|
Commentary on the Katha Upanishad–by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
 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.” 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.” 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.” 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.” 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,” or “The soul that sinneth it shall die,” or ““Know thou that God will bring thee into judgment,” 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.” 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,” 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.” “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.” “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.” 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.” 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.” 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-to-day 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.” 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.” “Light of all lights, He abides beyond our ignorant darkness; Knowledge, the one thing real we may study or know, the heart’s dweller.”
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.”
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.”
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,” said Sri Ramakrishna. “It is not a word, it is God Himself,” said Swami Vivekananda. 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.”
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….” 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.” 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. 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.”
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.” 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.”
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:
I am the form of Conscious Bliss: I am Spirit!
I am neither Prana, nor the five vital airs;
Nor the seven components of the gross body;
Nor the subtle bodies; nor organs of action:
I am the form of Conscious Bliss: I am Spirit!
I have no aversion, clinging, greed, delusion;
No envy or pride, and no duty or purpose;
I have no desire, and I have no freedom:
I am the form of Conscious Bliss: I am Spirit!
I have no merit or sin, nor pleasure or pain;
No mantra, pilgrimage, Veda or sacrifice;
Not enjoying, enjoyable, or enjoyer:
I am the form of Conscious Bliss: I am Spirit!
I have no death or fear, no distinction of caste;
Neither father, nor mother, nor do I have birth;
No friend or relation, guru or disciple:
I am the form of Conscious Bliss: I am Spirit!
I am without attributes; I am without form;
I am all-pervading, I am omnipresent;
By senses untouched, neither free, nor knowable:
I am the form of Conscious Bliss: I am Spirit!
We do not really need to become immortal and eternal, for we are that already. Instead we need to get beyond the illusory consciousness of birth and death, cause and effect, and the entire range of relative existence. The japa and meditation of Om is the Way.
1) Katha Upanishad 1:2:14 [Go back]
2) Matthew 7:7,8 [Go back]
3) Bhagavad Gita 16:12 [Go back]
4) Katha Upanishad 1:2:2 [Go back]
5) Exodus 20:15 [Go back]
6) Ezekiel 18:4,20 [Go back]
7) Ecclesiastes 11:9 [Go back]
8) Katha Upanishad 1:2:15 [Go back]
9) Bhagavad Gita 3:30 [Go back]
10) Bhagavad Gita 5:14 [Go back]
11) Bhagavad Gita 13:11 [Go back]
12) Bhagavad Gita 15:5 [Go back]
13) Upanishads: Books (of varying lengths) of the philosophical teachings of the ancient sages of India on the knowledge of Absolute Reality. The upanishads contain two major themes: (1) the individual self (atman) and the Supreme Self (Paramatman) are one in essence, and (2) the goal of life is the realization/manifestation of this unity, the realization of God (Brahman). There are eleven principal upanishads: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitaryeya, Chandogya, Brihadaranyaka, and Svetashvatara, all of which were commented on by Shankara, thus setting the seal of authenticity on them. [Go back]
14) Bhagavad Gita 6:5 [Go back]
15) Bhagavad Gita 16:18 [Go back]
16) Dr. I. K. Taimni was a professor of chemistry in India. He wrote many excellent books on philosophy and spiritual practice, including The Science of Yoga, a commentary on the Yoga Sutras. For many years he was the spiritual head of the Esoteric Section of the Theosphical Society headquartered in Adyar, Madras (Tamilnadu), and traveled the world without publicity or notoriety, quietly instructing many sincere aspirants in the path to Supreme Consciousness. [Go back]
17) Luke 15:18 [Go back]
18) Bhagavad Gita 13:12 [Go back]
19) Bhagavad Gita 13:17 [Go back]
20) Om ityetat. Katha Upanishad 1:2:15 [Go back]
21) Katha Upanishad 1:2:16 [Go back]
22) The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Majumdar translation: 3.17.3. [Go back]
23) Swami Vivekananda, Inspired Talks, Sunday, July 21 [Go back]
24) Yoga Sutras 1:28 [Go back]
25) The Vedanta [Go back]
26) Katha Upanishad 1:2:17 [Go back]
27) See Luke 13:23,24; Matthew 7:14; 19:25; 20:16; 22:14 [Go back]
28) Bhagavad Gita 7:3 [Go back]
29) Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.5 [Go back]
30) Katha Upanishad 1:2:18 [Go back]
|
