kathopanishad-1-3-12-eṣa sarveṣu

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Eṣa sarveṣu bhūteṣu gūdho’tmā na prakāśate, dṛśyate tvagryayā buddhyā sūkṣmayā sūkṣma-darśibhiḥ (1.3.12): This Purusha is present everywhere. The Purusha manifests itself through Prakriti, then indirectly through Prakriti it manifests itself in mahat, through mahat it reflects itself in the intellect, through the intellect it reflects itself in the mind, through the mind it reflects itself through the sense organs, and through the sense organs it illumines the objects. So this Supreme Purusha, though above all things, is also in all things. Though it is transcendent, it is also immanent.

Therefore, it is not difficult to contact the Purusha. We can contact the Purusha even in the objects of sense. Though it is the lowest manifestation of the Purusha, it is nevertheless a manifestation. Even the smallest official in the government is capable of contacting the government at the highest level. Similar is the case with this. All things in the world are roads, passages, paths leading to the Supreme Reality. This Supreme Purusha is manifest in all things, and yet is not visible to the sense organs. It is present even in objects, but it cannot be seen with the eyes in objects. Objects can be seen only with the eyes, with the sense organs, but the Purusha is not an object. It is the Subject that knows. Therefore, when we behold objects through the sense organs, we do not realise that we are actually seeing the Purusha in the form of the object. Externality, which is the characteristic of the activity of the senses, vitiates all perception and connects even the Purusha with the object, and we think that the object is outside, due to which reason the Purusha is not recognised, though it is really present there. The whole world is flooded with God-consciousness, but we cannot know that because we mistake the world for an externality, whereas God is universality.

Eṣa sarveṣu bhūteṣu gūdho’tmā na prakāśate: Subtle Reality as it is, it is not visible to the sense organs. Dṛśyate tvagryayā buddhyā: But subtle analytic understanding can recognise the presence of the Supreme Being by philosophical acts of inference, and in meditation. Sūkṣmayā sūkṣma-darśibhiḥ: With a subtle mind, with a purified intellect, great geniuses on the spiritual path such as rishis, sages and saints recognise Brahman present in this very world of material manifestation, though the sense organs cannot behold it in that manner.