Quotes from Upanishad

indriyebhyaḥ parā hyarthā arthebhyaśca paraṁ manaḥ |

manasastu parā buddhirbuddherātmā mahānparaḥ ||

……….Katha Upanishad 1.3.10

“Beyond the senses are the objects, beyond them is the mind, beyond the mind is the intellect, beyond the intellect is the Cosmic Mind which is hiranyagarbha.”
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mahataḥ paramavyaktamavyaktātpuruṣaḥ paraḥ |

puruṣānna paraṁ kiṁcitsā kāṣṭhā sā parā gatiḥ ||

……… Katha Upanishad 1.3.11

“Beyond hiranyagarbha is the great Self, the mula prakriti, the Unmanifest, beyond It is the purusha ; and beyond the purusha, there is nothing.”

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PURPORT :

The senses feel far away from physical objects, on account of which they feel drawn towards them. The panchagni acts as incentive for the senses to move. The five elements as well as the five essences behind them act reciprocally and produce a sense of mutual attraction. The tanmatras pervade not only the objects, but are behind the senses also. And something happens when they unite, like a friend meeting a friend after years. It is not union of two objects, but something more, like the mother’s embrace of her child. More than a mere meeting of two objects, there is a feeling which is of greater significance: a consciousnesss wallowing up the consciousness of particulars, and the two become one; not in the physical sense of the term; a union not even psychological merely, but more fundamental. The essence behind sense-perception is not properly understood, and so we are caught up in moha; we are in a helpless condition. This condition of helplessness is samsara.


The tanmatras are the deeper essence behind all the objects— including our body, which is also an object. They are not electric energy, but finer than the molecules, protons and electrons of the scientists. While electric energy is wholly inert, without intelligence to direct itself, the tanmatras are midway between the cosmic prana and the world, being the vital forces regulating the physical objects and thus superior to and higher than these and the senses. Hence, beyond the physical world, there are the tanmatras; and beyond them, there is the mind. Still superior in function to the mind is the intellect. While the mind functions indeterminately, there is decision and clarified understanding in buddhi; it makes decisions in all matters. The senses give distorted reports, the mind collects them and the intellect passes judgment. Here, we have reached the end of the human world. The highest faculty in man is the intellect. So man is said to be a rational being.



What is beyond the intellect? We can not know, because knowing ceases there.



When we exceed the intellect, we go beyond the physical. The jiva goes to the virat when his intelligence rises to an understanding of what is beyond it. Virat is superior to the jiva who is part of It, just as limbs are parts of the body. Virat, hiranyagarbha and ishvara are the threefold manifestations on the cosmic level corresponding to the threefold manifestations of the individual: the waking , the dream and the deep sleep (Shushupti) states. While we are aware of the body in waking, of the psychological condition in dream and the causal one in deep sleep, there is a lot of difference in regard to the character and function between these individual and universal states; the virat is not just like waking, and so on. Higher than the virat is the Cosmic Mind or Intellect or Ego which makes up the hiranyagarbha in Vedantic terminology, or Brahma, the Creator, in the Puranas.



What is beyond virat and hiranyagarbha?



There is a two fold answer to this: from the point of view of the experiencing consciousness, and from the point of view of the state itself. Seen from the latter, it is avyakta, mulaprakriti or mahamaya; the pre condition of everything. But seen from the former, the experiencing consciousness, which is Ishvara, we may ask: ‘What is in deep sleep?’



The answer to this question is the answer to His character. From one point of view, there is nothing in deep sleep, and from another, there is pure consciousness. Since no phenomena take place, there is nothing; but yet there is awareness. Likewise, the awareness of existence of prakriti is the universal ishvara. He is the cosmic Witness of all things, and there must be something even beyond Him because, even here, is duality. Transcending Him is the purusha. The purusha is not a male, It is Being. That which is cosmically existent always is the purusha. It is another name for the Absolute. Beyond the mahat is avyakta; beyond avyakta is the purusha.



What is beyond the purusha?



Beyond It, there is nothing. Once you reach It, you have reached the end. This is the limit of experience, and the goal of all life; not merely of life, but also of non-life. There is no such thing as dead matter. There is only difference in the degrees of life; and everything tends to This.





Method Of Yoga :



yacchedvāṅmanasī prājñastadyacchejjñāna ātmani |

jñānamātmani mahati niyacchettadyacchecchānta ātmani ||



…………..Katha Upanishad 1.3.13



“ The wise man should merge his speech in his mind and his mind in his intellect. He should merge his intellect in the Cosmic mind and the Cosmic mind in the Tranquil Self “.