Hindu Vedic Philosophy (Hinduism, Philosophy, Science and History): A Commentary on the Upanishads by Swami Nirmalananda Giri -5

A Commentary

on the Upanishads

Swami Nirmalananda Giri

From the Unreal to the Real

Eternal values

There is an obscure Protestant song entitled “With Eternity’s Values in View.”

Musically it is not much, but philosophically it is profound. We are not temporal,

mortal beings, and if we live our life as though we were, then only confusion and chaos

can result. Instead we must see ourselves as eternal beings presently dreaming the

dream of evolution–a dream whose culmination is awakening, toward which all of our

attention and awareness should be focused. Nachiketa knew this, but Yama underlined

it, telling him:

“Well I know that earthly treasure lasts but till the morrow. For did not I myself,

wishing to be King of Death, make sacrifice with fire? But the sacrifice was a fleeting

thing, performed with fleeting objects, and small is my reward, seeing that only for a

moment will my reign endure.” (Katha Upanishad 1:2:10) What are a billion years

compared to eternity? Not even a glimmer. Why, then, do we scramble after such

short-lived earthly goals, goals that even if attained prove to be worthless since they

vanish away so quickly? Why do we continually deny our eternity and affirm the

delusion of temporality? Because we identify thoroughly with that which is temporal

and finite.

Buddha and two fools

Buddha once encountered two deluded ascetics. One always behaved like a dog

and the other like a water buffalo. No explanation is given for their behavior. Perhaps it

related to some deity worshipped by them. For example, a dog would be related to

Bhairava, a form of Shiva, and a water buffalo to the goddess Durga. However it might

be, they wanted to know from Buddha what the results of their way of life would be. He

refused to answer, but they kept insisting, so he told them plainly that if they were

lucky they would be reborn as a dog and a water buffalo, and if they were unlucky they

would find themselves in astral hells corresponding to their aberrative life and

thought. As anticipated by Buddha, they wailed and fussed and went away without

gaining any sense or rectifying their foolish ways. We are just like them, except we are

hypocrites, claiming to believe in the eternal, unconditioned Self and acting just the

opposite.

The dilemma of the gods

It is true that there is nothing on this earth we cannot attain if we put forth the

effort. In previous creations human beings performed elaborate rituals to become

“gods” in this creation, including Brahma the creator. They succeeded, and the result

was that they suffer more pain and anxiety than human beings do and are more subject

to mental aberrations than humans. Furthermore, they are bound until the end of this

creation cycle to fulfil their offices and can in no way shirk or abandon them. So they

are more bound than any human being could ever be. In other words, their heaven has

turned out to be a hell. Still their main anxiety is fear over falling from their exalted

status and returning to human form. They have learned nothing from their experience.

(Do we?)

A metaphysical fact

“But the sacrifice was a fleeting thing, performed with fleeting objects, and small is

my reward, seeing that only for a moment will my reign endure.” Within this lament of

Yama is embedded a profound truth regarding spiritual life.

Only the spirit is eternal and everlasting. Everything else, however highly evolved

or sacred, is temporal and impermanent. However long-lived they may be, in time they

will dissolve back into the primal energy of manifestation and we will lose them–never

really having “had” them at all. Consequently, the wise seek only for the eternal spirit,

though using the material and the temporal to aid them in their search. For example,

physical health is not enlightenment, but it certainly makes the enlightenment process

easier. Material sufficiency relieves us from anxiety and helps us pursue spiritual life

without distraction. And so forth.

Discipline is essential for material life, and even more so for spiritual life. Yet,

discipline will not take us to the goal–it will greatly facilitate our going, but we must

never mistake proficiency in any discipline or practice for spiritual attainment. In the

same way, any type of yogic practice that does not deal directly with Consciousness will

not result in enlightenment. Like discipline, it may help us in our ascent to higher

awareness, but it must not be mistaken for that awareness.

“Sadhana” means spiritual practice that leads to the revelation of the Real (Sat). The

temporal does not lead to the eternal, therefore real sadhana must begin and end in

spirit consciousness. No material procedure is sadhana, nor is any externally-oriented

practice sadhana. The only true sadhana is the turning inward of the mind and the

perception of the inmost spirit. In other words, meditation alone is sadhana–meditation

free of all mechanics and gimmicks, simple and direct, leading to the ultimate

Simplicity that is the Self. We must begin with spirit if we are to end with spirit. That is

why Patanjali briefly outlines the nature of God, telling us that “His manifesting Word

is Om,” and concluding: “Its japa and meditation is The Way.” For constant japa/

meditation utilizing the Eternal Om will render us an Infinite Reward.

In just a few more verses the Katha Upanishad encapsulates it thus: “Of that goal

which all the Vedas declare, which is implicit in all penances, and in pursuit of which

men lead lives of continence and service, of that will I briefly speak. It is–OM. This

syllable is Brahman. This syllable is indeed supreme. He who knows it obtains his

desire. It is the strongest support. It is the highest symbol. He who knows it is

reverenced as a knower of Brahman.” (Katha Upanishad 1:2:16, 17)

The truth

All truth is a two-edged sword. It tells us what IS and what IS NOT. The truth about

the Self and Brahman also tells us what is not the Self or Brahman. Those of us who

are clinging to the unreal will find this painful or at least uncomfortable. But we have to

let go of the unreal to lay hold of the Real. If we do not like this fact we need not bother

with Real, but keep on whirling around in our little hamster wheel we call life. But the

wise listen and act upon Yama’s next words to Nachiketa:

‘The goal of worldly desire, the glittering objects for which all men long, the

celestial pleasures they hope to gain by religious rites, the most sought-after of

miraculous powers—all these were within thy grasp. But all these, with firm resolve,

thou hast renounced.” (Katha Upanishad 1:2:11)

To enter into Life we turn away from all fulfillments of material and temporal

desires, no longer attracted by their false glitter. Nor do we aspire to some heaven or

heavenly pleasures offered to us by ego-oriented religion–things that also end as

painfully as the joys of earth. Even miracles mean nothing to us, for they occur only in

the realm of duality, the realm of death.

Where is Life?

Seeing that Nachiketa was yearning to pass from death to Immortality, Yama

continues: “The ancient, effulgent being, the indwelling Spirit, subtle, deep-hidden in

the lotus of the heart, is hard to know. But the wise man, following the path of

meditation, knows him, and is freed alike from pleasure and from pain.” (Katha

Upanishad 1:2:12)

First of all, before analyzing this, it must be realized that Yama is talking about us.

Certainly, we are finite and God is infinite, but substantially (essentially) we are the

same. So Yama is talking about our true nature in these amazing words, and we should

consider them accordingly.

Ancient

We are puranam–ancient. God is called the Purana Purusha, the Ancient Person.

Since we coexist with Him, we, too, are ancient. Shankara in his commentary explains

that in this context puranam does not just mean incredibly old, but everlasting. That is,

we, too, are primeval beings. “There was never a time when I did not exist, nor you,

nor any of these kings. Nor is there any future in which we shall cease to be,” Krishna

tells Arjuna in the Gita (2:12).

Our eternity is very hard for us to grasp even theoretically because we have been

caught in the time-space web for ages beyond calculation. Creations have come and

gone as we barely crawled along the evolutionary path. We just cannot conceive of

eternity, for it is not time without end, it is that state of being which lies beyond time.

Actually, we are living in that state right now, but have completely lost sight of it and

imagine we are immersed in the sea of constant change, of constant birth and death

with their attendant sufferings.

To view ourselves as eternal, immortal beings is therefore most important, for

without that perspective “life” will totally overwhelm us, drowning us in illusions

without either numbering or end. Yet when we step back, withdrawing our

consciousness into our own reality, it will end instantly. It is the stepping back and

withdrawal that takes the time.

Effulgent Being

Devam means “shining one.” We are ourselves “the light that shines in

darkness” (John 1:5) for we are a living part of the Light of Life (John 1:4).

Consequently we must turn within for illumination. Until we are perfected in that inturning

we do need some external lights such as holy books and teachers, but it is

unwise to become dependent on any outer source of knowledge. Eventually we must

get it all from within, having become swayamprakash, self-illumined.

Certainly we should be discontented with our present ignorant and bound state of

being, but there is no room here for condemning or loathing ourselves for being

sinners, weak, foolish, etc. Our discontent with our present state should arise from our

conviction that we are ourselves divine–for devam means that as well. We are living far

beneath our selves. Knowing that, we should turn around, stop our descent, and begin

ascending to our real place–far beyond any childish heaven or relative condition of any

type however exalted.

Since we are self-effulgent, all guidance must eventually come from within. We may

not be able to tap the inner light right now to the needed degree, but in time our atma

alone must be our guide through and beyond this life. We must learn to rely on our

capacity for pure Knowing.

As a child and a young man I looked upon myself as a “Bible-believing Christian,”

so naturally I believed that Jesus Christ was the Light of the World (John 8:12, John

9:5). But it was only when I found the wisdom of the Upanishads that I really believed

Jesus when he said: “Ye are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14) For the

fundamental necessity is to realize that we are the Light also. “God is light” (I John 1:5)

and so are we, for we and God are one, not two. No one who claims to be spiritually

enlightened can teach otherwise, “for with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall

we see light.” (Psalms 36:9) The Light of God reveals the Light of our own Self. The

closer we get to our real self, the closer we come to God, and vice versa. Then “the sun

shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto

thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy

glory.” (Isaiah 60:19) For we shall know ourselves as Light and Glory. This is not

egotism, for in the Light the ego melts away. “The path of the just is as the shining

light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Proverbs 4:18)

Indwelling Spirit

“Indwelling spirit” not only tells us that we are pure consciousness by nature, but

the important fact that our consciousness is the noumenon which dwells at the heart of

all phenomena. That wherever there is any “thing” there are we as the reality that is

the substratum of all existence–even of illusion. That is why we find our selves if we

pierce the veil of illusion or look within. We are omnipresent.

Subtle

We do not perceive the Self because our conditionings from aeons of relative

existence has coarsened our perceptions. Experiencing materiality over and over and

over again has oriented and confined our awareness to the grossest levels of existence.

Further, it has oriented and confined our awareness to externalities. Any reflective

person can readily understand the need to turn our awareness inward to perceive the

self, but more is needed: we must refine our minds, rendering them more and more

subtle so they can eventually see the Most Subtle: the Self.

Meditation refines the mind no doubt, but we have to do more than that, otherwise

an entire life will simply not be enough time to produce the requisite refinement.

Therefore Patanjali in Yoga Sutras 2:30,32 lists the necessary means for the physical

and psychic refinement without which the Self cannot be realized to any degree. They

are:

1) Ahimsa: non-violence, non-injury, harmlessness

2) Satya: truthfulness, honesty

3) Asteya: non-stealing, honesty, non-misappropriativeness

4) Brahmacharya: sexual continence in thought, word and deed as well as control

of all the senses

5) Aparigraha: non-possessiveness, non-greed, non-selfishness, non-acquisitiveness

6) Shaucha: purity, cleanliness

7) Santosha: contentment, peacefulness

8) Tapas: austerity, practical (i.e., result-producing) spiritual discipline

9) Swadhyaya: introspective self-study, spiritual study

10) Ishwarapranidhana: offering of one’s life to God

All of these deal with the innate powers of the human being–or rather with the

abstinence and observance that will develop and release those powers to be used

toward our spiritual perfection, to our self-realization and liberation. Equally important

is their effect on our minds: harmonization, strengthening, and refinement.

These ten factors and successful meditation are actually interdependent. Without

meditation they are impossible to accomplish, and without their steady and complete

observance meditation becomes impossible. This is why after nearly forty years of the

“yoga boom” in this country nothing significant has been accomplished spiritually. A

lot of money has been made, organizations formed and exalted over the lives of their

members, and a great deal of folly and neurosis has resulted (what to say of virulent

scandals) but that is all. Why? Because these ten needful elements are utterly omitted

from the spheres of their existence. They are never mentioned, much less advocated.

The only exception is ahimsa–limited only to opposition to war. This is because

everybody wants to be nice and the pop-yoga movement was born during the “Hell no,

we won’t go!” war-protesting hip era. However, the most obvious personal application

of ahimsa: advocacy of abstention from the eating of animal flesh, is usually absent.

The sensible aspirant cannot do otherwise than make these ten disciplines part of

his life if he truly wishes to render himself capable of beholding the Self and living as

the Self.

Deep-hidden in the lotus of the heart

Why are we out of touch with God and our Self? Because we are skimming on the

surface of “things” while Reality is “deep-hidden in the lotus of the heart”–the Core of

All. Actually, Reality is deep-hidden in the core of the things we are experiencing. We

only need to see into them to find the True. That is why in Buddhism we find the word

Penetration so frequently used. We must See Deeply. That is, we need not turn away or

withdraw from outer phenomena, but rather develop the capacity to see into them to

their ultimate Depth. To do this we do enter inside through meditation, but since there

really is neither Inside nor Outside in the truest sense, in time–through the practice of

meditation–we come to see all there is to see: The One.

Hard to know

We have all experienced getting a mistaken idea or impression stuck in our head

that we could not get rid of even when we knew better. The same is true of habit

patterns. Living in conditioned existence we ourselves have become conditioned–or at

least we identify with the conditionings of the ever-shifting mind. This is the only

reason that the Self is hard to know. It has nothing to do with the nature of the Self, but

with the conditioning of the mind–conditioning resulting from billions and billions of

lifetimes as everything from an atom of hydrogen onward to where we are now. It is

not easy to undo in a few years what we have taken thousands of creation cycles to

build up! Yet it can be done and will be done in time. We just have to understand the

way things work and that it will take time. Nevertheless, the words “hard to know”

assure us that the Self can be known.

The way and its effects

“But the wise man, following the path of meditation, knows him, and is freed alike

from pleasure and from pain.” It is the path of meditation that leads to Self-knowledge,

none other. “The uncontrolled mind does not guess that the Atman is present: how can

it meditate? Without meditation, where is peace? Without peace, where is

happiness?” (Bhagavad Gita 2:66)

It is not that Self-knowledge renders us incapable of experiencing pleasure or pain,

but of being in bondage to them–that is, being subject to reaction to pleasure and pain.

“The bonds of his flesh are broken. He is lucky, and does not rejoice: he is unlucky,

and does not weep. I call him illumined.” (Bhagavad Gita 2:57) “To obey the Atman is

his peaceful joy; sorrow melts into that clear peace: his quiet mind is soon established

in peace.” (Bhagavad Gita 2:65)

Finding the Treasure

All the world seeks happiness. Our American Declaration of Independence says

that the pursuit of happiness is an inalienable right for every human being. But see

how miserable people really are beneath the frantic veneer of the pursuit of happiness

in an ever-changing and pain-producing world. The problem? We are looking in the

wrong direction. We are seeking outward when we should be seeking inward. We are

seeking the non-self instead of the Self. From the Katha Upanishad we learn the right

line of action.

“The man who has learned that the Self is separate from the body, the senses, and

the mind, and has fully known him, the soul of truth, the subtle principle–such a man

verily attains to him, and is exceeding glad, because he has found the source and

dwelling place of all felicity. Truly do I believe, O Nachiketa, that for thee the gates of

joy stand open.” (Katha Upanishad 1:2:13)

Separate

“The Self is separate from the body, the senses, and the mind.” Therefore the body,

senses, and mind cannot even “see” the Self as an object, and certainly cannot possibly

experience the Self to any degree. The happiness experienced by body, senses, and

mind is not true happiness at all, but an approximation, a sham that distracts us from

the real thing, inevitably leading us to frustration and all-around misery. This must be

learned. Then the Self itself must be known.

Soul of truth, subtle principle

The Self is the very soul of Truth, of Reality. It is not just the basis of reality, it IS

reality. Apart from it there simply is nothing. It is subtle beyond all conception–but not

beyond all experience. It is when we enter fully into the Being that is the Self, that we

“attain to him,” that boundless happiness shall be ours. For the Boundless itself shall

be ours.

Source and dwelling

Yama then tells us an important fact: the Self is the source of all and the dwelling

place of all felicity. Now this is most intriguing. We are saying that the Self is all there

really is, and then we hear that it is the source of “all.” This is the key to true non-dual

comprehension. Sri Ramakrishna explained that at first we follow the path of negation

saying “Not this, not that,” the idea being that everything we can see or think of is not

the Real. But when we come to the real end of that approach–which is not just

intellection or mind-gaming, but the inner path of meditation–and turn back we will say

“ALL this!” That is, we will see that everything is the Real, that the unreal was only our

way of seeing and (mis)understanding it. The whole world, said Sri Ramakrishna, will

then be seen as “a mart of joy.” Unless this is understood at the beginning we will end

up being just another dyspeptic world-and-life-denying grouch, claiming that our

dryness and grimness is jnana (wisdom). “There is a state beyond bliss, you know,”

grated one of them to a friend of mine who dared to find joy in the Self. India abounds

with these anatmic misfits and we have plenty of them in the West, too. (One is too

many.)

All that is dwells in–is rooted in–the Self and is therefore an expression of divine

Ananda. What a wonderful world-view: one that sees not “the world” but Spirit. We do

not go from one point to another to pass from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to

the Light, from death to Immortality. It is only a matter of changing our base of

perception. This is the real alchemy, changing the lead of mundane experience to the

gold of supernal joy.

The conclusion

No one is excluded from this glorious truth, it extends to all and is vital to all in an

equal degree. No one is nearer or farer from the Self–it embraces all. This is the real

Gospel–the Evangelion, the Good News humanity needs so desperately: “Truly, for

thee the gates of joy stand open.”

Let us pass through them!

The Transcendent Reality of the Self

Previously Yama has spoken to Nachiketa of the manner to experience the Self that

is immanent in all that “is.” Now he completes the picture by an exposition of the

Transcendent and the means to realize It. He does this in response to Nachiketa’s

question: “Teach me, O King, I beseech thee, whatsoever thou knowest to be beyond

right and wrong, beyond cause and effect, beyond past, present, and future.” (Katha

Upanishad 1:2:14) He desires to know about the Transcendental Reality that is beyond

all qualities or designations. As the Immanent Being, That has infinite names, forms,

conditions, and qualities, but beyond that is something much greater: the

Transcendent. That can neither be said to exist or not to exist, to be with form or

without form, with qualities or without qualities, for all these propositions are dualities,

one presupposing the other. Where there is one there is its opposite–duality is an

absolute in the realm of the Immanent Reality. Nachiketa is certainly pleased with the

truth that all can be seen as the Divine Unity, but he wishes to complete his knowledge

by learning about what lies beyond even that. Sri Ma Anandamayi, when discussing

these things, always insisted on the point that there is a state in which even the

question of duality/unity, form/formless, and such like cannot even arise. That is the

state Nachiketa aspires to comprehend and experience.

The answer is in the question

Everything in manifestation is dual. This is the truth for every aspect of life. There

is an interesting divinatory process known as The Alphabet of the Magi. To “work” it a

question is formulated and then written on cards–one letter per card. These cards are

then shuffled and dealt out in a special way (unknown to me) to form the words that

are the answer to the question! It was The Alphabet of the Magi, worked by a

Benedictine monk who practiced divination and astrology in Paris after his monastery

had been closed by the anti-religious government, that inspired Charlotte Corday to

assassinate Marat and inspired Napoleon, then a mere corporal, to aspire to the

rulership of France. So it works.

The idea that the answer is inherent in the question is very important, for it means

that the questioner already knows the answer on the subconscious (or superconscious)

level, that the question cannot arise until the answer is subliminally known. The

purpose of questioning, then, is to bring out on the conscious level what is known

unconsciously. When we seemingly ask another to teach us we are really seeking to

stimulate and bring forth our own knowledge. That is why the wise have assured their

students that in time they would be able to find the answers within themselves–it is

only a matter of developing intuition through clarifying the mind.

It is very common to hear someone demand: “Why did you ask me if you are not

going to accept what I tell you?” The reply should be: “So I can figure the answer out

for myself.” The very fact that we reject a given answer indicates that we think we do

know what is the truth about the matter. Otherwise we would mindlessly accept what

we are told. (Many do, alas.) It is all inside us. Questioning reveals the ripening of our

innate knowledge. Knowing this, Jesus said: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and

ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh

receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be

opened.” (Matthew 7:7, 8) He is not urging us to seek outside ourselves, but to seek

within.

Nachiketa seems to be asking Yama about the Transcendent, but his question

reveals how much he already knows.

Beyond right and wrong

The moment we enter duality–relative existence–we become subject to the

situation that some thoughts, words, and acts will impel us onward to higher

consciousness and others will impel us to lower consciousness. No matter where we

may “be” at the moment, it cannot be permanent. By the nature of things we will keep

moving up and down, back and forth. Whenever we think we have attained some

stability it is only a matter of the movement being so slow it is imperceptible to us. We

are always in danger of incurring suffering because of this. In truth, suffering is

inevitable, for even rising requires effort and unsureness or doubt as to the success of

our endeavor. As Krishna says of us: “Anxiety binds them with a hundred

chains.” (Bhagavad Gita 16:12) We suffer anxiety as to what is the right or wrong and

anxiety as to whether we can avoid the wrong and manage to think and do the right.

Even more, we are busy getting and losing, anxious to get the good and rid ourselves

of the wrong. And of course we are mostly deluded as to what is really right and

wrong, usually thinking that the pleasurable is right and the painful is wrong. That is

why Krishna told Arjuna: “Both the good and the pleasant present themselves to men.

The wise, having examined both, distinguish the one from the other. The wise prefer

the good to the pleasant; the foolish, driven by fleshly desires, prefer the pleasant to

the good.” (Katha Upanishad 1:2:2) The danger is obvious.

Nachiketa intuits that this terrible dragging back and forth, this dilemma inherent

in “existence,” can come to an end–not in the realm of relative existence, but in its

transcendence. Realizing the truth that trying to “rise above” any of the dualities is as

foolish as trying to make dry water or cold fire, is a tremendous breakthrough for the

developing consciousness and indicates that the end of the search is near. Some of our

monks visited a great saint in the Himalayan foothills and spoke with him about

spiritual life. He told them: “Your questions show that you are not far from the Goal.”

Beyond cause and effect

In ignorant religion “sin” and “righteousness” occupy a great deal of attention, not

necessarily because of a sincere desire to be virtuous, but because of their effects.

Desire and fear motivate the religionist–at least mentally and emotionally–for sin gets

punished and righteousness gets rewarded. Punishment hurts and reward feels good.

Punishment takes away and reward supplies. The dispenser of reward and punishment

is some kind (or many kinds) of deity who, being an extension of the ignorant egos of

the adherents of the religion, judges good and bad on the basis of “I like” and “I don’t

like,” “I want” and “I don’t want.” Good sense and practicality have nothing to do with

it. The deity is either pleased or displeased and acts accordingly. To complicate

matters, the deity can be placated if “sinned against” and, being mollified by groveling

and penitence, will reward the sinner as much as if he had been virtuous–maybe even

more, so the deity’s “love” and “mercy” can be revealed. We see this behavior in

human beings all the time: tears, apology and self-castigation not only stop the anger or

displeasure, they evoke a tenderness and openness that should sensibly only be

evoked by right conduct. So in evil religion (for ignorance is evil), despite the

assurance that virtue is rewarded, we see that sin and repentance are rewarded and

the sinner assured of salvation. Such a religion becomes a living hell populated and

promoted by living demons.

I expect that just about everyone reading these words are congratulating

themselves on having gotten out of or avoided such religion. Ah, the sane wisdom of

the East. Really? Do we not see that “good karma” and “bad karma” are bugaboos just

as much desired and feared as any heaven or hell proffered by Western religion? I

knew a man that had a metaphysical bookstore. Shoplifting was a real problem. Now, if

he had put a sign on the door so the departing malefactors would have read something

like: “Thou shalt not steal,” (Exodus 20:15) or “The soul that sinneth it shall

die,” (Ezekiel 18:4,20) or ““Know thou that God will bring thee into

judgment,” (Ecclesiastes 11:9) it would have had no result–perhaps even the opposite.

For after all, were not his customers “beyond all that Judeo-Christian negativity”?

Indeed they were! So he did this. He put a sign on the door for all to see as they

departed saying: “Shoplifting is Bad Karma.” Nearly every day that sign stopped at

least one person. Most sheepishly shuffled back to the shelf and sneaked the book

back. Some actually came to the owner and gave him the book along with an apology.

Why? Had he evoked their higher moral sensibilities? Not a bit. They had traded fear

of sin and hell for fear of bad karma and retribution–maybe even a bad rebirth. The

ego was still in the driver’s seat, and quite liable to stay there for a long time. Karma

may be more “scientific” a concept than sin, punishment, and hell, but the fear

engendered is just as egoic, and therefore just as negative and ultimately ignorant.

Nachiketa had a clear vision of things. The problem was not tears or smiles, but the

LAW of cause and effect, the truth that for every action there is an equal responsive

reaction. Reactivity, inner and outer, is also inherent in relative–dual–consciousness.

But Nachiketa did not just want to get away from the noise and damp of the ocean of

samsara, he wanted to get away from the ocean itself. A jail cell may be miserable or

luxurious, but it is still a prison. Nachiketa aspired to freedom. He wished to attain that

which was beyond cause and effect, not just a means of avoiding them. This is one of

the reasons why religion is usually so pointless: it attempts to make the fire stop

burning rather than showing the way out of the conflagration. It seeks to make

bondage palatable, pleasing to both the egocentric deity and the egocentric devotee. A

confederacy of dunces, indeed.

Beyond past, present, and future

My first reading of the Bhagavad Gita revealed to me something I had intuited all

my life: the fundamental truth that space and time are utter illusions, basic delusions of

human consciousness. What a relief! So when in three or four days I heard one of the

most intelligent of my university professors remark that time and space were the two

fundamental realities, you can imagine how much I appreciated the Gita for clearing

that nonsense up for me. (I appreciated myself, too, for being so clever as to

understand it.)

The time-space continuum is a torment to the awakened consciousness, for it is the

basis for the existence of cause and effect and therefore of right and wrong. It is

impermanence itself, the root cause of all suffering, fear, anxiety, and instability. Since

we have been immersed in relativity for creation cycles beyond number, we find

ourselves in a present whose vast roots are thoroughly unknown, and whose effects

will create an unknown future that will be a fusion of the past and the “present

present.” Uncertainty and confusion are the results of even a small attempt to make

sense of the whole thing. And the idea of controlling any aspect is simply beyond our

imagination. We are drowning in a shoreless ocean. But we do not just drown once and

have it over with. We drown daily–every moment, actually. Only the stupid or the

willfully ignorant do not see this. How can we blame those who take refuge in illusion,

whatever the form? They do not need an analysis or judgment of their predicament;

they need a way out. Nachiketa is asking for that, not for more philosophy or

exposition of the problem.

Transcendent being

There is not a “place” beyond right and wrong, beyond cause and effect, beyond

past, present, and future, but a state of being that transcends them. Nachiketa sought to

become an altogether different order of being, to enter into the state of Brahman Itself.

Knowing this to be so, Yama does not hesitate, but literally spells it out. He begins:

“Of that goal which all the Vedas declare, which is implicit in all penances, and in

pursuit of which men lead lives of continence and service, of that will I briefly

speak.” (Katha Upanishad 1:2:15)

Goal

That which Nachiketa seeks is not an abstraction but a positive reality known to

Yama. Perhaps the most heartening thing that can be said about That Which Is is the

fact that it is The Goal. Its attainment is not only possible, it is inevitable. The entire

field of relative existence, however much we have damaged or corrupted it, and it in

turn has damaged or corrupted us, has a single purpose: the attainment of Brahman

and the consequent liberation of the questing spirit (atman). This is what everything is

all about. So no wonder we have made such a mess of things–literally. Not knowing

either their or our purpose, what else could be the result? We are like the character in

the Woody Allen movie that tried to play the cello by blowing through the holes.

Ignorance is the root of all the trouble.

“Shake off this fever of ignorance. Stop hoping for worldly rewards. Fix your mind

on the Atman. Be free from the sense of ego,” (Bhagavad Gita 3:30) counsels Krishna.

“You dream you are the doer, you dream that action is done, you dream that action

bears fruit. It is your ignorance, it is the world’s delusion that gives you these

dreams.” (Bhagavad Gita 5:14) “Seek this knowledge and comprehend clearly why you

should seek it: such, it is said, are the roots of true wisdom: ignorance, merely, is all

that denies them.” (Bhagavad Gita 13:11) “When men have thrown off their ignorance,

they are free from pride and delusion. They have conquered the evil of worldly

attachment. They live in constant union with the Atman. All craving has left them. They

are no longer at the mercy of opposing sense-reactions. Thus they reach that state

which is beyond all change.” (Bhagavad Gita 15:5)

Vedas

By “vedas” Yama means the teachings of illumined sages regarding the nature of

Brahman and the way to conscious union with Brahman. For “veda” means knowledge

or wisdom. Although that word has come to be used only in the sense of the ancient

Sanskrit hymns found in the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas, they are not meant

here. At the time of Nachiketa the vedas were the orally transmitted wisdom of the

Vedic Rishis that only later were written down as the upanishads. In a broader sense,

the vedas are the words of any enlightened person about the nature of God and the

realization of God. Books of speculative philosophy mean nothing to our search for

Divine Consciousness. Only the teachings of those who have themselves reached the

Goal are relevant and worthy of our attention.

Implicit in all penances

The word rather poorly translated here as “penances” is tapasya. Literally it means

the generation of heat or energy, but is always used in a symbolic manner, referring to

spiritual practice and its effect, especially the roasting of karmic seeds, the burning up

of karma. Tapasya means a practical–i.e., result-producing–spiritual discipline which

culminates in spiritual evolution and enlightenment.

The important idea in Yama’s words are that our spiritual practice must be

congruent with the nature of God. Though tapasya implies a discipline, it cannot just

be some type of militaristic coercion or “mortification” of the body and mind that are

often nothing more than an expression of self-loathing. The religions of the world

abound in admiration for those who torture the body and mind, attaining abnormal

psychic states foolishly mistaken for spiritual attainment. But according to Yama, the

Goal must be implicit in all disciplines. That is, the disciplines themselves must

embody the nature of God–and our own selves, as well. A person unfamiliar with

spiritual truth should be able through analysis of authentic practice to actually come to

understand the truth regarding the nature of both the seeker and the Goal. If a

spiritual practice cannot impart this knowledge by its very mechanics, then it is invalid

and cannot possibly lead to the Goal. For this is a very valuable fact: only that practice

which from the very first moment puts us in touch with God and begins to reveal our

true nature is genuine yoga. All else is illusion. That is why Krishna says: “What is

man’s will and how shall he use it? Let him put forth its power to uncover the Atman,

not hide the Atman: man’s will is the only friend of the Atman: his will is also the

Atman’s enemy.” (Bhagavad Gita 6:5) The plain truth is that putting the force of the

will into erroneous practices will hide the Truth from us even more, whereas applying

the will in correct practice will reveal Divinity to us. For Divinity is inherent in true

yoga.

In pursuit of which…

The upanishads teach us the truth of the unity of the atman and Brahman.

Therefore that truth is known as advaita, “not two,” meaning that there is no separation

of the atman and Brahman at any time. Simplistic thinkers, especially in the West,

immediately begin to decry the idea of tapasya, yoga, or any other discipline, insisting

very shrilly that there is no need for such, that to engage in spiritual practice is to

affirm a delusion of separation between us and God. They usually end up denying that

either we or God even exist, advocating a kind of petulant, bullying nihilism, reminding

any sensible person of Krishna’s indictment: “These malignant creatures are full of

egoism, vanity, lust, wrath, and consciousness of power. They loathe me, and deny my

presence both in themselves and in others. They are enemies of all men and of

myself.” (Bhagavad Gita 16:18) Drastic words, these, but they address a drastic mental

and spiritual aberration. Read the entire sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita for a

full outline of such kinds of people. This is but one of the reasons why a continual

study of the Gita is necessary for those who do not wish to go (or be led) astray in

their spiritual pursuit. No student of the Gita could ever fall into such absurd pitfalls as

these “advaitans” whose only unity is their absorption in the illusion of the ego.

The truth is that the realization of God not only can but must be pursued. We do

not pursue God, understand, for God is everywhere and always one with us. Rather, we

pursue the revelation of that eternal oneness and its manifestation on all levels of our

present existence. Regarding this, a yogi-adept of the twentieth century, Dr. I. K.

Taimni, remarked in his book The Science of Yoga: “According to the yogic philosophy

it is possible to rise completely above the illusions and miseries of life and to gain

infinite knowledge, bliss, and power through enlightenment here and now while we are

still living in the physical body. And if we do not attain this enlightenment while we are

still alive we will have to come back again and again into this world until we have

accomplished this appointed task. So it is not a question of choosing the path of yoga

or rejecting it. It is a question of choosing it now or in some future life. It is a question

of gaining enlightenment as soon as possible and avoiding the suffering in the future

or postponing the effort and going through further suffering which is unnecessary and

avoidable. This is the meaning of Yoga Sutra 2:16: ‘The misery which is not yet come

can and is to be avoided.’ No vague promise of an uncertain postmortem happiness

this, but a definite scientific assertion of a fact verified by the experience of

innumerable yogis, saints, and sages who have trodden the path of yoga throughout

the ages.”

It is absolutely sure: “Seek, and ye shall find.”

Brahmacharya

Brahmacharyam is the word Swami Prabhavananda translates as “lives of

continence and service.” Radhakrishnan renders it “the life of a religious student,” and

Swami Sivananda: “life of a brahmacharin.” In India the first stage of life is that of a

student, a brahmachari. The brahmachari-student leads a life of discipline, the core of

which is sexual continence–a concept utterly lacking in other cultures as their present

disintegration reveals. He also serves his teacher in a practical way, for the ideal

environment of the brahmacharya ashram is rural, a forest setting being the ideal. At

the time the upanishads were first spoken, all Aryas lived in the forests, living an

agrarian life of the utmost simplicity. The students of a teacher helped out in the day-today

routine required by such a lifestyle.

But Yama is not confining brahmacharya to the student’s stage of life, and in

“modern times,” whatever the age or outer circumstances of the seeker, it would

consist of both self control (abstinence) and practical positive action, including selfless

service.

I once saw a cartoon in which a drunk was lying in a gutter and asking a Salvation

Army woman: “Can you save me here, or do I have to go somewhere?” Obviously,

being “saved” did not interest him very much. But those who are truly interested say

with the Prodigal Son: “I will arise and go.” (Luke 15:18) And they do. Living a life of

purity and discipline is the way they rise and go.

Briefly speak.

It is most significant that Yama says he will briefly speak of the Goal. Why is this?

Because the Goal is Brahman, and Brahman can only be spoken of very briefly. This is

because Brahman is exceedingly simple, in fact the only really simple (incomplex)

“thing” there is. Also, the intellect can only grasp the tiniest bit of the truth about

Brahman, so not only can little be said, little can be understood. In a way this makes it

very easy for us. Here is how the Gita teaches us about Brahman:

“Now I shall describe That which has to be known, in order that its knower may

gain immortality. That Brahman is beginningless, transcendent, eternal. He is said to

be equally beyond what is, and what is not.” (Bhagavad Gita 13:12) “Light of all lights,

He abides beyond our ignorant darkness; Knowledge, the one thing real we may study

or know, the heart’s dweller.” (Bhagavad Gita 13:17)

But Nachiketa does not want to know about Brahman, he wants to know Brahman.

With this in mind, Yama reveals both Brahman and the way to Brahman–for they are

the same–by saying: “It is–OM.” (Om ityetat. Katha Upanishad 1:2:15)

You cannot be briefer than that. Nor do you need to be. Yama has said it all, for Om

is the embodiment of The All.

He has, as I say, said it all, but Yama continues with a brief exposition of the nature

of Om.

Om is Supreme Brahman

“This syllable is Brahman. This syllable is indeed supreme. He who knows it

obtains his desire.” (Katha Upanishad 1:2:16)

Om is Brahman. It is not a symbol of Brahman, It IS Brahman. Om is not even a

word–It is the very presence of Brahman. “Om is not counted among words,” (The

Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Majumdar translation: 3.17.3) said Sri Ramakrishna. “It is

not a word, it is God Himself,” said Swami Vivekananda (Inspired Talks, Sunday, July

21). This assertion is borne out by the fact that in Sanskrit Om is not treated as a

word–that is, It does not go through any changes in form according to its grammatical

position or status. It has no plural, possessive, subjective, objective, or adjectival forms.

It is always just “Om” and nothing else.

I could cite a great many authoritative statements affirming the divine nature of

Om, but I recommend our publication, The Glories and Powers of Om, which contains

under many headings the scriptural statements on Om.

Obviously Om is supreme, being Itself the Supreme. But Yama has made this

seemingly obvious comment to convey the fact that Om is the supreme means to the

realization of the Supreme. There is nothing higher than Om, nor is there any means

of spiritual cultivation higher than Om. That is why Patanjali simply said: “Its repetition

and meditation is the way.” (Yoga Sutras 1:28)

Yama then tells Nachiketa that he who knows Om obtains whatever he desires.

Many upanishads state that Om encompasses all existence and therefore literally is all

things, that all things are formed of Om just as all clay pots are made of the single

substance, clay. Since all things are contained in Om, it can only follow that he who

truly knows Om by uniting his consciousness with It through Its japa and meditation

shall attain all that he desires as a matter of course. Such a wise one, will of course

desire only That which fulfills all desire: Brahman. Commenting on this very verse,

Swami Vivekananda said: “Ay, therefore first know the secret of this Om, that you are

the Om….” (The Vedanta) Om is the ending of all desire by being the fulfillment of all

desire.

The strongest and the highest

“It is the strongest support. It is the highest symbol. He who knows it is reverenced

as a knower of Brahman.” (Katha Upanishad 1:2:17) The need for security is

fundamental to human existence. This is especially true in relation to spiritual life.

Even a little observation reveals how incredibly fragile spiritual consciousness and

spiritual activity is in human life, for everything militates against it and overwhelms it.

Observing this, Jesus’ disciples asked him: “Lord, are there few that be saved?” And he

assured them that indeed few manage to be saved. (See Luke 13:23,24; Matthew 7:14;

19:25; 20:16; 22:14.) The New Testament Greek word translated “saved” is sodzo, which

means to be safe in the sense of delivered from danger or harm. It also means to be

healed and become whole. Salvation in the view of Jesus and his disciples was not

having sins forgiven and allowed into heaven, but was the same as the upanishadic

sages: Liberation (Moksha). All shall eventually attain liberation, but only a few at a

time do so. Not because it is so difficult, but that so few even conceive of it, and even

fewer persevere in the pursuit of it. Jesus quoted the Gita in his discourses and was

certainly familiar with Krishna’s words to Arjuna: “Who cares to seek for that perfect

freedom? One man, perhaps, in many thousands. Then tell me how many of those who

seek freedom shall know the total truth of my being? Perhaps one only.” (Bhagavad

Gita 7:3)

With this perspective, Yama tells Nachiketa that Om is the strongest and highest

support. Swami Pabhavananda translated alambana the second time as “symbol” no

doubt thinking of Om as an object of meditation. Although its supporting power is

most important in relation to spiritual life and practice, Yama makes no such explicit

qualification, so we can be sure that Om is the empowerment and support of

everything positive in our life. This, too, is asserted many times in the upanishads.

Knower of Om–knower of Brahman.

“He who knows It is reverenced as a knower of Brahman.” Some translators render

this: “He who knows It is revered in the world of Brahman.” For a knower of Om is

translated into that world, having been transmuted into Brahman through Om. It is no

wonder, then, that the Mundaka Upanishad says about Om: “Dismiss other utterances.

This is the bridge to immortality.” (Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.5)

Om is our self (atman)

How can Om have such an incredible effect upon us? Because we are Om. It is our

own self (atman).

“The Self, whose symbol is OM, is the omniscient Lord. He is not born. He does

not die. He is neither cause nor effect. This Ancient One is unborn, imperishable,

eternal: though the body be destroyed, he is not killed.” (Katha Upanishad 1:2:18)

If Brahman was not at the core of our being, as the core of our being, we could not

possibly become one with Brahman. All talk of “becoming” is of course not really

accurate if we think of it as becoming something we are not. Rather, it is the becoming

aware of, becoming established in, our eternal unity with Brahman. Some years ago,

workers in a Burmese temple were moving a huge plaster image of Buddha with heavy

equipment. Something went wrong and the image was dropped. To their astonishment

the plaster, which was only a layer a few inches thick, broke and fell off, revealing that

the image was solid gold! Centuries before it had been covered with plaster to protect

it from thieves. Today it is considered the single most valuable image of Buddha in the

world. We are like that. A layer of relative existence has been plastered onto our

consciousness for so long that we think we are the plaster. When the plaster was

broken the image was revealed to be gold, and when our “plaster” is broken we shall

be revealed as parts of Brahman, waves of the One Ocean of Being.

We shall then know that we are not born, we do not die, we are neither cause nor

effect; we are unborn, imperishable, eternal, unaffected by any conditions of the body

whatsoever. For as Shankara sang:

I am not the mind, intellect, thought, or ego;

Not hearing, not tasting, not smelling, not seeing;

I am not the elements–ether, earth, fire, air: