नाशान्तमानसो वाऽपि प्रज्ञानेनैनमाप्नुयात् ॥ २४॥
nāśāntamānaso vā’pi prajñānenainamāpnuyāt .. 24..
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Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society
Nāvirato duścaritān nāśānto nāsamāhitaḥ, nāśānta-mānaso vāpi prajñānenainam āpnuyāt (1.2.24): Nobody can attain that Atman who is not free from evil conduct. No one can know the Atman, or reach it, who is not calm and composed in mind, and who is distracted inside. No one can know the Atman whose mind is not concentrated on it. Distracted and torn emotions will not be good media for contacting the Atman. Here intellect is not of any utility. Nāśānto nāsamāhitaḥ, nāśānta-mānaso vāpi prajñānenainam āpnuyāt: Unsettled minds, merely with the power of will and intellect, will not be able to know it, contact it, or realise it.
Kathopanishad – Verse 24 – kathopanishad-1-2-24-nāvirato – In Sanskrit with English Transliteration, Meaning and Commentary by Adi Shankaracharya (Sankara Bhashya) – Katha-1-2-24
Sri Shankara’s Commentary (Bhashya) translated by S. Sitarama Sastri
Yet something more: who has not turned away from bad conduct, i.e., from sinful acts prohibited and not permitted by the srutis and the smritis, who has no quietude from the activity of the senses, whose mind is not concentrated, i.e., whose mind is deverted off and on; whose mind is not at rest, i.e., whose mind, though collected, is engaged in looking forward to the fruits of being so collected, cannot attain the âtman now treated of, but only by means of the knowledge of Brahman; the meaning is that he alone who has turned away from bad conduct, who is free from the activity of the senses, whose mind is collected, and whose mind is at rest, even in respect of the fruits of its being so collected, taught by a preceptor, attains the âtman above described by knowing him.