KATHOPNISHAD CHAPTER 6 SHLOKA -6

                                                                इन्द्रियाणां पृथग्भाववं 

                                                                 उदयास्तमयौच यत् ।

                                                                   पृथगुत्पद्यमानानां 

                                                                मत्वा धीरोन शोचति ॥ ६

                                                 IDRIYANAM RUTHAK-BHAVAM

                                                    UDAYASTAMAYAU CHA  TAT |

                                                 PRUTHAK UTAPADYAMANANAM

                                                  MATVA  DHIRO  NA SHOCHATI ||6

   THE WISE MAN -HAVING UNDERSTOOD THAT THE SENSES ARE PRODUCED

 SEPERATELY,  ARE DISINCT FROM ATMAN AND ALSO HAVE RISING AND SETTING

                                                     -DOES NOT GRIEVE ||6

    This Shloka is similar and interesting. Theses Shlokas may sound like repetition and to some extent they are, but there are subtle differences. In this Shloka there are couple of facts stated. One is that the ATMAN is separate from Senses  and that the Origin of Senses is different than Senses  and the Senses have ups and down. Once one realizes this fact then there is no more sorrow of losing the body or the so called death. 

   So let us see how each of theses statements can be explained . We all know that there are 10 senses - 5 organs of perception and 5 organs of action . All in all these are called as SENSES .We know that our senses have ups and downs . We lose hearing and sight and also out ability to walk and act with our hands and so on. So the senses have UPS and DOWNS. We are told that these senses are different than the Atman and the origin of senses is different than that of the Atman The Atman is not related to or affected by the senses  and the physical body. It is just independent observer or witness of whatever is happening in physical body or the Astral Body- Subtle body consisting of mind and intellect etc. and also the Causal body . The origin of senses are part of NATURE or PRAKRUTI and the ATMAN is not related to NATURE or PRAKRUTI . We have talked about this many a times as these 2 being different. So the Atman which is also CONSCIOUSNESS OR PURUSHA does not DO anything but the Nature or the PRAKRUTI cannot do anything without the PURUSHA .The origin of universe was discussed in Patanjali Sutra Yoga (You can check it in my Book on Amazon or my blog with the same name) So, this Shloka tells us that the Atman or the Consciousness is separate from anything that comes out of Nature or PRAKRUTI ,and the NATURE is always changing while the ATMAN or Consciousness in unchanging. So when one has this KNOWLEDGE he is FREE and does not GRIEVE.

KATHOPNISHAD CHAPTER 6 SHLOKA 5

                                                           यथाऽऽदर्शे तथाऽऽत्मनि

                                                           यथा स्वप्नेतथा पितृलोके । 

                                                             यथाऽप्सुपरीव ददृशे

                                                               तथा गन्धर्वलोके 

                                                          छायातपयोरिव ब्रह्मलोके ॥ ५॥ 

                                              YATHA  ADARSHE  TATHA  ATMANI

                                            YATHA  SWAPNE  TATHA  PITRULOKE |

                                               YATHA  APSU  OARIV  DADRUSHE 

                                                      TATHA  GANDHARVLOKE

                                          CHHAYA  ATAPAYO IV BRAHMALOKE ||5

AS SEEN IN MIRROR (BRAHAMAN ) SEEN IN ATMAN,AS IN DREAM SAME IN WORLD OF FOREFATHERAS IN THE WATER SO IN THE WORLD OF GANDHARV,AS IN SHADOW  AND                                                          LIGHT SO IN WORD OF BRAHMA ||5

    This is very interesting Shloka . In this one we are told about different LOKAS or the levels of existence. There seems to be 7 Lokas or plains of existence. We all are familied with the earth or so called JIVLOKA In Abrahamic religion there are 3 -namely earth- heaven and hell. But we have little different concept . We have different levels described based on evolution of the Souls .Many people use different names Some have 14 lokas. But BHU is the Earth ,BUBAR,SVAR(G),MAHA(r),JANA,TAPA and highest is SATYA LOKA OR BRAHMA LOKA. The one bellow Earth is PATAL loka.  

    As one can imagine, the ignorance is less (AVIDYA) in higher Lokas. So we have major problem or ignorance on Erth  and none in BRAHMA Loka. So in this Shloka we are told that our existance  and understanding on this Erth is like looking in a mirror at the image  and due to ignorance thinking that the physical body is the REAL thing or Braham. We look at a mirror  and we see our image  and we can be mistaken for the real thing We have Brahamn in ourselves but it is covered by physical body and the refelction that we see is that of physical body  and we can not se the real thing - the BRAHAMAN. When we are sleeping our physical body is not working and what we see in dream is all the play of Astral or Subtle or SUKSHMA Sharir or body . This is what happens when our physical body dies. We still have Astral and Causal body and that is the situation in PITRU LOKA - Pitru Loka is our forefather's plane which is the plane of all after we die. So the situation is like having dream - in which we have no physical body. In the Gandharv Loka which is higher than Pitru Loka, we have some differentiation between the 3 bodies and the Brahman  and we are still not 100 % convinced of our REAL Nature . So this is compared to we looking at our image in water. The image is not as clear as in mirror but still it is that of our PHYSICAL body . So we have some understanding of our nature but we are still  not free of our physical body. In the BRAHMA Loka, which is the highest, we have achieved the knowledge of SELF or the BRAHMAN and it is as clear as LIGHT AND A SHADOW. The shadow is not real thing but looks like real thing but we now know that they are different.