise and discriminating individuals who desire to escape samsara,

Practicing non-attachment is a way to release themselves from the cycles of rebirth.

A way to practice this is to mentally build a bonfire each night before going to bed and casting all one's attachments into the mental fire like every like and dislike and all desires.

However,

There is a more direct way to overcome samsara through renunciation that involves working directly on the ego,

Which all attachments revolve around.

Patanjali's definition of yoga is yogas chitta vritti naroda.

Yoga is the neutralization of the vortices of feeling.

This defines the true meaning of inner and outer freedom.

Yoga is the neutralizing of the whirlpools that stir up feelings which leads to attachment and desires.

The ego can be viewed as the center of that vortex of feeling.

It can be argued that once the ego is dissolved and cosmic consciousness,

Pure feeling remains.

It is no longer focused,

However,

Or drawn inward to a center in the little self.

One enjoys everything,

But without ego attachment.

Through renunciation,

One renounces the pleasant,

But in reality,

The aspirant is receiving much more than one could receive through temporal and material objects.

The renunciant and wise person through discrimination is able to choose the good and in doing so rises above samsara while affirming the omnipresent bliss.

Death teaches the aspirant in the Katha Upanishad that not he who has not desisted from evil ways,

Not he who is not tranquil,

Not he who has not a concentrated mind,

Not even he whose mind is not composed can reach this self through right knowledge.

How does the spiritual aspirant become calm and concentrate the mind in order to realize the deathless self and find liberation from samsara?

Death answers this question in the Katha Upanishad by using the parable of the chariot.

Debashish Banerjee states that death presents the metaphor of the chariot as an assemblage of human faculties of knowledge,

Which if aligned properly,

Can take the human into the orbit of the heliocentric origin,

Therefore allowing the aspirant to escape the confines of samsara through cultivating a fertile landscape,

A microcosm to realize the deathless self.

The first two verses of the parable of the chariot state,

Know the self as the lord of the chariot and the body as verily the chariot.

Know the intellect as the charioteer and the mind as verily the reins.

The senses,

They say,

Are the horses,

The objects of sense,

The paths.

The self associated with the body,

The sense and the mind,

Wise men declare,

Is the enjoyer.

It is quite clear by observing how the unwise seem to be pulled by the horses,

The senses of outward desires and pleasures.

Thus keeping them tied to the wheel of reincarnation.

In contrast to the wise,

Whom are able to control the senses by knowing how to restrain the horses through controlling the mind.

This parable is teaching the aspirant to know the self,

A-an,

As the owner of the chariot and the body to be the actual chariot itself.

The wise realize that the Atman is not the body,

But something that has its own existence outside of the body.

Thus,

When the body changes or dies,

The self,

Atman,

Remains unchanged and eternal.

The next part of the parable mentions the intellect.

The intellect here is being referred to as the buddha,

Which is the charioteer,

The master.

The buddha is the one who is the master of the body.

The buddha is the charioteer or driver of the chariot.

The buddhi intellect is the higher mind.

It's the job to see clearly,

To take the long view and see the whole rather than just a part.

So as to distinguish between preya and treya.

In contrast to the higher mind intellect,

There is the lower mind,

Manas.

The mind is the reins that are connected to the horses.

And will go whichever direction the horses choose to go.

Which is why the intellect is a critical component in choosing the good rather than the pleasant.

However,

The intellect by itself is not to be trusted.

In order for the intellect to choose wisely,

It must be illumined by the self.

Otherwise,

The intellect can fall towards ignorance,

Away from the illumined self.

Again,

Debashish Banerjee referred to the intellect as a fulcrum,

In that it can fall to either preyas or treyas.

It is therefore essential that one have a clear mind in order for it to do its job well.

This is dependent upon how calm the mind is.

If the mind is cluttered or agitated by thoughts,

It is difficult to see clearly.

In yoga psychology,

The stuff of consciousness,

Chitta,

Is a subtle,

Transparent,

Endlessly responsive medium.

When it is calm,

It is clear and easy to see through.

But when it's agitated like waves in a choppy ocean,

It makes it difficult to see clearly.

It is similar to what the next two stanzas point to.

He who has no understanding,

Whose mind is always unrestrained,

His senses are out of control,

As wicked horses are for a charioteer.

He,

However,

Who has understanding,

Whose mind is always restrained,

His senses are under control,

As good horses are for a charioteer.

The question remains,

Why is controlling the mind and senses so important to the aspirant?

Well,

The Katha Upanishad answers this by stating,

He,

However,

Who has no understanding,

Who has no control over his mind,

And is ever impure,

Reaches not that goal,

But comes back into this mundane life.

Hence,

It is critical that the aspirant control their mind so that they can have control of their senses to ensure that they are not regulated to this mundane life.

This mundane life refers to samsara,

Or the world which is characterized by birth and death.

In contrast,

The following stanzas promise the aspirant that he,

However,

Who has understanding,

Who has control over his mind,

And is ever pure,

Reaches that goal from which he is not born again.

He who has understanding for the driver of the chariot,

Control the reign of his mind,

He reaches the end of the journey,

The supreme abode of all pervading.

Therefore,

Death promises the aspirant that if one aligns themselves correctly,

The aspirant is able to transcend the geocentric realm and be liberated from samsara.

They are no longer compelled to return to the cycle of rebirth,

Thus freeing them from the suffering that is experienced in this realm of transience.

In conclusion,

Paradox,

Choosing the good over the pleasant,

And the parable of the chariot are Upanishadic tools that the Katha Upanishad provides the aspirant for their own spiritual progression towards self-realization.

The word pure is introduced in the second to last stanza of the parable of the chariot when referring to the aspirant who has control over their mind.

It is said that the pure are able to reach the goal of self-realization and be liberated from the cycles of rebirth.

The heart is an important aspect of the spiritual path.

As is mentioned,

That the two selves,

Atman and Brahman,

Are located in the secret cave of the heart,

What Radhanakrishnan calls the chief seat of the supreme.

It is through meditation on the self that the aspirant is able to receive knowledge of the supreme,

Brahman,

In the secret place of the heart.

Through meditation,

The aspirant also realizes the paradoxical self that is never born or never dies.

It is in this realization the aspirant becomes free from death because they realize the self was never born.

The aspirant is able to embrace the paradoxical eminence of the transcendent in the cave of the heart.

This is the place of non-dual awareness of the self being one with the transcendent,

Brahman.

Meditation with devotion,

Purity of heart,

Is the key that will unlock the secret cave of the heart which contains the self-knowledge leading to self-realization.