kathopanishad-1-2-2-śreyaśca

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Śreyaś ca preyaś ca manuṣyam etas tau samparītya vivinakti dhīraḥ, śreyo hi dhīro’bhipreyaso vṛṇīte, preyo mando yoga-kṣemād vṛṇīte (1.2.2): That man is idiotic who, for the purpose of the immediate acquisition of property and the enjoyment thereof, chooses what is of sensory satisfaction and titillation. But the hero like Nachiketas, who shunned even the lordship of the three worlds, such people choose the blessedness of the soul, not the pleasures of the sense organs. The hero on the path of the Spirit carefully distinguishes between what is going to be his doom and what is going to be his real blessedness. As we distinguish between the characteristics of wisdom and action, sankhya and yoga, we try to distinguish between what is really going to be good in the end and what is apparently pleasurable at the present moment.