Celebrating Shravan with Shiva -13

 Shiva Day Thirteen

The Concept of God in Hinduism by Swami Krishnanada

1.  The Kathopanishad has it that God is the Root of this Tree of world existence. The realization of God is regarded as the Supreme blessedness or Shreyas, as apart from Preyas or temporal experience of satisfaction.

‘The Principal Upanishads’ by Subhamoy Das

Kathopanishad, which belongs to the Yajur Veda, consists of two chapters, each of which has three sections. It employs an ancient story from the Rig Veda about a father who gives his son to death (Yama) while bringing out some of the highest teachings of mystical spirituality. There are some passages common to the Gita and Katha Upanishad.

 Psychology is explained here by using the analogy of a chariot. The soul is the lord of the chariot, which is the body; the intuition is the chariot-driver, the mind the reins, the senses the horses, and the objects of the senses the paths. Those whose minds are undisciplined never reach their goal and go on to reincarnate. The wise and the disciplined, it says, obtain their goal and are freed from the cycle of rebirth.

Do you know that the Katha Upanishad tells you the story behind life and death? It must be read by the one who thinks about life, death, and immortality. Kathopanishad introduces the concept of death and the caretaker of the soul Yama, the Lord of Death.

Note

The Katha Upanishad is an important conversation between Naciketas, a young man, and Yama, the Lord of Death. According to the Upanishad, Naciketas was sacrificed by his father Vajasravas in a fit of anger, and upon dying; he went to the world of Yama and waited there for three days. When Lord Yama came to know about this, he felt greatly concerned as he made a pious Brahmana boy, pure and innocent, wait in his house for three days without receiving the honors due to a house guest