Title

Katopanishad

Part-1

A commentary by

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Publications Trust, India

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ISBN: 978-93-85898-31-0

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Contents

Title

At the Door of Death

Beyond Death

The Grace of the Divine

Beyond the Layers of Existence

Winning Immortality

Key to Transliteration

The Art of Living & The International Association for Human Values

The Founder

Follow Sri Sri on:

The Art of Living In Service Around The World

The Art of Living Programs

International Centres

Landmarks

Cover

At the Door of Death

Upanishad means sitting close, sitting near the Master, not just physically, but also with attention, with presence of mind in the same space as that of the Master. Katha Upanishad - katha – ‘tha’ means the final. What is the final thing about life? What is the end? What is the ultimate?

Every Upanishad begins with a Shanti Mantra and ends with a Shanti Mantra. Shanti means Peace. Only when you have peace can you think of higher knowledge. Higher knowledge cannot be grasped by a disturbed mind. The mind needs to be calm, free from anguish, from hatred, from cravings, and then higher knowledge can be attained.

auṁ sa ha nᾱv avatu, saha nau bhunaktu,

saha vīryam karavᾱvahai,

tejasvi nav adhītam astu: mᾱ vidviṣᾱvahai;

auṁ śāntih, śāntih, śāntih.

auṁ sa ha nᾱv avatu – Let us be together

saha nau bhunaktu – Enjoy this life together

saha vīryam karavᾱvahai – Let us grow in strength together

tejasvi nav adhītam astu: – Let us become effulgent, glow together

mᾱ vidviṣᾱvahai – Let us not hate each other

Let us be together. Let us grow together, let us eat together, let us enjoy together. This shloka is the foundation of learning.

This mantra is also chanted before having food.

Bhunaktu means eating, but in this shloka, it doesn’t mean just eating. It means to experience the whole world. When our sights don’t match, when our perceptions don’t match, then there is conflict. saha nau bhunaktu - let our perception match. Let us see things together, let us experience the same. One experiences one thing, and the other experiences something else, then there is conflict. But if both experience the same thing together, then there is peace and tranquillity.

Suppose one person likes something and says, Wow, this is so great!But the other person says, This is horrible!, then they cannot enjoy. If you go to a picnic with your spouse and you are happy but your spouse is not, then both of you become miserable. When both of you enjoy together, then there is peace and harmony.

sa ha nᾱv avatu - Let us be together. We are together anyway. If we are born during the same time on this planet, then we are meant to be together. When we are meant to be together, let us be together mentally also. Let us be together with the spirit. It is the mind, the intellect which creates barriers and you have to remove the barriers through the intellect. Hence the prayer - Let us be together, let us grow together, let us shine together.

When a very talented person is interviewed, the first thing asked is - Who is your teacher? This is tradition. A brilliant sitarist will be proud of his teacher. In soccer matches, they ask who the coach is. The coach gets the credit for victory. Students feel very proud of being students of a particular teacher.

saha vīryam karavᾱvahai - Let us glow in effulgence together. Let us grow in strength together.

mᾱ vidviṣᾱvahai – Let us not hate each other.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti – Let there be peace in our Soul, in our Mind and in our Environment.

You can go deep into knowledge in a peaceful environment, but you can’t do so if the environment is disturbed. If your mind is disturbed, you have to do pranayama, yoga, meditation and kriya to calm it and only then you can talk about higher knowledge. The minute you sit close to the Master, the vibration is already getting transferred and by the vibration, the mind is already becoming calm.

Now the Upanishad begins.

Long long ago, there lived a very pious man called Vajashravas. He got this name because of his passion for feeding people. He would feed anybody who came to his house anytime. Nobody would go hungry from his house. He would feed the entire town! So, he became very famous and known by the name Vajashravas.

His son was very proud of his father. Whenever father does anything big, children want to excel them. If father has become a good businessman then their children want to excel them. Vajashravas’ son too, wanted to excel his father. The father was giving away food, but when the son grew up, he wanted to give away everything. There is a joy, an immense joy in giving.

So, this thought of giving away everything lodged in his head.

There is a yagna called Vishwajit yagya, which means the yagna performed to win the universe.

Alexander wanted to win the world. He wanted to possess everything. He went on plundering and looting country after country. But in the ancient days, victory was in giving. The one who gave became victorious. Today there are so many businessmen, but only one or two put 90% of their earning into social service. Everybody acknowledges them and they have won the hearts of the masses. They are well known all over the globe. When businessmen from America come and talk to people in India, they realise that they should also give back to society.

Vishwajit is a yagna by which you can win the whole world by giving. Isn’t that a great concept? You don’t win by acquiring and possessing. No emperor has won this world, but those who have given away everything that they have, have won the hearts and minds of people.

What did Jesus do? He did Vishwajit yagna - he gave everything away. What did Buddha do? Lord Buddha gave everything away. What did Adi Shankara do? He gave everything away. Yagna is that ritual, that ceremony, which brings everyone together, which honours the Divine, which is a part of our giving back to the universe, from which we have been taking all the time.

Yagna has