kathopanishad-1-3-10-indriyebhyaḥ

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Indriyebhyaḥ parā hy arthā, arthebhyaś ca param manaḥ, manasaś ca parā buddhir buddher ātmā mahān paraḥ; mahataḥ param avyaktam, avyaktāt puruṣaḥ paraḥ, puruṣān na paraṁ kiñcit: sā kāṣṭhā, sā parā gatiḥ (1.3.10-11). In connection with the horses, the chariot, etc., indication is given of the manner of the ascent or the progress of the chariot of this individuality in the direction of the goal, which is referred to here as viṣṇoḥ paramam padam (1.3.9), the supreme abode of Vishnu, the all-pervading Being.

What are the stages of the movement of this ascent, or progress? What is the first thing that we encounter? The objects of the senses are the first things that we behold. They are the grossest manifestations in the evolutionary process. They strike us every day. We hit our heads against them, as it were, and we see nothing in the world except objects which are cognised by the sense organs. The sense organs are to be considered as somehow superior to the objects because the manner in which the consciousness of an object arises within is determined by the manner in which the sense organs comprehend the object. The way in which the senses are constituted is also the way in which the object will appear to us in our consciousness as, for instance, the kind of lens that we wear on our eyes will decide the way in which the objects appear to our eyes. If the lens is concave, convex, broken, coloured or distorted, accordingly we will see the objects as topsy-turvy, small, big, distorted, expanded, broken, coloured, and so on, though the objects themselves are really not so affected. Inasmuch as there is a tremendous conditioning power of the sense organs over the objects, they are said to be superior to the objects of their perception.

But superior to the sense organs are the subtle principles which constitute them, the tanmatras, as they are called—sabda, sparsa, rupa, rasa, gandha—the principles of hearing, touching, seeing, tasting and smelling. These are the subtle rudimentary principles which go to form the power of the sense organs. Therefore, the sense organs can perform only five functions. We can see, we can hear, we can touch, we can smell, and we can taste. We cannot do anything more than this in this world. We see a fivefold manifestation of the universe—earth, water, fire, air and ether—because of the organs which are fivefold. Some wise men have held that if we had millions of sense organs, we would behold the world in a million ways, and not only in the limited way as it appears to the fivefold senses.

Inasmuch as the senses are constituted of a higher essence called tanmatras, which I have already mentioned, the causes thereof naturally should be considered as higher than, or superior to, the sense organs. Artha here means the potential of the sense organs. They are the tanmatras mentioned. The objects are the lowest, the sense organs are higher, and the tanmatras are superior still. The mind is subtler than even the tanmatras because it can conceive; it can think the tanmatras. The mind can understand what sabda, sparsa, rupa, rasa, gandha are. The mind is potentially sattvic in its nature, though it is also affected with rajas and tamas. There is torpidity and immobility on the part of the mind in tamas. It is distracted many a time on account of rajas, but it also has some sattvic qualities, on account of which it often feels happy inside. It is intelligent, and can understand the pros and cons of things. The joys that we feel inside are a reflection of the Atman. The sattva guna of Prakriti occasionally manifests through the mind. The mind, therefore, is superior even to the tanmatras which it knows. The knower is superior to the known. Manasaś ca parā buddhir buddher: The intellect is superior to the mind. The mind generally thinks in an indeterminate manner, but the buddhi, or the intellect, determinedly cognises, decides and concludes. The intellect is purified mind. Some say the intellect is like sugar and the mind is like jaggery, out of which the sugar is made by a purification process.

But there is something superior to the intellect of the human being, which is mahat-tattva. Mahat-tattva is the cosmic intellect. The word mahat is used in Sankhya philosophy. According to the Sankhya philosophy, Prakriti is the supreme potential for creation. It is constituted of the properties of sattva, rajas and tamas. In the beginning of things, Prakriti remains in an equilibrated condition where the three properties are in a state of harmony; therefore, there is no perception or knowledge of anything at that time. Suddenly there is a disturbance of Prakriti, and one property rises to the surface and has an upper hand over the other two properties, and that particular property becomes the medium for the reflection of the Cosmic Being through it. Various mediums through which the Supreme Being manifests itself are said to be of the cosmic sattva guna. The cosmic sattva pervading all things is mahat, according to the Sankhya doctrine. It is identifiable with Hiranyagarbha-tattva of the Vedanta doctrine.

Hence, the intellect of individuals is to be considered as only a fraction of this universal intellect, which is mahat-tattva, which has omniscience and omnipotence, whereas the individual intellect has no such power. It has limited knowledge and limited power. The mahat-tattva, or cosmic intelligence, is like the ocean of knowledge, and the human intellect is like a drop of it, but even this drop is a distorted drop. It does not mean that the human intellect is qualitatively equal to the mahat-tattva, though quantitatively small. A spark of fire is quantitatively smaller than a huge conflagration of fire, but qualitatively it is the same as fire. Here, when we say that the intellect of the human being is a part, a little fraction of the universal intelligence, we should not conclude that it is qualitatively the same. Otherwise, we would be thinking like small gods, and that we are not doing. We are not thinking like gods at all but as suffering, distorted and finite individuals. There is a topsy-turvy activity going on in the human intellect; though it is part and parcel of the universal Consciousness, it is also a reflection.

Now, the sun can be reflected in water. We can see that when the water shakes, it appears to make the sun also split or fraction into little bits, as it were. On the one hand, the reflection has created the segmentation of the original into little bits, and on the other hand, being a reflection, it does not have the quality of the sun. The heat that is perceived in the sun is not there when we see the sun in the reflection. In a similar manner, the intellect, which is the highest faculty in the human being, has a double disadvantage in that it is, first of all, a fraction or a little part of the cosmic intelligence, and secondly, it is a reflection. Therefore, it is not qualitatively equal. So, quantitatively it is not equal, and also qualitatively it is not equal. Therefore, the mahat-tattva is supremely above the human intellect.

Mahataḥ param avyaktam. As I mentioned, the mahat-tattva is a manifestation of the Supreme Being through the sattva guna of Prakriti; therefore, the very appearance and the very possibility of the existence of such a thing called mahat-tattva is due to the existence of another principle above it, called Prakriti. So Prakriti avyakta, as it is called, is above the mahat-tattva. Avyaktāt puruṣaḥ paraḥ: The Supreme Being—Purusha, as it is called, or Brahman as it is called in the Vedanta—is superior even to Prakriti, because Prakriti acts only as a medium of reflecting the original Consciousness. Consciousness is the Ultimate Reality. Brahman, Purusha, is Supreme.

So what are the gradations? From the objects we go to the sense organs. This is also a method of meditation—how we have to gradually withdraw the mind from the lower categories to the higher categories. This is the system of meditation that is being described in these two verses. Withdraw the consciousness from the objects to the senses, withdraw the consciousness from the senses to the mind, withdraw the consciousness from the mind to the intellect, and withdraw the consciousness from the intellect to the cosmic intellect. From there, withdraw the consciousness to the potential of creation, called Prakriti. Then withdraw this potential to the purely universal existence, the Mahapurusha.

Puruṣān na paraṁ kiñcit: There is nothing superior to the Purusha. It has been said that there is something superior to every category in this list mentioned, but when we reach the Purusha there is nothing superior to it, and there is no further ascent. That is the goal, and that is the end of all things. Sā kāṣṭhā: That is the final abode, and that is the blessedness which we all seek. It is the goal, the beatitude, the blessedness, and the eternal that we seek in our life. Sā kāṣṭhā, sā parā gatiḥ: It is the abode of blessedness. Nothing beyond that exists.

We had the description of the chariot of the body, which is said to be driven along the road of the sense objects by the charioteer, who is the reason, or the intellect. The Lord is seated there, the jivatman, with the mind being the reins controlling the sense organs as horses. It was said that if the horses are not properly trained they may become restive and cast the chariot somewhere on the way, and the Lord seated in the chariot may not reach the destination unless the charioteer is very reliable, which means to say, unless the reason is purified and free from the faults characteristic of egoism such as greed and passion, etc. In connection with this, the gradation of the categories of the universe is mentioned in the subsequent two verses.