Commentary on the Katha Upanishad–by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

The Chariot’s Journey

The upanishadic seers have just told us that the Self in the body is like a driver in a chariot. Now they set the intended journey before us.

“The senses derive from physical objects, physical objects from mind, mind from intellect, intellect from ego, ego from the unmanifested seed, and the unmanifested seed from Brahman–the Uncaused Cause. Brahman is the end of the journey. Brahman is the supreme goal.”1

It is the genealogy of perception that is being outlined here, for if we reverse the order of perception we will come to perceive the Source, the Eternal Witness Itself. This verse, then, is a exposition of the chain, or progression of consciousness. According to it, the hierarchy of perception is:

Brahman (Purusha)
Unmanifested seed (Avyaktam)
Ego (Atma Mahan–the Great Self or Mahat Tattwa)
Intellect (Buddhi)
Mind (Manas)
Senses (Indriyas)
Physical objects (Arthas)

The Bhagavad Gita gives a similar but simpler list2 relating exclusively to the individual (microcosm) rather than the Universal (Macrocosm), but we can translate the foregoing list to relate to us as individual beings (jivas). In that case we get:

The Self
The unmanifested yet out-turned will-energy
The sense of “I am”
The intellect
The mind
The senses
The sense organs.

My list is more literal than that of Swami Prabhavananda. It is not more meritorious when considering the Cosmos, but it is better when looking at the situation of the individual being.

Having descended the ladder, how do we get back up–especially sense we have no memory of how we managed the descent? Luckily for us the yogis of India figured that out for us untold eons ago, and it works as well today as it did then. Meditation is the way of ascent back to awareness of the Self. It is possible to work our way back up the ladder, for the “rungs” are not disparate elements but evolutes or emanations of those above them. If all the rungs, including the senses themselves, were not extensions of the Self, we could not reach back to the Self. This is as true on the microcosmic level as it is on the macrocosmic. Fortunately Brahman has not “fallen” and forgotten Itself, but It, too, withdraws and projects himself as creation–as we do ourselves by coming into manifestation and eventually into physical birth. “As above, so below” has many ramifications.

The destination and how to get there

“Brahman is the end of the journey. Brahman is the supreme goal.” But the simple saying counts for little. So the upanishad continues: “This Brahman, this Self, deep-hidden in all beings, is not revealed to all; but to the seers, pure in heart, concentrated in mind–to them is he revealed.”3 Who sees Brahman? The sukshma-darshibhih–those who can see the subtle, the inmost Reality.

How, then, can we become seers of the Subtle? By continually developing our capacity for inner perception and simultaneously refining our inner faculties. To do that we must “go inside” in meditation and work with our inner mechanism called the antahkarana by the yogis. As the Taittiriya Upanishad says: “Seek to know Brahman by meditation.”4 And: “Om is Brahman. Om is all. He who meditates on Om attains to Brahman.”5

“Within the lotus of the heart he dwells, where, like the spokes of a wheel in its hub, the nerves meet. Meditate on him as OM. Easily mayest thou cross the sea of darkness.”6

“The mind may be compared to a firestick, the syllable OM to another. Rub the two sticks together by repeating the sacred syllable and meditating on Brahman, and the flame of knowledge will be kindled in your heart and all impurities will be burnt away.”7 “Let your body be the stick that is rubbed, the sacred syllable OM the stick that is rubbed against it. Thus shall you realize God, who is hidden within the body as fire is hidden within the wood.”8

Turning back

“The senses of the wise man obey his mind, his mind obeys his intellect, his intellect obeys his ego, and his ego obeys the Self.”9 This, too, is the product/effect of meditation! Meditation is the establishing of order within and without.

Marching orders!

“Arise! Awake! Approach the feet of the master and know THAT.”10

In point of fact, the text does not say “approach the feet of the master,” but prapya varan, which means “having attained boons.” The idea is to seek and attain kripa–grace. Actually, the scriptures speak of three kinds of kripa: 1) sadhana kripa, the grace of self-effort; 2) guru kripa, the grace of a teacher, and 3) divya kripa, divine grace. This wise will gain all three. But there is no denying that kripa is a requisite for those who, having arisen and awakened, seek Brahman.

The path

The verse continues: “Like the sharp edge of a razor, the sages say, is the path. Narrow it is, and difficult to tread!” Immediately we think of Jesus words: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”11

Because popular religion, despite its attempt to entice followers, continually implies or outright states that spiritual life is hard (I grew up with this in fundamentalist Protestantism and found it outrageous), we tend to look at the principles of Sanatana Dharma with a tainted perspective. The upanishad is not telling us in the manner of Western religion how hard it will be to follow the way of life.

The clue to difficulty in spiritual is found in the description of the path as “like the sharp edge of a razor.” The idea is that the path is extremely subtle–not arduous. But that makes it all the more difficult, even impossible, for those of coarse minds. This, and this alone, is what makes the path hard to tread.

No spiritual discipline comes near to being as hard as the things human beings commonly do every day to get the things they want. And “want” is the operative word. If we do not want a thing, then any action needed to obtain it will be tedious and “too hard.” But if we want it intensely, then no effort is too much or too hard. That is why the thirty-fourth Ode of Solomon says: “There is no hard way where there is a simple heart, nor any barrier where the thoughts are upright. Nor is there any whirlwind in the depth of the illuminated thought. Where one is surrounded on every side by pleasing country, there is nothing divided in him.” So the problem is in us, not in the path.

Here, as in the last essay, we see that the solution is to refine our consciousness through meditation. We must also refine our physical and mental bodes through purity of thought and deed and especially purity of diet. The ingesting of animal flesh, alcohol, nicotine and mind-affecting drugs is a frontal attack on spiritual life. It is completely insane for a seeker to engage in such destructive habits (and they are addictions).

The subtle Goal

The absolute necessity for refinement of perception through refinement of all the levels of our being is revealed by the nature of the path’s goal: “Soundless, formless, intangible, undying, tasteless, odorless, without beginning, without end, eternal, immutable, beyond nature, is the Self. Knowing him as such, one is freed from death.”12

We must become able to hear Silence, see the Formless, touch the Untouchable, live to the Immortal, taste the Tasteless, perceive the fragrance of the Odorless, and transcend all relative measure, and even relativity itself. Such a state is verily inconceivable to us at the present. But it can be achieved through yoga.

Let us arise, awake, pass from death unto life, and lay hold of Immortality.

More from the Upanishads: • An Introduction to the Upanishads
Selections from the Text of the Eleven Major Upanishads from The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal–translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester
• The Isha Upanishad • The Katha Upanishad • The Taittiriya Upanishad • The Aitareya Upanishad • The Chandogya Upanishad • The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad	• The Kena Upanishad • The Prashna Upanishad • The Mundaka Upanishad • The Mandukya Upanishad • The Shvetashvatara Upanishad
Commentaries on the Upanishads by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
Katha Upanishad:
1. The Past is the Future 2. Seeing Death, Seeing Life 3. The Good and the Pleasant 4. The Way of Ignorance 5. The Mystery of the Self 6. How to Either Know or Not Know the Self 7. From the Unreal to the Real 8. Finding the Treasure 9. The Transcendent Reality of the Self 10. The Immortal Self 11. The Indwelling Self 12. The Omnipresent Self 13. The Sorrowless Self 14. Who Can Know the Self? 15. The All-Consuming Self	16. The Divine Indwellers 17. The Chariot 18. The Chariot's Journey 19. The Glorious Way 20. To Know The Self 21. The Power of Enlightenment 22. The Infinite Self 23. The Dweller in the Heart 24. The Birthless Self 25. The Shining Self 26. The Life-Giving Self 27. The Eternal Brahman–The Eternal Self 28. The Radiant Self 29. The Universal Tree 30. Hierarchy of Consciousness 31. From Mortality to Immortality
Isha Upanishad:	Kena Upanishad:
1. Seeing All Things in God 2. Living a Life Worth Living 3. Spiritual Suicides 4. The Undivided Unmoving Self 5. The Ever-Present Self 6. The All-Embracing Self 7. Perspective on Life 8. Seeing Beyond the Sun 9. The Final Aspiration	1. The Mover of the Moved 2. Knowing that is Ignorance, and Unknowing That is Knowing 3. The Blessed 4. Approaching Brahman
	Aitereya Upanishad:
	1. The Worlds and the Self
Prashna Upanishad:	Mundaka Upanishad:
1. The Right Beginning 2. The Father and Mother of All 3. The Powers That Make Us “Be” 4. Prana: Its History and Nature 5. The Witnessing Self 6. Meditation on Om 7. Where is the Self?	1. Knowing the ALL 2. Delusion and Ignorance 3. Wisdom and Truth 4. Getting in Perspective 5. Origin and Return 6. Knowing God 7. The Two Selves 8. The God Within, The Sage Without 9. Hail To the Sages!
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:
1. The World and the Self 2. Correcting Our Ideas About Brahman 3. The Dearness of the Self 4. Divine Sweetness 5. The Wisdom of the Wise 6. The Sutratman, the “Thread” Self	7. Janaka and Yajnavalkya–1 8. Janaka and Yajnavalkya–2 9. The Process of Reincarnation 10. The Path of Liberation 11. Some Final Words
Chandogya Upanishad:	Mandukya Upanishad:
1. The Glory of Om 2. The Gods and Om 3. The Sages and Om 4. Four Things God REALLY Wants You to Know 5. The Light Within 6. The Self Within 7. Satyakama 8. Upakosala 9. Svetaketu 10. The Essence of the Mind and Prana 11. Narada 12. Within the Lotus of the Heart 13. Crossing the Boundary 14. Devas and Demons Seeking the Self	1. The Shabda Brahman: Om
	Taittiriya Upanishad:
	1. Reflections On Brahman 2. Necessary Lessons 3. The Source and the Goal 4. Brahman, Creation, and Us 5. The Ladder of Understanding
	Shvetashvatara Upanishad:
	1. The Universe and Its Mystery 2. Realizing God 3. Brahman/Ishwara 4. The Upanishadic Seer Speaks of Ishwara 5. The Prayer of Liberation
PDF Downloads
• Full Commentary on the Upanishads, by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

2) “The senses are said to be higher than the sense-objects. The mind is higher than the senses. The intelligent will is higher than the mind. What is higher than the intelligent will? The Atman Itself. “(Bhagavad Gita 3:42) [Go back]

3) Katha Upanishad 1:3:12 [Go back]

4) Taittiriya Upanishad 3.2.1 [Go back]

5) Taittiriya Upanishad 1.8.1 [Go back]

6) Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.6 [Go back]

7) Kaivalya Upanishad 11 [Go back]

8) Swetashwatara Upanishad 1:14 [Go back]

9) Katha Upanishad 1:3:13 [Go back]

10) Katha Upanishad 1:3:14 [Go back]

11) Matthew 7:13, 14 [Go back]

12) Katha Upanishad 1:3:15 [Go back]