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Credit: DH Illustration
In the Kathopanishad, after being offered the fulfilment of all desires, the endless fruit of all rites, the greatness of fame and the other shore where there is no fear, Nachiketas still held on steadfastly to the Truth and firmly rejected everything.
Yama, seeing his determination, then tells Nachiketas that there is a way of reaching the Permanent through the impermanent world.
Yama says that the Supreme Being can be realised through Self contemplation - not by looking for it in words or in discourses. When it is looked for within, the wise man, through meditation, realises the Supreme Being dwelling subtly, deep within the cave of his heart. When he reaches that, he leaves behind both joy and sorrow.
Normally if there is some joy, there is always some sorrow following it and if there is sorrow, we always live with the hope that soon, there might be some joy to follow. But in this state, where one leaves behind both joy and sorrow, there is the ultimate Shanti. That, says Yama, is realised through Self contemplation on that Primeval God.
You need not search for it anywhere outside. Look for it in the cave of your own heart and see it in the secret recesses of your being. No more do pleasure and pain exist. One is beyond them both.
It may be a little difficult in the beginning, to theoretically understand the Upanishadic statements about the Supreme Being. For instance, the Kenopanishad declares that neither the eye nor the ear nor the mind can touch it. And so it becomes an inscrutable mystery.
But in the Upanishad itself, you discover what it actually means. As long as I am trying to find it, there is still the element of “I” in it and I cannot find it. So what the Upanishad says, is that when the mind is totally quiet and calm, not reaching out anywhere, whether into this world or into the other; when it has completely settled down, is silent, then that Truth is revealed. So although Upanishadic statements appear to be contradictory and paradoxical sometimes, if you look at them seriously and carefully, you will find that there is some sense in them.
The teachings of the Upanishads are somewhat like Zen teachings, trying to prove that there are certain things that cannot be attained by linear logic.
The Upanishad uses this technique to break down our usual shells of logical thinking. They are teachings which have to be listened to, thought over, understood and realised and made one’s own experience.