Katho:panishad - II

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Jeeyar Thiruvadigale: Sharanam !!

Dear Bhagavthas,

Adiye:n’s humble Prana:mam. Jai Sri:manna:ra:yana. By the nirhethuka krupa of

our Acharya, adiye:n is posting the second part of this Katho:panishad series.

In this H.H. builds the introduction to the first Manthra of Katho:panishad.

The goal of Upanishads is to explain the Swarupam of Moksha. But why we need

to know what is Moksha, what are the activities of the Lord, what Nithya Su:ris

do in Vaikuntham, what we will do after reaching Vaikuntham...? Is there any

need to know all these things?

If we set out on a journey, we know our destination very well. We have an

idea of what we will do after reaching that place and what we have to do to

reach there. If you don't know any of these things and simply start your

journey you will end up nowhere and your whole effort will be so useless. Isn't

it?

Upanishads are like "Travel Guides". You refer to them to know about the

destination, how to reach there (distance, time, mode of travel...) and why it

is worthy of visiting, what is the specialty of that particular place! How

many of us know what we will do after reaching Vaikuntham? Will we be simply

sleeping there in some corner after eating prasadam? What about your existence

as an individual person? How does your body look like? What kind of work you

will do? What is your food?

Intriguing, isn't it? Surprisingly, Upanishads answer all these questions.

When you know about some beautiful place very well, you grow the desire to go

there and enjoy the beauty. Similarly, the more we know about Lord and our

relationship with Him, the more we hanker to go there. The aim is to encourage

a healthy growth of consciousness to reach that supreme abode.

Complacency is the enemy on this spiritual path. Swamiji articulates:

"Mumukshu is the person who is never satisfied with His spiritual acumen. He

wants to know little more, practice little more...". So, for us to qualify as

Mumukshu, we need to practice, practice and practice what we know.

Our aim is NOT to finish off Sri Katho:panishad and go to “sleep”. Our aim is

to realize it on the most pragmatic grounds. We are not interested in simply

gathering Tera Bytes of information about Vedas, Puranas, Manthras, Ithihaasas,

Divya Prabandhams, devathas and practise nothing.

Rather, our aim is, how effectively we can utilize whatever little we know, to

improve our faith in Lord. When we do that, automatically we will be taught more

and more as and when our Acharya is pleased with our behavior and efforts.

Artha Panchakam and Katho:panishad

=================================

If you want to reach the other side of the river, do you need to know

anything about Microbiology? How about Fluid Dynamics and Oceanography? Nothing

will help, right? If you just know how to swim, you will safely reach the other

side of the river. That's all. If you want to swim across the river of this

"material attachment" you need to know the following five things and nothing

else will help you cross the ocean.

If you know these 5 you know all, if you don't know these 5, you do NOT know

anything, though you know many other "USELESS" things. In fact, scripture is

very sharp and strict, it says, till you realize these five, you are not

considered to have taken birth as human being at all!

They are called "Artha Panchaka", knowledge about the five.

1. Who am I?

2. Given this body, what am I to gain?

3. What is the advantage of gaining it?

4. What are the obstacles in gaining it?

5. Can anyone greatly help me gaining that?

If any scripture doesn't talk about these five, we can carefully avoid that.

There is no use reading them.

"Vadanthi Sakala:h Ve:da:h Munayascha Maha:thma:nah,

Se:thiha:sah, Ve:dave:da:ntha Pa:raga:h"

All the Ve:da:s, great sages and saintly persons of the past, Ithiha:sa:s and

great learned scholars in Vedas, all unequivocally describe these 5 and these 5

ONLY.

So, once again, Katho:panishad has set out to explain these 5 vividly to us.

Katho:panishad is part of Krishna Yajurvedam.

The Boy Genius: Nachikethas

========================

Unlike other Upanishads, Katho:panishad starts with a beautiful story. Once

there was living a brahmana called "Va:jasravas". He was also called

"A:runi"(because he was born in Aruna Vamsha) and "Oudha:laka" (because

"Udhalaka" was a great person in their lineage).

He had a very brilliant son called Nachiketha.

Qualities of Nachiketha

===================

Nachiketha had immense faith in whatever he had learned from Vedas. We can

observe this in his conversation with Va:jasravas. The characteristic of faith

is, it generates interest in achieving the goal. "Sradha" or interest is

nothing but curiosity to achieve something with unswerving faith in it. Lord

says, "Sradha:va:n labhathe: Jna:nam...". If we have "sradha" in going back to

Sri Vainutham, we serve our Acharya and devotees without pride. If we have

“sradha”, our mind always thinks about the lotus feet of our Acharya.

Also, Nachiketha had great magnanimity in his heart towards all living

beings. While taking boons from Yama, we understand this quality of Nachiketha.

Amazing, such a small boy of 7 years, showing divine compassion on all the

living entities. This is the quality of a devotee who truly understands the

imports of Ve:da:s. He is not selfish. If he knows something, he will share it

with others. Keeping something for himself, hiding it from others, selfishness,

hatred: these are all synonymous and a Vaishnava’s heart is free from these. A

devotee shows compassion over all living entities and helps re-awaken their

covered relationship with Lord by his teachings, by his exemplified behaviour

and deeds.

From the conversation between Nachiketha and his father, we can also

understand that Nachiketha was very brave and perfectly situated in knowledge

of scriptures.

As we go along, we shall discuss when and where Nachikethas exhibits the

above qualities.

Kindly forgive adie:n for any offenses or mistakes made in ignorance,

Adiyen.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

================

(For adiye:n's own benefit adiye:n penned these. They might become useful to some of you)

1. What is "Artha Panchaka" Jnanam? For example, take a scripture like

Bagavadh Geetha. Have you found “Artha Panchaka” Jnanam in that? Think.

2. Consider these 2 statements.

i) The goal of Upanishads is to explain the swarupa of Moksha.

ii) All the authoritative scriptures mainly talk about "Artha Panchaka" Jnanam.

What is the essential relationship between these 2 statements? Can you elaborate on it?

3. What are the wonderful qualities of Nachiketha? How to develop such qualities in us also?

4. TRUE/FALSE:

i) Nachiketha can be called "A:runi" (T/F)

ii) Ph.D in Artificial Intelligence from M.I.T gives you “Artha Panchaka” Jnanam. (T/F)

iii) If one is intelligent enough, one can understand the answers to the 5 on his own. (T/F)

iv) The goal of human life is to realize the Artha Panchaka Jnanam. (T/F)

5. Match the following:

1. Mumukshu i) Teaches you how to multiply your "Artha"

(money)

2. Vajasravas ii) Belonged to the "Aruna" Vamsha

3. Artha Panchakam iii) One who wants to improve his wealth in this

world

4. Nachiketha iv) Was found in Isho:panishad

5. Katho:panishad v) belongs to the Poorva Bhagam of Vedam

6. Karma Kanda vi) belongs to the Uthara Bhagam of Yajurvedam

vii) One who wants to improve his

bhakthi little more, little more...

viii) is the essence of every scripture

ix) was the son of Udhalaka.

x) was a very brilliant, wise boy found

in Katho:panishad.

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