Kathopanishad, brief introduction

1. Kathopanishad
Dialogue with Death
Subhash Mittal
Integral Yoga Studio
www.integralyogastudio.com
www.yogawithsubhash.com
919-926-9717  subhash@yogawithsubhash.com

2. What are Upanishads?
• Literal meaning – “sitting near” – implying sitting near a
teacher to get knowledge; upanishad=knowledge
• Represent an earnest quest for Truth
• End part of the Vedas – Vedanta
• Each Veda has four sections – Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka,
Upanishad
• Two major sections of Vedas – ritualistic part and knowledge
part
• Ritualistic part for personal and material gains - lower knowledge
• Upanishadic knowledge: higher knowledge - of self and
transcendent states of awareness.
• Some Upanishads attack the ritualistic practices of the Vedas
(explicitly and implicitly)

3. What are Upanishads (cont.)
• Vedas are without beginning – they contain eternal spiritual
laws discovered by sages
• No human author attributed to the Vedas – called Shruti
(“heard” during meditation)
• Subsequent texts like Puranas, Mahabharat, Ramayana etc
called Smritis (created by human)
• Religion and philosophy of vedas called Sanatana Dharma
(Eternal Religion)

4. What are Upanishads (cont.)
• 108 Upanishads are well known
• 10 considered most significant: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prasna,
Mundaka, MandUkya, Taittirlya, Aitareya, Chandogya, and
Brihadaranyaka
• Not well organized - not a product of human intellect
• Contain knowledge revealed to rishis in deep meditation
states – called Shruti (heard)
• No coherent or definitive philosophy; thus open to
interpretation and difference of opinion
• Brahmasutra and Bhagavad Gita – organized and coherent
formulation of Vedanta philosophy

5. Upanishads – basic
information
• Shankaracharya wrote commentary on ten principal
upanishads from Advaita viewpoint
• Main theme: discuss Brahman, cosmic soul – impersonal,
mysterious, and supreme being
• fit for contemplation, concentration, speculation and
philosophical enquiry - not devotional or ritual worship.
• non-communicable and unapproachable in ordinary state of
consciousness

6. Upanishads – basic info (cont.)
• Atman – individual soul – suffers from impact of Maya
• Two ‘mahavakyas’ (great sayings) define the link between
Brahman and Atman
• "tat tvam asi" (you are that)
• "aham brahmasmi" (I am Brahman)
• These represent the oneness of God and soul

7. Upanishads – basic info (cont.)
• Result of tireless and bold adventure into human depth
• Not done under coercion or force, but as free pursuit of truth
• Living philosophy, open for verification in any time and place

8. Kathopanishad – Brief Intro
• Dialog between a young boy, Nachiketa and Yama, the ruler of
death
• Nachiketa's father gives away old and sick cows as his offering
in Vishwajit Yajna (sacrificial ritual)
• Nachiketa is upset and wants to know whom his father will
give him away. The father says "to death".

9. Nachiketa’s Three Boons
• Nachiketa goes to Yama, the Lord of Death, but has to wait for
three nights before he gets to see Yama
• Yama grants him three boons, one each for the three nights
that N had to wait
• N's first boon: my father should be free from anxiety and
recognize me without anger when I go back - granted
• N's second boon: tell me all about the fire that can lead me to
heaven where there is no pain etc - granted and the fire is
named after N

10. Nachiketa’s Three Boons
(cont.)
• N's third boon: after death whether the Self exists or doesn't.
• Yama dissuades N from insisting on this boon as even gods
have trouble understanding the truth about Self.
• Yama promises N many sons and grandsons, any amount of
wealth, cows, horses, elephants, as much of the earth as you
want, live as long as you desire, all kinds of pleasures, celestial
beauties who can sing, dance and play instruments –
essentially anything but knowledge about Self

11. Nachiketa’s three boons (cont.)
• N insists on learning about life after death
• N says what you offer is a curse, not blessings as these are
temporary pleasures
• You, being the king of death, know all about life and death and
are most qualified to teach me
• You can keep all these treasures, these dances and songs for
yourself
• Yama had no choice but to give him the ultimate knowledge
about death, the Self etc.

12. Shreyas(desirable)and Preyas
(pleasurable)
• The wise man chooses the desirable, unwise man the
pleasurable
• Desirable leads to wisdom and pleasurable to ignorance
• Nachiketa refused to choose the pleasurable despite enticing
offers by Yama.
• He picked the desirable so Yama is pleased.
• Yama establishes the qualifications of himself as the teacher
and of Nachiketa as the student, Yama being worthy of
imparting the knowledge and N being worthy of receiving it.

13. Nature of Self
• Name of God = AUM = Brahman; must grasp its full
significance through meditation (1.2.15)
• Self is never born, never dies – eternal, everlasting (1.2.18)
• Atman is subtle and cannot be perceived by ordinary mortals.
• Self is smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest,
motionless and yet capable of going everywhere (1.2.20)
• Joyful and joyless, present in all forms yet itself formless; the
self is all pervasive (1.2.21)

14. Nature of Self (cont.)
• Birthless, eternal, everlasting and ancient, It is not killed when
the body is killed. (1.2.18)
• That which always remains awake throughout the different
states of wakefulness, dream state and deep sleep, is the Self.
• It is manifested in everything.
• Individual self and supreme Self are like light and shadow
• For a man of discrimination, Atman dwells in the body;
however, it is not the body

15. Chariot Analogy
Chariot Symbol Significance
• Chariot = Body/life
• Five horses = five senses
• Reins = mind
• Charioteer = intellect
• Passenger = self (ego)
• Road = sense objects
Nose Tongue Eyes
Ears
Skin
self (ego)
Intellect
Chariot
Mind

16. Transcendence Hierarchy
• The sense-objects are higher than the senses
• Mind is higher than the sense-objects
• Intellect is higher than the mind
• Great Soul is higher than the intellect.
• The Unmanifested is higher than Great Soul
• Purusha, the Supreme One, is higher than the Unmanifested
• There is nothing higher than the Purusha. He is the
culmination, He is the highest goal.
• [1.3.10, 1.3.11; also 2.3.7, 2.3.8]

17. Not Qualified to attain Atman
(Self)
• Whose mind is restless, whose behavior is improper, who indulges in
vicious actions, who does not have a concentrated mind and who
has endless craving for sensual pleasures (1.2.24)
• Those who let their senses get tempted by the object of senses
without any check.
• While the sense-organs devour the ‘grass’ of sense-objects, enemies
such as lust, anger, greed, delusion, egoism and jealousy attack the
master of the chariot leading to inner and outer turmoil
• Conquered by the enemy called sense-objects, the senses surrender
their freedom, leading to personal and collective ruin.
• Inelligent Self is not known through much study, nor the intellect nor
through hearing. (1.2.23)

18. How to Realize the Self
• Arise, awake, meet the enlightened people and learn from
them. Remember that this path is very difficult; it is like
walking on a razor’s edge (1.3.14)
• If the intellect is pure, and the mind and the senses restrained,
then the Atman attains its goal of liberation - freedom from
the cycle of birth and death.
• If the intellect is impure and is controlled by personal
prejudices and desires (ego), then one remains in the cycle of
birth and death
• The discriminating man should merge speech (senses) into the
mind, the mind into intellect, intellect into the Self and the
Self into Supreme peaceful Self (1.3.13)

19. How to Realize the Self (cont.)
• In the secret cave of the heart, two are seated by life's
fountain. The separate ego drinks of the sweet and bitter stuff,
liking the sweet, disliking the bitter, while the supreme Self
drinks sweet and bitter neither liking this nor disliking that.
• There is a city with eleven gates of which the ruler is the
unborn Self, whose light forever shines. (2.2.1)
• Eleven gates:
• 11 openings in the gross body - two eyes, two nostrils, two ears,
mouth, the two of evacuation, navel and the crown of the head
• Eleven gates of the subtle body: five organs of knowledge, five
organs of action, mind
• Tree of life: The beginning-less Ashwatha tree has the root
above (the Self) and branches below representing “all the
worlds” (2.3.1)

20. How to Realize the Self (cont.)
• One does not survive by prana and apana; breath is
dependent on something else - the Self. (2.2.5)
• After the death of the physical body, some souls take birth
again in the form of a body or an immobile organism (like
trees). This depends on the actions performed in their life
time. (2.2.7)
• It is one like the same fire assuming different forms, the same
air present in every breath; it is both within and without. The
one who realizes this Truth, attains bliss. (2.2.9, 2.2.10)
• He who is free from desire and free from grief, with mind and
senses tranquil, beholds the glory of the Atman.
• When the five senses and the mind become controlled and
the intellect is steady and sharp, that is called yoga (2.3.11)

21. Nachiketa attains the Supreme
Self
• Becomes free from virtue and vice
• Free from desire and ignorance
• Understands Yoga in totality
• Others too, by knowing the inner Self will attain Brahman, the
supreme Self.