kathopanishad-2-3-10-yadā pañcāvatiṣṭhante

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Yadā pañcāvatiṣṭhante jñānāni manasā saha, buddhiś ca na viceṣṭati, tām āhuḥ paramāṃ gatim (2.3.10). This is a verse dealing with yoga practice. When the five senses stand together by blending their functions into a single activity, as it were, and root themselves in the mind, enhancing the strength of the mind thereby, and the mind settles itself in the pure reason, that state of equilibrium of awareness is the supreme state that one can achieve. Yadā pañcāvatiṣṭhante: When the five senses settle themselves together with the mind, manasā saha; buddhiś ca na viceṣṭati: and the intellect does not oscillate; tām āhuḥ paramāṃ gatim: that is the greatest achievement of a person.

The energy of the mind flows through the sense organs. We have been told again and again that we waste our strength, our energy, our potential, in sense perception. Whenever we see a thing, hear a thing or enjoy any object of sense, a proportion, a part, some measure of the energy of the mind goes outwardly in the direction of that object. The more we enjoy objects, the weaker will we become in our mind, and perhaps in our body also. Mental weakness, inability to remember things, forgetfulness, distraction, all these are characteristics of a weak mind that has exhausted itself by depleting all its energy through the sense organs.

There are five apertures. These apertures are the senses. We are constantly engaged in feeding them with sense objects. Every moment of time we see and hear, touch, taste and smell. These are not innocuous activities taking place; they are vital functions which sap our energy. The more we indulge in things, the weaker we become psychophysically. The Yoga System, which is briefly mentioned here in this verse, tells us that the senses should not work independently—the eyes go on seeing something, and the ears go on hearing something, etc. The energy that is responsible for the function of these five senses should withdraw itself from communicating itself through these organs.

For instance, if we open our eyes and are apparently gazing at some object in front of us, our mind may be somewhere else. When the mind is deeply thinking of something, we will not be able to see an object in front of us even if our eyes are open. This is a way in which the mental energy is withdrawn from the perceptive organ. Similarly, when we are deeply concentrating on something, we will not hear the honking of vehicles on the road. We may not even hear a gunshot taking place near us because we are deeply concentrating on a mathematical solution or a philosophical problem or some case that we have got to handle, and so on. A person who is grieved by the thought of bereavement will not taste any food. If we give the most delicious food to a person who is grieving on account of the loss of something very dear and near—it may be the entire property or some dear person—there will be no taste in the tongue. That person will not have any peace of mind. So there are occasions even in our daily life when the mind can withdraw itself into non-perception through the sense organs. I mentioned some examples. We will not see, we will not hear, we will not taste, we will not enjoy anything. The whole world will look drab and dreary and meaningless to a person who has lost all property and everything that is near and dear.

But yoga is not the manner of concentration of the mind by bereavement, etc. It is a deliberate withdrawal, consciously attempted, due to the fact that there is really no joy in any object. Objects are mischievous sidetrackers. Philosophical analysis will tell us that there is a mistake we are committing every day in imagining that our joys are embedded in the objects of sense. Thus, by the practice of philosophical analysis and by the power of reason, convincing oneself that there is no great point in the senses being indulged so much, we withdraw the energy of the senses.

What happens then? The mind becomes very strong. Those who cannot see and hear have very powerful minds, generally speaking. They think better. When the mind is so concentrated by the energy embedded in it by the withdrawal of the sense organs, it settles itself in the higher reason which contemplates the Supreme Reality, and the intellect does not oscillate. The oscillation of the intellect is due to the logical process which it carries on, on account of reports received through the mind from the sense organs.

So there is a three-tier arrangement of sense indulgence and erroneous concepts. First of all, the senses give us a wrong report about the nature of the objects of the world. Secondly, the mind acquiesces in this report. Then the intellect passes an order agreeing to whatever the mind says. Now this verse says that such a thing should not take place. The intellect will not oscillate if the mind is settled, and the mind will be settled if the senses do not drag it in the direction of objects. If this state can be achieved, it is to be considered as the most blessed state, parama gati.