Kathopanishad
Kathopanishad is one of the 10 principal upanishads which present the essence and culmination of all knowledge found within India’s most ancient and sacred texts; the vedas. It is a dialogue between a little boy named Nachiketa and the Lord of Death, Yama, which covers the nature of life after death, the true meaning of sacrifice, and how one can transcend death.
It is believed that listening to the upanishads is the first step towards discovering our unique spiritual path to liberation. In 2020, Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai gave a series of talks over the course of a month, which methodically and thoroughly explained the significance of the Kathopanishad and its relevance to us in our lives. This podcast series is compiled from those talks.
Kathopanishad
55. The Purpose Of All Spiritual Practices
Just as juice cannot be seen in the fruit, fragrance cannot be seen in the flower or butter cannot be seen in milk, so too, brahman may not immediately be seen in the world around us. However, by certain processes, we can extract the juice from the fruit, the butter from the milk, or the fragrance from the flower, and in the same way God can be extracted from the world.
All spiritual practices are nothing but variations of this process of extracting or perceiving the latent divinity in everything. We should also not allow the mind to indulge in excuses as to why we are unable to pursue our spirituality or follow our dharma.
We should not permit ourselves to think we are too weak or otherwise ill-equipped to deal with our internal demons. The Upanishads declare that we are all powerful and anything we could ever need is within us. This is our true nature.
If you'd like to get the links and show notes for this episode, visit:
https://www.saiprakashana.org/KU-EP55
