In this talk Swami Tejomayananda reflects back on what Nachiketa has learnt from Lord Death to date. Through listening, reflection and meditation on this knowledge, the one who realises that Brahman as his own self attains greatness. He realises he is Ananda, goes beyond joys and sorrows. Any man who realises this Truth becomes great, most revered and worshipped. But the wise person is not bothered by this at all.

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Swami Tejomayananda reiterates the urgency of this quest, reminding us not to waste our time. Every moment is an opportunity to turn towards Self knowledge. This knowledge will take us beyond pairs of opposites, beyond joys and sorrows. Now is the time to arise, awake and take action to wake up from this sleep in which we are suffering. This knowledge is the subtlest of the subtle and so not easy to gain but this knowledge must be known because the fulfilment of life is the result.

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How often should we meditate? Twenty four hours a day! How do we achieve this practice of constant meditation? This talk expounds on practical meditation; how do we do this? How do we withdraw our attention from our senses and slowly turn our attention within, from the individual I to the Totality. We are reminded by the great saints that even if this process is difficult, like walking on a razor’s edge, the results are more than worth the effort.

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Although the Upanishads, logic and the Guru all say you are the Self, we can't accept this. And although no one tells us we are the body we readily accept we are the body. This is the power of Maya! To know our true self we need a purified mind, clarity of knowledge and the grace of a Guru. By focusing our minds on what our hands are doing, we gain single pointedness which in turn leads to subtlety of intellect which enables meditation which leads to recognition of the Atman

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How do we move from the subtle to the subtlest? Our physical body first appears in subtle form but before that it exists in unmanifest form, just like a tree is in unmanifest form in a seed, and butter is in its unmanifest form in milk. Similarly, before the total mind was manifest, it was unmanifest. By peeling back these layers, we are moving towards our Self. What we call our individual mind cannot exist without the total mind. The individual jiva cannot exist without Mahan Atma (Totality, Ishvara, God). Know that you are part of the totality, that without it, nothing is possible.

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Swami Tejomayananda dives into the Kathopanishad as it highlights That which is higher, subtler, more pervasive and most intimate. Subtlety is measured by the greater pervasiveness of one factor over the other. Listen in as Swamiji logically leads us to that which is the most subtle, taking us on our inner journey.

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The human body is the gateway to liberation making it our greatest asset. We unfortunately turn it into our greatest liability! Identifying with the body, mind, senses and intellect, we mistake our true identity to be that of an individual limited being. We create bondages for ourselves by developing the wrong relationships with these equipment. Kathopanishad heeds us to not make our assets, our liabilities.

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Kathopanishad uses the metaphor of the chariot to explain our relationship with the True Self. For this inner journey, our chariot is the body, in which the in-dwelling 'jiva' is the master, intellect the charioteer, mind the reins, senses the horses and the sense objects the road. Swami Tejomayananda cautions us that for safety, the charioteer should remain on the path of devotion, right thinking and faith, avoiding the dangers lurking in the by-lanes of compromise.

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Shadow has no independent existence of its own. It exists only with reference to the light. Using this analogy, Kathopanishad elaborates how the jiva (the false ‘I’ ego) is the shadow and Paramata (the true Self) is the light. Seeing the jiva, we therefore know that Paramata is. Only ignorance keeps our true Self far from us, when in fact it is so close.

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Just as one does not lose sight of the destination despite the traffic and hurdles that are encountered while travelling, Swami Tejomayananda warns us of the impediments in the journey of our Self discovery; bad conduct, sensual indulgence, lack of concentration and impatience to reach the goal. Develop clarity of thought and purity of mind to reach our own Self.

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