On July 19, 2015, the Vedantic Discussion Group of HTGC listened to 31st lecture of Katha Upanishad by Swami Paramarthananda.  This lecture covered slokas 5 and 6 of the first carnto of second part of the Upanishads.  Ram Ramaswamy of the group captured the lecture and the discussion followed.   If any body else has a different take on our
please share it with rest of the group.

Discussing part 2 Cantos 1, Shlokas 5 and 6,  Swamiji continued the discussion on the Atman or Consciousness.  He described Atman as the Witness or Experiencer of all three stages of existence of Waking,  Sleeping and Dreaming states. Consciousness expresses itself through matter or manifests itself through matter.  Describing the material universe, Swamiji, says it is divided into three pairs. Thus:

1. The Physical body, we all can experience it.
2. The Subtle body, that only I can experience and not others.
3. The Causal Body, that remains dormant and can be experienced only when it manifests itself. This is the subtlest stage of inner material.

Correspondingly we have:
1.    Waker consciousness
2.    Subtle body consciousness
3.    Causal body consciousness

Describing the Atman, he says, it is also the Ishwara, the Creator, the lord of past, present and future.  The Atman, he says, is also the Pragyaha, the Created, the Samsari and the Bhoktha of Karma Phala.  Thus Creator and Created are both of the same universal principle.

The take away from this session, at least for me, was Swamiji’s comment that the sense of insecurity goes away once you have the knowledge of Atman. Insecurity is our feeling of lacking or the need for more and more. The closer we get to Atman; there will be fewer and fewer wants and desires.

With my good wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy