Kath Upanishad – Session Summary – 1
The word Upanishad is made up of the compound of Up (near) + Nishad (to sit).
In ancient times, all disciples used to go to Gurukul and sit near the Shrotriya (well-versed in all scriptures) and Brahmanisth (God-realized) Guru and would listen to and understand the teachings of the ultimate truth with humility. This tradition of going near to Guru and attaining esoteric knowledge is called the 'Upanishad Tradition'.
According to another opinion of scholars, the essence of knowledge that comes in the form of 'conclusion' or ‘end part’ in the Brahman, Aranyak, Samhita, Khand etc. of Vedas is called 'Upanishad'.
Since they come in the end part of each section of Vedas, the Upanishads are also known as ‘Vedanta’.
The essence of these Vedanta (Upanishads) was put into Sutras, by God Ved Vyas, which were called 'Vedanta Sutras'. Since these Sutras contain a detailed description of Brahm, they are also called 'Brahm Sutras'.
In fact, every mantra of any Upanishad is a Veda Mantra. Every Veda Mantra has only one aim – to enlighten the intellect of the maya-bound soul with the light of knowledge and to take him out of the eternal darkness of ignorance and unite that soul with his/her whole – God – Who is infinite Divine Qualities Personified.
That means, all the Vedas are eager for the liberation of the souls from illusionary Maya and their attainment of God. As –
Sarve Veda Yat Padamamnanti𑅁
(Kath Upanishad – 1.2.15)
That is, “All the Vedic mantras are faculties to take the living beings towards that Supreme God.”
In the Jagadguru tradition, the Upanishads on which commentaries have been written are accepted as Major Upanishads which are as follows –
Isha, Ken, Kath, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Aitareya, Taittiriya, Shwetashvatara, Brihadaranyaka and Chhandogya.
Thereafter, the important Upanishads related to the Upasana Kanda (Devotional Segment) are –
Krishna, Gopal Purva Tapani, Radha, Radhika Tapani etc.
Kath Upanishad – Overview
Kath Upanishad is an Upanishad that comes under the 'Kath' branch of Krishna-Yajurveda.
The popular meaning of the word ‘Kath’ is – difficult or complex. It has a specific meaning – Wood or Trunk of a tree.
This Upanishad is visualised as a Divine tree. Hence, its trunk is visualised as ‘Katha’ (Tree) and the chapters of its chapters are visualised as ‘Valli’ (Creeper) which are wrapped around that trunk!
The main theme of Kath Upanishad is – to realize the necessity, rarity and transience of the human body, to make the mind detached from worldly sensory pleasures and to fixate it on the glory of God permanently.
By combining the six Vallis of the two chapters of this Upanishad, we get the world-famous 'Yama-Nachiketa Samvad'; a dialectic between death-god Yamraj and a Brahmin boy Nachiketa. This dialectic has been seriously pondered upon not only by Indian Scholars but also by Western thinkers.
In this Upanishad, the importance of God's grace has been highlighted along with a comprehensive definition of 'Shreya Marg' and 'Preya Marg'.
Through the metaphor of the chariot and charioteer, we also find a beautiful depiction of discriminative self-realization and the form of ultimate freedom.
This is a unique Upanishad which explains the importance of both the realities of life – ‘birth’ and ‘death’.
Kath Upanishad – Background
Aaruni was the son of Maharishi Arun who was born in the dynasty of Rishi Gautam. Arun was known as ‘Vaajasrava’ because he was famous (shrava) for donating unbroken rice (Vaaj).
Aruni was the same devoted disciple of the famous sage Dhoumya. He became famous as ‘Uddalak’ due to his unparalleled devotion to his Guru. Being the son of Vaajasrava, he became famous in the Upanishads as ‘Vaajasravas’.
Vajasravas (Aruni or Uddalak) had two sons – Shwetaketu and Nachiketa. Swetaketu was a knowledge-oriented Paramhansa and Nachiketa was a devotion-oriented Paramhansa. We also find the description of both of them in ‘Paramhansa Upanishad’.
Once Vajasravas resolved to perform ‘Vishwajit’ Yajna. According to the rules of this Yajna, apart from suitable clothes to cover the body, whatever has been obtained from the world – worldly objects and even all the family members, which are a gift of the world – all of them have to be donated appropriately.
Now, for the cow donation that was to be done for this ritual, Vaajashravas was donating cows that had drunk water for the last time, had become old, and were not capable of giving milk. Seeing such inferior cows being donated, Nachiketa, motivated by his sonly feelings, interrupted his father Vaajashravas and said – “O Father! This kind of donation will bring disgrace to our ancestors and it is also an insult to the Brahmins to whom the donation is being made.”
Vaajashravas corrected his mistake and improved the quality of the donation and his sentiments of sacrifice. But he became angry with Nachiketa and stopped talking to him.
After a few days, out of curiosity, Nachiketa asked his father, “O Father! When my turn comes, to whom will you donate me?” Vaajashravas did not give any answer. So, Nachiketa asked the same question three times! Then, the father got angry and said, “I give you to ‘Death’ (Yamraj). (‘Mrityave Tva Dadamiti’)”
But Nachiketa did not get angry or sad. Like a good son, he advised his father to continue on the glorious path of his ancestors. Later, he reached Yampuri with the messengers of Yam who appeared due to the sacrifice given by his father. They took Nachiketa to Yamlok with utmost respect.
On reaching Yampuri, it was known that Yamraj ‘Antak’ had gone to Pitru Lok; because in Pitru Lok also, the workload of Yamraj is assessed with the lords of that world like Aryama etc.
Yama's wife 'Dhumorna' was informed about Nachiketa by the messengers of Yama. 'Dhumorna' is the goddess of war sacrifice. The person who dies in war is brought to her; and only after obtaining her permission, the person is sent to heaven for a few moments or a few days - in proportion to the intensity and purity of his patriotism.
Dhumorna, the ideal wife of the Dharmapurush Yamaraj 'Antak', welcomed the Brahmin boy Nachiketa and asked him to come inside.
Knowing this, the child Nachiketa thought, “I am a ‘sacrifice’ given to Yamraj, so he is my ‘sacrifice master’. Being a donated thing myself, I can neither enter Yampuri without Yamraj’s permission; nor can I take any food or water.” Thinking so, he refused the warm welcome of goddess Dhumorna. After that, he waited for his master at Yamdwar (the doorstep of Yampuri) without eating or drinking anything for three nights!
On the fourth day, when Yamraj arrived, goddess Dhumorna narrated the entire episode of Nachiketa; and asked him to treat Nachiketa like a worthy guest. Mrityudev very humbly invited Nachiketa to his Yampuri and satisfied him by giving him food and water. Later, Mrityudev requested Nachiketa to ask for one boon in return for waiting for each night (i.e., three in total), so that Yamraj could free himself from the shame of Brahmin-crime! This is the ideal of 'Dharmaraj Yamdev'! Even without any fault on his side, Yamraj himself feels ashamed for the wait done by Nachiketa and also offers to ask for three boons! He is offering boons to Nachiketa who was already given as a ‘sacrifice’ to him!
Nachiketa, who had been given in charity, thought that he had no right to disobey Yamraj’s orders because he had already been given to him as a sacrifice. With this thought in mind, he asked for these three boons from Yamraj:
1. When you send me back, my father should be free from anger and regret and treat me with love.
2. Provide me with the 'Agni Vidya' (knowledge of Sadhana) to reach that 'heaven' which is free from birth, death, old age, disease, hunger and desire.
3. Remove all doubts related to the soul and preach the Ultimate Truth thoroughly.
Special Points From The Session
1. The subtle secret of Go-Daan:
In ancient times, there used to be a lot of livestock; therefore, cows were specially donated in Go-daan.
However, in Sanskrit, the word ‘Go’ has many meanings as per the grammatical word analysis of the word ‘Go’ (गो). For example – ‘Bhumi’ (piece of land), ‘the entire earth’ and ‘the senses of body’ all refer to the same word ‘Go’.
So, if someone donates a piece of land to a Brahmin for building an Ashram etc., then that too can be called as Go-daan.
The presiding goddess of the earth is named ‘Go’. We also call her ‘Go-devi’ or ‘Bhu-devi’. If we implement any plans for Nature’s development for the betterment of the earth, then that too will be considered as a donation made for the sake of Go-devi i.e. ‘Go-daan’.
The senses are also called ‘Go’. Therefore, that which is accessible to the senses is called ‘Gochar’. For example –
Go gochar jahan lagi man jai। So sab maya janehu bhai॥
(Ramcharit Manas)
That is, "As far as the senses can experience this world, that all is the realm of Maya."
Five knowledge-senses, five action-senses and mind – all these come under the group of sense organs. The action-senses are secondary. Mainly there are only five knowledge-senses. And then, the mind is like the sixth sense organ. As –
Manah shashthani indriyani prakritisthani karshati।
(Bhagavad Gita – 15.7)
That is, “This mind, situated in three modes of nature, becomes the most powerful sense organ – the sixth sense organ – and gets attracted towards the objects of all the other five knowledge-senses and acts accordingly by the action-senses.”
Controlling the impulses of these six senses, eradicating their attraction with the knowledge of spirituality, and converting ‘consumable’ objects into ‘useful’ objects, is the best use of our senses. Using the objects of the universe for God-pleasing Karma Yog through all our senses – this will be our biggest donation of senses to the world!
2. Types of disciples:
After his father made a serious sacrifice like “I give you to ‘Mrityu’ (Yamraj).”, Nachiketa started thinking about his sonly duty. From that churning of thoughts, we got the characteristics of an ideal son or disciple. The duty of a son towards his father is the same as the duty of a disciple towards his Guru.
So, there are three types of disciples – Uttam (Highest), Madhyam (Average) and Adham (Lowest).
Highest Disciple – One who understands the intention of the Guru from his gestures or his indirect words and starts serving for the happiness of the Guru accordingly without even the Guru’s explanation.
Average disciple – One who gets the orders of the Guru and happily follows them.
Lowest disciple – One who follows the orders of the Guru unwillingly, suppressing his desires, somehow.
After that, there are such disciples who do not follow the orders of the Guru and also violate the orders by doing the opposite. Such is neither the highest, average or lowest disciple; but they are 'Naradham' (lowest in all human beings).
3. Meaning of calling Nachiketa ‘Vaishwanar’:
Dhumorna Devi asked Yamraj to give Nachiketa proper hospitality by saying, “Vaishwanara himself has come to our door.”
There were two reasons for calling Nachiketa ‘Vaishwanara’.
- Nachiketa was extremely hungry. Now, the presiding deity of the gastric fire of hunger is ‘Vaishwanara’ which is a form of Agnidev.
- Nachiketa belonged to a pure Brahmin family where the sacrificial fire was satisfied by offering actual oblations in the fire of the Yajna. This fire of Yajna is also called ‘Vaishwanara’. Hence, Nachiketa was considered Vaishwanara’s representative form.
Summary: JKYog India Online Class- Upanishad Sarita [Hindi]- 20th August 2024