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-Compiled from Tattvavada Magazine
ACHARYA MADHVA’ S READING OF KATAKOPANISHAD
(Here are the excerpts from the paper presented by Chinthalavady K. Ramamurthy in a Symposium on Katakopanishad, held at Jnyaana Pravaaha Institute at Varanasi on 3.12.2002 and 4.12.2002. We are happy to inform that this was regarded as one of the most informative and enlightning papers.)
Vamana roopa of Sri Hari is the God to be known by this upanishadic brahma-vidya – its central theme. Yama, the dharma devataa, is the seer of these mantras; received from him by Nachiketa subsequently. Anushtup, etc., are the various meters employed.
Vamana is the indweller of all souls, here and hereafter, controlling all activities at all times and at all places; and always superior to anyone and everyone, which this Upanishad specifically mentions as “Madhye Vamana Vaasinam”, “Viddhi Tvametam Nihitam Guhayam”, “Eeshaano Bhoota Bhavyasya “, “Paramapnoti Tad Vishnoho Paramam Padam” etc. Acharya Madhva, therefore, specially pays his obeisance to the Vamanaroopi Parabrahma at the beginning of his bhashya. There are many readings and interpretations of upanishads, both traditional or otherwise, by scholars and intellectuals. But the uniqueness of Madhva Bhashya lies in the fact that he allows Shri Vedavyasa to speak for Himself. Acharya Madhva keeps his words to the bare minimum and instead takes pleasure in projecting Sri Vedavyasa, by quoting Him extensively from Shruties, Smrutis, Sootras, Itihasas and Puranas. Who can excel Vaasishta Krishna, an avatara of Narayana, in teaching us the intricacies of shastra prapancha given by Him – both in authority and clarity !
The story of Nachiketa with 118 mantras in this Upanishad is more extensively told in Krishna Yajurveda Kataka, Taitareeya Brahmana, Gatisara, Anushasana Parva of Mahabharata, etc. Acharya Madhva quotes Brahmasara, Gatisara, Padma purana, Brahmanda purana, Brahma Vaivarta purana, Maha varaha purana, Shabda nirnaya, Bhavishyat parva, Koorma purana etc. He also indicates the similarity of many passages in this upanishad to Gita vakyas, which can be understood more in detail in his two works on Bhagvad-gita.
Following Madhva Bhashya, the illustrious commentator Shri Vaadi Raja has written his work “Prakaashika”. A tippani by Shri Vyasa Theertha on this upanishad is followed by two kandaarthas, one by Shri Raghavendra Theertha and another by Shri Vedesha Theertha.
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The eight-year-old exhibits such fearlessness towards death, it is worth learning and contemplating. Many of our fears simply disappear once we know this truth and hence the upanishad vividly describes it along with the message that we die only to be born again. Here it is noteworthy to understand that in the entire gamut of our shastras, the wicked were always worried about death and did their best to avoid it. Avoid death to live permanently is the line of thinking. They thought of the best boons possible. But alas, all of them had to die, in one way or the other, without exception. At the same time, the good souls like Nachiketha never feared death. Once born, they knew that death is unavoidable. Hence their thinking was always towards avoiding birth instead of death. Although both looked for eternity, their approaches were quite different. Further, the wicked looked for it here in this mortal world whereas the wise knew the secret. We can perhaps crosscheck our attitude towards death, now and then, and be prepared to face it instead of fearing or winning over. Rather welcome it as Tagore says, as a friend, as an end of one more saadhana to avoid birth in the future.
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Nachiketa goes to yamaloka as daana, mainly to learn two things.
1.The methodology of leading life in this world as a yajna to Vishnu.
2.To know more and more of Parabrahma as a controller (Niyamaka) of the finally dead and liberated souls. Acharya Madhva quotes Brahmasara to make this point that one who contemplates always on Vishnu in Agni (in yajna or life) goes to swarga, stays there for a manvantara and then as a part of a due process gets liberated from there on. In order to share his special knowledge with his father for his use, Nachiketha asks Yama the first boon of calmness to his father.
The three boons he gets are interlinked and show a sequence. The first one, though read personal, is not so. Shri Vaadiraja points out that it is because of his vedic knowledge of respecting parents and elders (Matru-devo-bhava etc.) as a first step towards a disciplined spiritual life, which takes unto Jnaana-Bhakti-Vairagya at its pinnacle. His father was full of worldly desires, disappointed, confused, and angry and did not possess right knowledge to get what he wanted. Hence, Nachiketa asks the first boon for his father to get over these problems so that he can give the benefit of the other two as well.
As Uddalaka represents ourselves, the uninitiated in proper spiritual pursuit, the upanishad extends us the benefit of Dharmaraja’s grace on us to get the required pre-requisites like peace of mind (Shanta-sankalpa), good-hearted (Sumanasa), angerless ( winning over raaga, dwesha etc.) and good sleep in the night (contentment). Just by working on this upanishad, we become eligible to get all these - as a phala-shruti – for moksha sadhana.
At first, advised by his wife, Yama asks for pardon for having made Nachiketa wait for three days. It is said that, an unattended guest (atithi) eats children in the first night, wealth in the second night and good deeds in the third night. As the word athithi goes, he is tithiless - dateless - comes without prior intimation. Properly attended to, he bestows all our wants, for it is the God who projects Himself in the visitor. Otherwise, He burns like a fire, for He is verily the agni. A Brahma-jnaani atithi like Nachiketa has two agnis in him - Vaishvanara in stomach and Jnaanagni in brain - still more dangerous.
Yama provides for arghya (to wash hands), paadya (to wash legs) and achamana (to drink with food). Speaks with respect, though much superior, and provides three boons as an amend to the three days he made him wait.
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While preaching Nachiketa Yama calls the saadhaka as ‘trikarmakrut’. The word trikarmakrutu indicates life itself as yajna to Vishnu. yajna, Daana and Tapas, as referred in Bhagwadgita are cited. Every work, mundane or otherwise, is to be executed with thoughts of Narayana and offered as Krishnarpana. He is Sarva-yajna-bhuk. He is Sarva-phaladaataa. This makes life an yajna. It calls for spiritual discipline and a right import of vedic thoughts through an accomplished guru. That is why all our vedic rites start with ‘Harihi Ohm’ and ends with ‘Krishnarpana’.
Shri Raghavendra Swami in his “Praatah Sankalpa Gadya” prays to do the day’s work right from getting up the bed till retiring to the bed as His pooja, with constant thoughts of Him and His dharma. Similarly he places the result of all the work done in a day as an offering to Him as part of pooja, in his work “Sarva Samarpana Gadya”, recited while going to bed in the night. The day’s work and results, in all details, are turned into His pooja by these two prayers - a very high spiritual ideal indeed.
Daana is sharing what we have with others like food, wealth, knowledge, etc., only the best part of it, as an offering made to the indweller and not just to the person in front. The Tapas is physical like vratas and nitya-karma-anushtanas and mental like shravana, manana, dhyana etc.
The third question i.e. the secred knowladge of paramatma, asked by Nachiketa jolted Yama for he refused to answer and pretended not to know. Instead, he offered the best of this world like longevity, horses, rathas, elephants, gold, land, ladies, power to rule and so on; each bestowing a higher status on the receiver, than the earlier. At the end of it, he even offered what is not possible to get here in this world and exclusive to swargloka. This can include items like kaamdhenu, kalpavriksha, somapana and so on. However, Nachiketa rejects all of them in one stroke with a simple reasoning that his asking about the eternal truths has been met by transitory items not asked for. (Infact, he says, he was sure to get all these transient things by just having seen a Brahma-jnaani like Yama!)
Yama is both pleased and still reluctant to part with the secret. When Nachiketa is found to be steadfast, Yama identifies the competence in him to receive such knowledge and starts with a brief introduction on the Supreme Being, who controls the liberated. Yama says that very few can receive this knowledge and it is a wonder that only once in a way, that such a guru and a sishya meet to discuss this knowledge. It is not to be understood by tarka, or any other means, but by guru prasada only. Then for the first time Yama agrees, that he knows the qualities of the Supreme Being, controlling the liberated and he is competent to teach it.
The Supreme Being is the one who is told by all vedas and is the purpose of all tapas, towards which all Brahmajnaanis move and He is in the form of Om. He supports everyone and everyone has to take His support and knowing this can take one to Brahmaloka. He is unborn, everlasting and unaffected even though He stays in the bodies of all souls. He is tinier than the tiniest jada or jeeva, staying right inside the tiniest and larger than the largest, enveloping even brahmanda - the largest. He stays in the ‘cave-called-heart’, in all living things. He is the energy behind all activities of all the living, still unaffected by such actions and to be realized only by His prasada.
By sitting at one place, He can reach the farthest distances; lying down at one place He can move around anywhere and everywhere. Just as jeeva stays, inside the body, He should be understood as staying inside the jeeva. He cannot be understood, by speaking about him or by listening to many or by intellect or by any other means alone, except by getting chosen by Him to understand Him. And it is He who liberates us ultimately.
He has no doshas, no discontentment, and no perturbed psyche and has to be understood to the extent possible to attain liberation. At the time of pralaya, even Brahma and Vayu turn out to be just a morsel and the Mrutyu devata is just a pickle for Him.
Having told briefly some of the qualities of the Supreme Being, Yama now teaches the process of learning and realizing Him. The body is a ratha in which jeeva stays as the rathika. His buddhi or intellect is the driver (sarathy) and his manas is the reins. His indriyas are the horses and vishayas are the path. The target to reach is the Supreme Being, on whom everyone and anyone is dependent.
One who knows not these details and whose manas is not in the fold of his buddhi and buddhi does not know where the target is, then it is like meeting with an accident. On the other hand, one who knows the target and who uses the horses and reins better, reaches the target called Vishnu. The attention is specifically invited here towards the term Vishnu, used in the upanishad to denote the Supreme Being ( THAD VISHNOH PARAMAM PADAM ).
The upanishad, apart from clearly indicating Vishnu as the Supreme Being, and to be taken as the target to be reached by those who want to get liberated, it makes another important basic rule called hierarchy as a means of achieving it. It specifies indriyas, vishayas, manas, buddhi, atma(chit), mahat, avyakta and Purusha as an ascending hierarchy, with a specific note that there is no equal or greater to Purusha.
Most of the interpretations available on this upanishad list the above hierarchy and are satisfied by talking about the insentient part of the function, by mentioning consciousness, super-consciousness, universal-consciousness and so on. This misses the point of the upanishad, in total. For, conscious or super-conscious is at best jada and not the purpose of vedanthic philosophy. Infact, science can give more details on the above things than the upanishad does, if one is looking for the function of these instruments. But, if we have to understand the energy and life force behind these instruments, then we have to surrender not only to the upanishads but also to its extensions like ithihasas and puranas. The presiding deities of karmendriyas and jnaanendriyas are all under the control of the vishaya abhimani devatha Parvathi. She obeys her husband Rudra, the mano-abhimani. Sesha and Garuda should be understood as equal to Rudra and likewise for their respective consorts. They in turn take their orders from buddhi abhimani devatha Sarasvathi and Bharathi. Brahma and Vayu, who represent mahath thathva (the chit of our brain), control memory and in turn get controlled by the avyaktha abhimani devatha Sri Ramaa. Even Ramaa is subservient to the purushasabda-vaachya of Purusha Suktha, namely Vishnu, who has no equal or superior at any point of time.
The upanishad gives another important and fundamental concept of dependence of all souls on Him. For this the metaphor used is Bimba-pratibimba (object-image). This must be understood not only the Supreme Being as bimba but also the controlling deities mentioned earlier as intermediate bimbas according to their gradation. Between the jeeva and Paramathma, there are 16 other bimbas and hence the Supreme Being must be seen through each one of the intermediate bimbas. This again follows the gradation, mentioned earlier.
Another important point referred in the upanishad is that the Antharathma enters the jeeva’s body along with Prana and also leaves along with Prana. The antharyami paramathma takes anantha roopa to suit the uniqueness of each and every soul. He is also present in two antharyami forms – one inside the deha and second inside the jeeva. His form is related by the upanishad to the size of the thumb, angushttha. Apart from this infinite antharyami roopas, He has avathara roopas and moola roopa . The upanishad points out that there is absolutely no difference what so ever between these infinite, unique roopas. This is indicated by the famous term ‘Neha Naanaasti Kinchana’. This concept is the real ‘advaita-in-His-forms’ spoken by the vedas, acceptable to Acharya Madhva. This can not be misunderstood as the jeeva-Brahma ikya. Acharya Madhva refers shabda-nirnaya to establish the real meaning of Nehanaanaasti. One who does not understand the Supreme Being as above is doomed to fall like rain drops on the mountain top, says the upanishad.
To dispel the jeeva-Brahma ikya, the upanishad clearly uses the term ‘Taadrugeva bhavaty’ and not ‘Tadeva bhavaty’, with water added to water as an example given. Acharya Madhva quotes bhavishya-parva to explain this manthra in Vedavyasa’s words, clearly dispelling ikya as understood in other schools of vedanta. Ikya, at best can mean being together and never becoming the same.
The antharyami is explained to reside in the jeeva’s body with ekadasa-dwaras. Generally, the human body is referred in the shastras as nava-dwara-pura and here two more are added. Shri Raghavendra Theertha interprets the additional two as manas and buddhi. Shri Vedesa Theertha adds one more dimension by interpreting it as Naabhy and Brahmarandhara.
The very famous Gita sloka ‘’Urdhvamoolam-adhas-shaakham’’, originally finds its place in this upanishad. The universe is figuratively spoken as a huge tree, upside down. Sriman Narayana is at the top and is the basis of the tree, like the ground support. Ramaa Devi functions like the roots of the tree, held by the ground. Brahmaadi devatas are the branches. This tree is eternal like a flowing river (pravaahataha nitya). The branches, leaves and fruits keep falling and keep growing. But neither this fall nor the growth affects the tree, which stays always.
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Out of the 101 prominent Naadis in the body, the Sushumna represents the royal path for the Jeeva to leave, when He decides. One who leaves by the Sushumna and moves upwards, never returns to samsara. To attain this, one has to constantly meditate on the ‘angushta-mathra-purusha’ as ‘jeevaantharyami’, staying in our ‘hrudaya-guha’. Reflecting this in all our activities at all times can bring the right knowledge and His prasada, only to reach Him progressively. This knowledge, imparted to Nachiketha by Mruthyu can bring us vidyaa, medha, yoga and Vishnu-prasada. Acharya Madhva concludes by establishing that the purpose of this Upanishad is to confirm the Vishnu-jeeva bheda and Vishnu-sarvothamathva. He salutes that Vishnu in the ‘hrudaya-guha’, who is the dearest to him for ever.
ll Shri Krishnaarpanamastu ll