The Esoteric Significance of the Kathopanishad : 2-7.


01/02/2019
The Esoteric Significance of the Kathopanishad : 2-7
Chapter 2: Nachiketas’ First Two Boons : 7.

Asking for too much is very bad, but Nachiketas could contain this mystery and receive it. He was a well-baked pot, not a half-baked pot. Otherwise, we would misinterpret the whole thing like the half-baked disciple who heard from Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Deva that all souls are immortal and immediately went to the Ganga and started fishing, saying that all souls are immortal so fishes can be killed. This was all he could understand from this immortality of the soul. You can kill anybody; that is the meaning of this great dictum that Atman is immortal.

If this is the way we receive the teachings of the great Masters, they have to be guarded in communicating this knowledge. Maybe even Yama, the great Master, must have had some reservations; anyhow, he communicated it. But it was not easily communicated to all people like that, even to well-trained persons, as we hear of in the Chandogya Upanishad, for instance. Six great men, well grounded in meditation, in saguna upasana, were not able to come to a conclusion as to what this Vaishvanara is. They went to the great king of the country, Kaikeya Ashvapati, as it was not known to anyone except this king what Vaishvanara is. He was hesitant to communicate this knowledge because the ability of his administration depended on this knowledge. His kingdom was well governed, all which was due to the wisdom he had of Vaishvanara. However, to these great men that went there, Ashvapati Kaikeya, the king, gave this knowledge.

What is Vaishvarnara, into which mystery the great Master Yama initiated Nachiketas? It is the secret of cosmic comprehension, and without a knowledge of this secret we cannot become good karma yogins. Arjuna was never satisfied with anything Sri Krishna told him, until the Visvarupa was shown. He was going on arguing and putting questions and counter questions until the mystery was uncovered and revealed face to face, and after that vision was granted, things were clear: Now I understand how I have to conduct myself in this world.

Unless we know what this Vaishvanara is, we cannot be safe in this world. We cannot have security of any kind. We shall find ourselves in an insecure condition every moment if we depend on anything other than the Vaishvanara, because the Vaishvanara is the ruling government of the cosmos. It is the central ordinance of the Absolute. It is, in a way, the Creator of the universe. Sometimes people identify Vaishvanara with Hiranyagarbha, Brahma. The way in which we can grasp everything in a total spirit is the way into the mystery of Vaishvanara.

To be continued ...


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