Katopanishad Part 1 E-Book

Sri Sri Ravishankar

• Herausgeber: Aslan eReads
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 120

Beschreibung

The whole world runs away from death, because death snatches everything, but the one who accepts it and willingly faces it, receives something from death itself. Ironically, knowledge of death gives you the gift of life. Katopanishad tells the story of young Nachiketa who goes to face the lord of death and the extraordinary dialogue that ensues between them. Upanishad means sitting close to the Master. Gurudev takes us through this beautiful story integrating its profoundness with real-life situations, turning abstract philosophy into existential reality.

Leseprobe

Title

Katopanishad

Part-1

A commentary by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Publications Trust, India

 

Copyrights Sri Sri Publications Trust

This digital edition is published byarrangement with Aslan Business Solutions

Digitally Published By:

 

Aslan Reads -An imprint of Aslan Business SolutionsBorivli, Mumbai, Maharashtra, IndiaEmail: [email protected];Website: www.aslanbiz.com & www.aslanreads.com

Physical Editions Published by:

 

Sri Sri Publications TrustThe Art of Living International Centre21st KM, Kanakapura Road,Udayapura, Bangalore – 560082Email: [email protected];Website: www.sattvastore.comToll Free: 1800-258-8888

© All rights reservedNo part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher

ISBN: 978-93-85898-31-0

Layout by: Sri Sri Publications Trust

Contents

Title

At the Door of Death

Beyond Death

The Grace of the Divine

Beyond the Layers of Existence

Winning Immortality

Key to Transliteration

The Art of Living & The International Association for Human Values

The Founder

Follow Sri Sri on:

The Art of Living In Service Around The World

The Art of Living Programs

International Centres

Landmarks

Cover

At the Door of Death

Upanishad means sitting close, sitting near the Master, not just physically, but also with attention, with presence of mind in the same space as that of the Master. Katha Upanishad - katha – ‘tha’ means the final. What is the final thing about life? What is the end? What is the ultimate?

Every Upanishad begins with a ShantiMantra and ends with a ShantiMantra. Shanti means Peace. Only when you have peace can you think of higher knowledge. Higher knowledge cannot be grasped by a disturbed mind. The mind needs to be calm, free from anguish, from hatred, from cravings, and then higher knowledge can be attained.

auṁ sa ha nᾱv avatu, saha nau bhunaktu, saha vīryam karavᾱvahai, tejasvi nav adhītam astu: mᾱ vidviṣᾱvahai; auṁ śāntih, śāntih, śāntih.

auṁ sa ha nᾱv avatu – Let us be together

saha nau bhunaktu – Enjoy this life together

saha vīryam karavᾱvahai – Let us grow in strength together

tejasvi nav adhītam astu: – Let us become effulgent, glow together

mᾱ vidviṣᾱvahai – Let us not hate each other

Let us be together. Let us grow together, let us eat together, let us enjoy together. This shloka is the foundation of learning.

This mantra is also chanted before having food.

Bhunaktu means eating, but in this shloka, it doesn’t mean just eating. It means to experience the whole world. When our sights don’t match, when our perceptions don’t match, then there is conflict. saha nau bhunaktu - let our perception match. Let us see things together, let us experience the same. One experiences one thing, and the other experiences something else, then there is conflict. But if both experience the same thing together, then there is peace and tranquillity.

Suppose one person likes something and says, “Wow, this is so great!”But the other person says, “This is horrible!”, then they cannot enjoy. If you go to a picnic with your spouse and you are happy but your spouse is not, then both of you become miserable. When both of you enjoy together, then there is peace and harmony.

sa ha nᾱv avatu - Let us be together. We are together anyway. If we are born during the same time on this planet, then we are meant to be together. When we are meant to be together, let us be together mentally also. Let us be together with the spirit. It is the mind, the intellect which creates barriers and you have to remove the barriers through the intellect. Hence the prayer - Let us be together, let us grow together, let us shine together.

When a very talented person is interviewed, the first thing asked is - Who is your teacher? This is tradition. A brilliant sitarist will be proud of his teacher. In soccer matches, they ask who the coach is. The coach gets the credit for victory. Students feel very proud of being students of a particular teacher.

saha vīryam karavᾱvahai - Let us glow in effulgence together. Let us grow in strength together.

mᾱ vidviṣᾱvahai – Let us not hate each other.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti – Let there be peace in our Soul, in our Mind and in our Environment.

You can go deep into knowledge in a peaceful environment, but you can’t do so if the environment is disturbed. If your mind is disturbed, you have to do pranayama, yoga, meditation and kriya to calm it and only then you can talk about higher knowledge. The minute you sit close to the Master, the vibration is already getting transferred and by the vibration, the mind is already becoming calm.

Now the Upanishad begins.

Long long ago, there lived a very pious man called Vajashravas. He got this name because of his passion for feeding people. He would feed anybody who came to his house anytime. Nobody would go hungry from his house. He would feed the entire town! So, he became very famous and known by the name Vajashravas.

His son was very proud of his father. Whenever father does anything big, children want to excel them. If father has become a good businessman then their children want to excel them. Vajashravas’ son too, wanted to excel his father. The father was giving away food, but when the son grew up, he wanted to give away everything. There is a joy, an immense joy in giving.

So, this thought of giving away everything lodged in his head.

There is a yagna called Vishwajityagya, which means the yagna performed to win the universe.

Alexander wanted to win the world. He wanted to possess everything. He went on plundering and looting country after country. But in the ancient days, victory was in giving. The one who gave became victorious. Today there are so many businessmen, but only one or two put 90% of their earning into social service. Everybody acknowledges them and they have won the hearts of the masses. They are well known all over the globe. When businessmen from America come and talk to people in India, they realise that they should also give back to society.

Vishwajit is a yagna by which you can win the whole world by giving. Isn’t that a great concept? You don’t win by acquiring and possessing. No emperor has won this world, but those who have given away everything that they have, have won the hearts and minds of people.

What did Jesus do? He did Vishwajit yagna - he gave everything away. What did Buddha do? Lord Buddha gave everything away. What did AdiShankara do? He gave everything away. Yagna is that ritual, that ceremony, which brings everyone together, which honours the Divine, which is a part of our giving back to the universe, from which we have been taking all the time.

Yagna has three aspects:

• Deva pooja – honouring the Divinity

• Sangatikarna – bringing everyone together

• Dana – giving away

uśan ha vai vᾱjaśravasaḥ sarva-vedasaṁ dadau: tasya ha naciketᾱ nᾱma putra ᾱsa.

The Vishwajityagna was done by Vajashravas and he gave away whatever he had, in the ceremony. He had a small eight year old son. His name was Nachiketa.

taṁ ha kumᾱraṁ santaṁ dakṣiṇᾱsu nīyamᾱnᾱsu śraddhᾱ-viveśa, so’manyata.

He saw his father giving everything away. He was running around and observing what his father was doing. He was watching everything with a lot of faith, “Oh! Father is doing all this. He is doing such a great job. He has given everything away.” He also saw his father giving away cattle which were old. He noted that his father was giving away things which were not useful also. His father would not get any merit out of that. Children are very smart, smarter than their parents. They are so innocent.

pītodakᾱ jagdha-tṛṇᾱ dugdha-dohᾱ nirindriyᾱḥ anandᾱ nᾱma te lokᾱs tᾱn sa gacchata tᾱ dadat.

Sometimes people give away things which are of no use to them, like old clothes. When the tsunami hit (South East Asia, 2004), we were involved with relief work and we were donated many old clothes. Nobody wants to take old clothes. Even poor people dumped them back. So, we had to burn them all. Even the poorest of people want to have something new.

sa hovᾱca pitaram, tᾱta kasmai mᾱṁ, dᾱsyasīti; dvitīyaṁ tṛtīyam; taṁ hovᾱca: mṛtyave tvᾱ dadᾱmīti.

When Nachiketa saw old things being given away, he thought, “This is not good. This is not going to bring merit to my father. My father is so possessive of me. He should give me away too.” He went and asked his father, “To whom are you going to give me?” Vajashravas was engaged in something and did not reply. Nachiketa kept asking the same question again and again, pulling and bothering him. Finally, Vajashravas got irritated and said, “I give you to death! Get lost.”

If you see the world from a child’s mind, it is a very simple and beautiful place. A child’s mind doesn’t know what victory or loss is, what gain is? There is no such restriction, no such barriers.

I remember once, when my sister was very young, she came back from school and told mother that she got zero in maths test. She was happily jumping around and saying, “I failed today! I failed today!” You should be sad about failing! That’s what parents teach children, that failing is not good. But she was happy and telling everybody that she failed. What is failure, what is success? For a child it doesn’t matter.

Once, I and my sister went to our uncle’s house. He had used all the official leaves that he got from his office. He informed his office that he was sick so that he could take us for a picnic. But someone from his office came to the house and my sister told him, “Uncle is saying he is sick and he is taking us out for a picnic.” When my uncle heard this, he said, “Oh! My reputation has gone.” My sister asked immediately, “Where did it go?”

Nachiketa asked his father to whom was he going to give him? He asked with much faith and innocence. Vajashravas said, “I give you to death.” Fathers and mothers usually tell us to get lost but they really don’t mean it. Sometimes, in moments of frustration, they say such things. Nachiketa said, “Yes, this is the place where everybody dies. So many have died and those who are living will also be dead. Those who will come in the future will also die. When death is certain, let me go there now.”

It is very similar to what Lord Buddha experienced. Buddha never knew what death was. Astrologers and priests told his parents that Buddha should never see death. If he sees death then you will lose him. But one day Buddha compelled his charioteer to take him out, and when he went out, he saw an old person for the first time in his life. He asked his charioteer about it. His charioteer said, “He is an old man and that is what we will all be one day.” Buddha was a young boy, just 20 years old. When he heard that, he said, “I have already become old. If this is what is going to happen for sure, then it has already happened.” Then he saw a corpse, and asked what it was. His charioteer said, “This also will happen to everybody. When you are dead four people will carry you and you will be cremated.” Buddha said, “I am already dead. I have that experience right now.” If the mind is sharp, you don’t wait for the experience to happen to you. Anyone’s experience becomes your own experience. You don’t have to go there and experience all the suffering. You look at the suffering and you think, “I have already suffered.” The intellect reflects that experience.

bahῡnᾱm emi prathamaḥ, bahῡnᾱm madhyamaḥ; kiṁ svid yamasya kartavyam yan mayᾱdya kariṣyati.

Nachiketa thought, “Let me be the first to go among those who are going to die. Everyone is going to die. I will go a little earlier. Like corn which ripens and falls and then, comes up again. Everything is temporary. People are dying and I will also die. It’s just that I am going a little early. I am going to go to the Lord of Death.”

Nachiketa knew that his father said it in anger, but he still went to death. This is very beautiful. This Upanishad is about the dialogue of this young boy and the Lord of Death.

What is death? What is the ultimate secret that nobody is able to unwind? What is that? There is another story related to Nachiketa. Once, Vajashravas was praying on a river bank. He accidently left all his belongings on the river bank and came back home. He told his son, “I forgot my pot. Go and get it.” By the time Nachiketa went to the river bank, the water had risen and the flood had washed away all his father’s belongings – yoga-mat, pitcher, water pot, etc. Nachiketa came back and said that all those belongings were lost. Vajashravas got angry and said, “You are useless. Why you didn’t do anything? You better die! You are good for nothing! Get lost!” Nachiketa immediately died there. That is why you should never say negative things if you are a good sadhak. Your words carry power. If you call someone stupid, even though that person is not stupid, he will become stupid. Vajashravas was such a great sadhak. He said, “You are good for nothing, you better die” and that boy fell on the floor and died right then. When his son died, Vajashravas became miserable. “Oh my God! What have I done?”

anupaśya yathᾱ pῡrve pratipaśya tathᾱpare, sasyam iva martyaḥ pacyate sasyam ivajᾱyate punaḥ.

Now the experience of death is described here - what happened to Nachiketa. The spirit of Nachiketa left the body and went to the abode of Yama, the Lord of Death. Yama told him, “You have come here just because your father’s words are so powerful and they had to be fulfilled. It is not your time yet, go back. You still have to acquire knowledge and give love.” Nachiketa