Kathopanishad : ( 04/03/2013. )

  ----------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, December 20, 2020. 09:31.AM. Chapter-5.  Sannyasa – The Renunciation of Erroneous Notions - 9. ------------------------------------------------------------ When the will of God, the will of the universe, or the process of the whole of nature is in harmony with our own ways of thinking and our volitions, we are citizens of all the worlds. Tasya sarve?u loke?u kama-caro bhavati (Ch. Up. 7.25.2): You can enter into all the worlds. We have a passport which is valid for all the nations of the world at one stroke because we are nationals of every country. Now we are nationals of only this body. We cannot enter into another body; we cannot touch it; we cannot have anything to do with it. This is because we are hard-boiled individuals, caught up within the prison of this body. ---------------------- In an intricate manner, the yoga spiritual is described in a very few verses of the Kathopanishad. Yada pañcavati??hante

------------------------------- Monday, November 23, 2020. 06:58.PM. Chapter-5.  Sannyasa – The Renunciation of Erroneous Notions - 8. -------------------------- Hard is this way. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way. Strait: very narrow. One cannot pass through that gate. The path of the spirit is compared to the track of birds in the sky which is not visible to the eyes, or the path of fish in the water which cannot be seen physically. The birds have a path in the sky, but we cannot see that path.  Ksurasya dhara nisita duratyaya; durgam pathas tat kavayo vadanti (Katha 1.3.14) :  Like the edge of a razor which is subtle and cannot be seen by the eyes, so is the subtlety and the sharpness of the path of the spirit. It is not a wide national highway on which we can roll, closing our eyes. ----------------------------- It is a very, very difficult thing because the mind which is gross cannot grasp this subtle, narrow, hairsbreadth of the spirit. We can jump this way, jump that way,

  ---------------------------------------------- Friday, November 13, 2020. 11:12.  AM. Chapter-5.  Sannyasa – The Renunciation of Erroneous Notions - 7. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Renunciation is a difficult thing to understand because it is an operation of concepts. It is a wholly internal operation that is taking place within us. As the Bhagavadgita says in the Second Chapter, whatever the renunciation be that we practise physically, the taste for the objects may continue – rasavarja?. Vi?aya vinivartante niraharasya dehina? rasavarja? (Gita 2.59). Though we may not be emperors, kings, presidents, prime ministers, the taste for status may be present in our minds. What do we lose if we become the president of a large country? Do we think it is an abominable thing? We may say it is useless because we know we cannot get it. We know very well it is impossible to get, and so it is a useless thing for us. This is called the philosophy of sour grapes.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, November 04, 2020. 12:00.  PM. Chapter-5.  Sannyasa – The Renunciation of Erroneous Notions - 6. ----------------------------------------------------------------- When this independent status rules the world, and not relations rule the world, we are in the kingdom of heaven in one second. Brahmaloka, the kingdom of heaven, the golden age when government does not exist, is that circumstance where each one is what one is and no relation is necessary. Each one knows one’s own dharma, duty – which is to visualise everything from its own point of view as substances, originals, archetypes, not shadows, not locations of things, substances in the principle of externality called space, and in time. If each one is what one is and there is no relationship, space vanishes. In Brahmaloka, there is no space-time. In God’s kingdom it is eternity and infinity, non-spatial and non-temporal. It is from this point of view that

  ----------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, October 23, 2020. 8:15.  AM. Chapter-5.  Sannyasa – The Renunciation of Erroneous Notions - 4. ----------------------------------------------------------------- We may, for our understanding, compare these dancing marionettes to the shadows. The originals are the fingers. If the fingers do not move, the marionettes will not play, and according to the dance or the movement of the fingers, so is the movement or the dance of these marionettes. Therefore, again we come to the point that we are doing nothing. Somebody else is doing everything. That Somebody is not outside us. Here is a very crucial, difficult point for us to understand. Our own originals are acting in   with the originality and the original archetype of the universe, which is the substance behind the objects of sense – ishvara-sristi, which is different from jiva-sristi. The world of God is not a bondage. The world of the jiva, the individual, is a

  ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, October 06, 2020. 8:47.  AM. Chapter-5.  Sannyasa – The Renunciation of Erroneous Notions - 3. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The objects of the world are to be approached with wisdom, like an electrical engineer touching live wires. Any kind of ignorance is not to be permitted here. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. We are suffering due to the ignorance of the law that operates in this world. We have mistaken one thing for another thing. Our individual wills do not work in consonance with the universal will. We have come out from the roots of our personality to the shadows that we are seeing. Again to come to the analogy of Plato, the shadows cast by originals in the caves he describes in The Republic are regarded as the originals by prisoners shackled by chains in a den which is dark, through which light cannot penetrate, where only the shadows can be seen and be mistak

  ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, October 06, 2020. 8:47.  AM. Chapter-5.  Sannyasa – The Renunciation of Erroneous Notions - 2. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The world is an evil. Some doctrines tell us that the whole world is Satan’s kingdom. This is samsara; this is bondage. But the Kathopanishad says: atra brahma samasnute (Katha 3.3.14). The Absolute is realised here itself inside this very hall, in the very kitchen that we are dining, in the very bathroom that we are taking our toilet cleansing; that is the very spot where we enter into the bosom of God. The very hell that we are thinking in our mind is also the Vaikuntha into which we are going to enter. 2. How is all this possible? Samsara and moksha are supposed to be the same according to certain great teachings such as the Yoga Vasishtha and also the Madhyamika philosophy of Buddhism, which is a highly mystical doctrine of logical analysis. Nag

  ----------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, September 25, 2020. 7:37.  PM. Chapter-5.  Sannyasa – The Renunciation of Erroneous Notions - 1. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. This body is like a chariot. The consciousness within that rides this body is the Lord of this chariot. The reason, the purified intellect, is the charioteer. The horses are the senses. The mind is the reins. Thus, with controlled movement this chariot has to be driven in the direction of its destination. What is the destination? Every vehicle moves in some direction. In a similar way, the vehicle of this human individuality also moves. It is already moving. Sometimes the charioteer sleeps. He is not fully conscious, or he starts looking this way, that way, either side, in the direction of the shops, the bazar, the noises, the music, the cinemas and the loud clamours of people, and may fail to give the attention needed for the onward march of the

  ----------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, September 11, 2020. 12.12 . PM. Chapter 4: Overcoming the Limitations of Space and Time -13. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Space and time are subtle ethereal obstructions which are harder than rock and flint; therefore, we cannot come in contact with our beloved objects in the world, whoever it be – father, wife, children, whatever it is. We cannot get any one of them. We are utterly foolish. 2. Thus, it is necessary to withdraw the senses. What for? Not to lose these beloved things, but to come in real contact with them. When you withdraw the senses you overcome the limitations of space and time, and then you will really be able to love, enjoy, possess, and come in contact with your father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children. Now you are not getting them, but afterwards you will get them. You are seeing their shadows now; afterwards you will get their realities. Whic

----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, September 02, 2020. 9.34 . AM. Chapter 4: Overcoming the Limitations of Space and Time -12. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The great Vaishvanara, about which I said a few words regarding the second boon granted to Nachiketas, is the Universal Being, whose original is touched upon in the third boon asked for by Nachiketas. Self-control is the freedom that we exercise as noumenal realities from involvement in the phenomenal world of externality, which is space-time. So we should not try to contact the objects with the senses. We cannot contact them because they are always outside. A thing that is really outside cannot be contacted. A thing that is really outside us cannot be possessed, cannot be enjoyed. So to expect anything in this world is idiocy. We cannot expect any satisfaction in this world. It will not give us one jot of joy because we cannot really come

----------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, August 24, 2020. 7.06 . AM. Chapter 4: Overcoming the Limitations of Space and Time -11. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. But we are not merely phenomenal beings. “There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.” This is from Shakespeare. There is a divinity within us, though sometimes there is a devil also. The divinity is the noumenal reality persisting to come in contact with its own self as a pervading principle everywhere, which is the reason why we are perpetually desiring from day to day. Births and deaths are not a bar to the fulfilment of desires. 2. So the longing for the objects of sense, or the longing of any kind whatsoever, is basically motivated and impelled by the universality of the Supreme Being. But the impossibility to come in contact with it is due to our involvement in the phenomenal world of space-time, thi

----------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, August 14, 2020. 4.04 . PM. Chapter 4: Overcoming the Limitations of Space and Time -10.  ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The phenomenal involvement of our personality in the space-time complex prevents our real union with the objects of the senses. Therefore, there is bereavement, sorrow, death, destruction, suffering in this world. But the craving persists nevertheless because we also belong to the noumenal world which presses itself forward for union with its own self as an immanent reality pervading all things. 2. So while our intention is pious, the method that we are adopting is impious. The desire that we have for union with the objects in our affections and loves is not basically morbid or undesirable. The method that we are adopting is erroneous. There is a wrong notion in the mind that objects are outside the senses and external to our personality. I have tried to me

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, August 02, 2020. 4:27. AM. Chapter 4: Overcoming the Limitations of Space and Time -9.  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The senses are not properly united with their objects in ordinary sense perception. Actually, what we call sense contact is only a sense repulsion. Our loves are not really loves; affections are not affections. They are diseases of the mind. All our longings, cravings, affections and loves are diseases, and are not healthy attitudes. Sometimes illness also may bring a satisfaction, such as eczema which may cause some joy by scratching it. But eczema is an illness only; it is not a joy merely because we scratch and find satisfaction. 2. All sense satisfaction is an itching of the senses, which we are scratching and feel that we are satisfied. Actually, the senses do not come in contact with the objects. Th

Wednesday, July 01, 2020. 08:48. PM. Chapter 4: Overcoming the Limitations of Space and Time -8.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The comparison of this body to the chariot is interesting. It is significant with the necessity for control of oneself. Yoga is self-control. On the one hand, yoga is a movement towards the Supreme Being and, simultaneously, it is self-control because self-control is the same as movement in the right direction. Withdrawal is the same as forging oneself forward. To go within is the same as going without. These are intriguing statements. The more we go deep into ourselves, the more we are plumbing into the depths of the universe. The less do the senses operate in respect of external contact with the objects, the more do they attune themselves with the reality that is inside. 2. A question may arise: What is the point about self-control? Why should we control the senses? On the one side, yo

Saturday, June 13, 2020. Chapter 4: Overcoming the Limitations of Space and Time -7.  1. Thus, many things are involved in the practice of yoga. The road has to be well laid. The objects are the roads. Whatever we see with our eyes is the road along which we have to move. This world is a passage to God. It is not an obstacle; it is not a hell that God has created for us. Along the very objects that are visible to the eyes, this chariot has to be driven. Here is a great secret which may easily escape our notice: how the objects of the senses, which are considered as evils from which we have to restrain ourselves, are also considered as the way or the road along which we have to move. We shall consider this matter shortly. 2. Self-control is the meaning of this description given in the Upanishad. What does the driver of the motorcar do except practise self-control? What vigilance does he exercise? He cannot be wool-gathering when he drives the vehicle along a winding road. The people who

================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday, June 03, 2020. Chapter 4: Overcoming the Limitations of Space and Time -6.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. #Yoga is a miracle: ascaryavat pasyati (Gita 2.29).  People speak of yoga, that it is a miracle. It is a miracle because it is not a physical object that can be seen or experimented upon with instruments.  ##Says the Kathopanishad :  *Atmanam rathinam viddhi, sariram ratham eva tu:  buddhim tu saradhim viddhi, manah pragraham eva ca; (Katha 1.3.-3) # *Indriyani hayan ahur visayams teshu gocaran,  atmendriya-mano-yuktam bhoktety ahur manishinah. (Katha 1.3.- 4) # We are moving towards the goal through the process of the evolution of the universe. Our participation in this cosmic movement is yoga. We are driving a vehicle in this direction of the great purp

============================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, May 24, 2020. Chapter 4: Overcoming the Limitations of Space and Time -5. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. E=mc2 is an algebraic equation. It is not something visible to the eyes. But this knowledge is superior to everything that is visible to the eyes. This little, conceptual equation can do and undo things. It can create the world and destroy the world, though it is merely an algebraic equation. Mere concepts can rule the world, and concepts do rule the world. I gave you a hint the other day that the government is only a concept, and it is ruling the world. Individuals are not the government; particular objects do not constitute money and property and value. Ideals are our properties. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

====================================================== ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, May 12, 2020. Chapter 4: Overcoming the Limitations of Space and Time -4. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. I have been hinting at this point for the last one or two days – namely, that a reality is transcendent to visible objects. All the activities, engagements and enterprises of ours in life are intended for the fulfilment of an ideal which is invisible to the eyes though it appears as if we are clinging to bodies of persons and things. Nobody will be interested in an object or a person unless there is a purpose behind it, and that purpose is other than the person and the thing concerned. My relationship to a person or a thing is for a purpose. That purpose is more important than the person or the thing. This we should not forget. If I love my child, if I have affection for my fath