Katho:panishad - II

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!! Jai Srimannaraynana

 

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.