Katha Upanishad Commentary—by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
The Infinite Self
“What is within us is also without. What is without is also within. He who sees difference between what is within and what is without goes evermore from death to death.”1 These words have various levels of meaning, and we should consider them all.
Microcosms
Many years ago, Dr. Judith Tyberg, a disciple of Sri Aurobindo and director of the East-West Cultural Center in Los Angeles, told me that she had attended a lecture at Benares Hindu University in which a map of the universe and charts from Gray’s Anatomy were compared and seen to be strikingly alike. Our bodies are little models of the universe.
Some months before she told this to me I had experienced this for myself. While meditating one day all ordinary physical sensation vanished. Spatial relation ceased to exist and I found myself keenly aware of being beyond dimension, neither large nor small, but infinite (for infinity is beyond size). Although the terminology is inappropriate to such a state, to make it somewhat understandable I have to say that I perceived an infinity of worlds “within” me. Suns–some solo and others surrounded by planets–glimmered inside my spaceless space. Not that I saw the light, but I felt or intuited it.2 Actually, I did not “see” anything–and yet I did. It is not expressible in terms of ordinary sense experience, yet I must use those terms. I experienced myself as everything that existed within the relative material universe. Or so it seemed, for the human body is a miniature universe, a microcosmic model of the macrocosm. The physical human body is a reflection of the universal womb that conceived it. I had experienced the subtle level of the physical body that is its ideational (i.e., causal) blueprint. On that level it can be experienced as a map of the material creation.
In this matter, it was crucial that I not mistake the copy for the Original and think I was an infinite being or had attained Cosmic Consciousness. It was Macrocosmic Consciousness–not an insignificant experience, but certainly not the final step in evolution.
“As above, so below”
In the Hermetic Philosophy of the ancient Mediterranean world there was a principle: “As above, so below.” That is, this material plane of existence is a mirroring of higher levels of being all the way up to the Absolute. Therefore, by studying earthly phenomena we can gain some idea of heavenly things. Also, that material conditions are reflections of psychic forces. Astrology is an example of this. The physical planets, through universal gravitation, certainly have some influence on our physical being, but their movements are indications of the arising and subsiding of inner, subtle energies that greatly affect us, both psychologically and externally.
We need to realize that the inner is always more real than the outer. The thirty-fourth Ode of Solomon, one of the earliest Christian hymns, says: “The likeness of that which is below is that which is above. For everything is above, and below there is nothing, but it is believed to be by those in whom there is no knowledge.”3
This is also true in yoga. Everything real happens in the head–the Sahasrara, the Thousand-petalled Lotus, the astral/causal brain. This is why Paramhansa Nityananda told his students: “Awareness [buddhi] should be concentrated in the head. Your attention should always be above the neck; never below the neck.”4 Yogis should never look to or trust phenomena that take place in the body below the Sahasrara.
Outer/inner
The outer is the inner; the inner is the outer. We have touched on this slightly. It is of inestimable importance to realize that our outer life is but a mirror image of our inner life, that whatever is taking place in our external body and environment is happening in the depths of our mind. So by studying and analyzing our outer life we come to gauge the true character of our inner life. This is not palatable to the ego, for it means that our misfortunes are our own doing and reveal our inner negativity. As the Chinese maxim has it: When mean-spirited people live behind the door, mean-spirited people come in front of the door. So let us be careful before we indulge in a litany of all the wrongs we have suffered and all the bad people that have done those wrongs to us. We will only be confessing our own sins. It is not sympathy we need, but self-correction. As a very wise book, The Astral City, says: “Self-pity is a symptom of mental illness.”
Consistency
It is also necessary that our inner and outer lives be identical. We are all aware that very corrupt people can act and speak in a seemingly virtuous way. Also, many soft-hearted people pretend to be callous or even prickly. But neither is admirable. “What you see is what you get” should be our rule of life. Our outer life must be an exact imaging of our inner life. In the Gospel of Thomas, section 22, Jesus tells his disciples that they will enter the kingdom of God: “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below.”
The inner and outer Reality
God is the inner, and God is the outer. “He who sees difference between what is within and what is without goes evermore from death to death.” We are bound to the cycle of perpetual births and deaths until we see God, both within and without–until we know that God is the sole reality of both “the world” and ourselves. In that vision we become immortal. The great Swami Sivananda wrote the following expressing this truth:
When I surveyed from Ananda Kutir, Rishikesh,
By the side of the Tehri Hills, only God I saw.
In the Ganges and the Kailas peak,
In the famous Chakra Tirtha of Naimisar also, only God I saw.In tribulation and in grief, in joy and in glee,
In sickness and in sorrow, only God I saw.
In birds and dogs, in stones and trees,
In flowers and fruits, in the sun, moon and stars, only God I saw.In the rosy cheeks of Kashmiri ladies,
In the black faces of African negroes, only God I saw.
In filth and scents, in poison and dainties,
In the market and in society, only God I saw.In Brahmakara Vritti and Vedantic Nididhyasana,
In Atmic Vichara and Atmic Chintana, only God I saw.
In Kirtan and Nama Smaran, in Sravana and Vandana,
In Archana and Padasevana, in Dasya and Atmanivedana, only God I saw.Like camphor I was melting in His fire of knowledge,
Amidst the flames outflashing, only God I saw.
My Prana entered the Brahmarandhra at the Moordha,
Then I looked with God’s eyes, only God I saw.I passed away into nothingness, I vanished,
And lo, I was the all-living, only God I saw.
I enjoyed the Divine Aisvarya, all God’s Vibhutis,
I had Visvaroopa Darshan, the Cosmic Consciousness, only God I saw.Glory, glory unto the Lord, hail! hail! hail! O sweet Ram.
Let me sing once more Thy Name—Ram Ram Ram, Om, Om, Om, only God I saw.
The seeing mind
Jesus, who said: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God,”5 had learned this well in India. For the next verse of the Katha Upanishad tells us: “By the purified mind alone is the indivisible Brahman to be attained. Brahman alone is–nothing else is. He who sees the manifold universe, and not the one reality, goes evermore from death to death.”6
The necessary purification is profound, for Saint John tells us: “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he [God] is pure.”7 Those whose minds have been made pure in the contemplation of God automatically see Him. As Patanjali explains: “God is a Spirit….…His designator is Om. Its constant repetition and meditation is the way. From it result the disappearance of obstacles and the turning inward of consciousness.” And, more importantly, they attain God, as the upanishad says. They come to know themselves as gods within God.
The universe and ourselves are in an ineffable way part of the indivisible Brahman. That is why Jesus said: “This is life eternal: that they might know thee the only true God.”8 And why the upanishad tell us that “He who sees the manifold universe, and not the one reality, goes evermore from death to death.”
The upanishad calls us to see God and enter into Life Eternal.
Read more Commentary on the Upanishads.
1) Katha Upanishad 2:1:10 [Go back]
2) Saint Teresa of Avila wrote about what she called “intellectual visions”–visions in which things are not seen as with the physical eyes, but which are perceived intellectually as concepts or ideas of visual appearances. That is, even though a visionary might be able to draw what was “seen” and could certainly speak of form, color, and all the traits of ordinary visual experience it would all have been perceived by the intellect rather than the inner senses. Actually, she was speaking of the difference between astral vision and causal vision. This latter is much higher than the former–as she also affirmed. Evelyn Underhill discusses intellectual vision extensively in her book Mysticism. [Go back]
3) Odes of Solomon 34:4, 5 [Go back]
4) Chidakasha Gita 276 [Go back]
6) Katha Upanishad 2:1:11 [Go back]
Questions and Answers on Spiritual Life
Q: I am interested in climbing the stairs that may lead to samadhi. Please guide.A: Samadhi is a natural consequence of meditation, and there need be no special attention placed on it. Rather, your attention should be on making sure your practice is correct, of sufficient time, and that nothing in your life is working against it.
Swami Vivekananda told M that Sri Ramakrishna once asked him: “What do you want?” He answered, “I want to remain absorbed in samadhi.” Whereupon Sri Ramakrishna responded: “What a poor understanding you have! Get beyond samadhi. Samadhi is a petty thing.”
Sri Ramakrishna, the Supreme Yogi, said: “The seed of His Name has great Power. It destroys ignorance. Seed is so soft, sprout is so soft. Yet they pierce hard earth. The earth cracks.” Success is assured.
Q: Four years back one of my friend made the following statement: “Nothing is Everything. Everything is Nothing and there is Nothing called Nothing.” Is this is a statement to explain Brahman?
A: Your friend’s statement is just nonsensical gibberish by someone who thinks he can express Advaitic ideas by spouting contradictory jargon.
The truth is expressed fully in the Bhagavad Gita. That should be your major focus of study.
The mantra beginning “Purnamidah” is the nearest to a perfect Advaitic statement there is.
Fools discuss philosphy. The wise engage in sadhana and come to know the Truth.
Q. I am extremely interested in pursuing a path wherein I can realize God, but as any other ordinary mortal I am been pulled down by negative forces. But I truly want to be away from this because once I feed my hunger for these forces I see pain and sorrow immediately following me. I have experienced this many times. Moreover the more I want to go away from these bad elements the more I am going towards them in reality. Is there a way for me to come out of these negative forces and become good?
A: Goodness is your nature. You are realizing this, and that is why the elements of ignorance in your life are unsettling to you. This is a sign of being well along the path; be assured of this.
Meditation is the only remedy for the ills of life. It may take time, but those who persevere will emerge fully into the Light. You will find meditation instruction on our website that we hope will prove helpful to you. Also please see the article: The Foundations of Yoga.
It will be most beneficial for you to daily read from the Bhagavad Gita, as it is completely practical, and not just abstract philosophy. The best translation is The Song of God by Swami Prabhavananda. It is available at www.vedanta.com.
Please remember this: a diamond is a piece of coal that never gave up.
Read more Questions and Answers on Spiritual Life.
New Video! Flying Over Borrego
A three-minute music video shot of and from an "Ultralight", a type of hang-glider which is sort of a three-wheeled motorcycle with a propeller and wings. Shot over the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California, with stunning mountains views and badlands below. Includes aerial views of Atma Jyoti Ashram. Video in Quicktime format.
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