[Advaita-l] Question on Kathopanishad bhAshyam

[S.N. Sastri]

Question on Kathopanishad bhAshyam



Dear Shri Murali,

By the expression "keshAncidbhramaha", which means, "the wrong notion of
some persons", what is meant is that some may think that the reference to
manas here is to 'manomayaH purushaH', i.e., the AtmA identified with the
mind, and not the mind itself. So Anandagiri points out that the reference
here is to the mind which is made up of the sattva part of the five subtle
elements and is therefore bhautika.

The sentence "'annamayam hi somya manaH" appears in chandogya up. VI. 5. 5.
It means that the mind is made of food. ch. VI. 5. 1 says that the food
which is eaten gets divided into three parts. The grossest part becomes
excreta, the less gross part becomes flesh and the subtlest part becomes the
mind. Thus the mind is a product of food. There is a story there to show
that the mind does not function well when one has not had food for some
days, but it begins to function well when the person takes food. These are
referred to here by the statement --"annabhAvAbhAvAbhyAm-upacayApacaya
darSanAd-bhoutikatvameva tat"---
 to show that the mind is bhautika, a product of the elements.
These commentaries can be understood only if one has a teacher who has
already studied all the upanishads. It is difficult to study the bhAshya and
its sub-commentaries by oneself without the help of a teacher.
Best wishes,

S.N.Sastri


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