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Sadagopan • June 22, 2000 


At 06:46 PM 6/22/00 +0530, Sri K.M.Narayanan wrote:

>Respected Swamin,
>You had referred in your mail, 
>
>"AaathmAnam raThinam Viddhi"
>
>"Could you inform me where do we find this verse and 
>what is the full verse ..Please help
>
>Dasan
>K.M.Narayanan

Dear Sriman Narayanan :

Thanks for your note. Other BhakthAs might be intersted 
in this information as well .Hence I am copying the list.

This Sruthi (Upanishadic) passage is from 
the third valli of kaThopanishad : Manthram 3.
The entire manthram is:

aathmAnam raThinam viddhi sarIram raThamEva cha 
buddhim thu saaraThim viddhi Mana: pragrahamEva cha

AathmAnam is the Jeevan; RaThinam is the Lord of the chariot;
SarIram is the raTham (Chariot) ; Buddhi is the SaaraThi
(Charioteer);Mana: is the pragraham( reins).


The next manthram of the KaThopanishad takes 
the analogy one step further:

indhriyANi hayAnAhur-vishayAmsthEshu gOcharAn
aathmEndhriya manOyuktham bhOthyAhur-manIshiNa:

The IndhriAs (5 sense organs & 5 karmEndhriyAs)) 
are the horses that draw the chariot of the body ;
VishayAn thEshu gOcharAn= for them (sense organs),
the roads are the sense objects; The Upanishad says that 
the sense horses trot on the road of sense objects.
The wise sages (Rishis , who were the manthra dhrashtAs
for the Upanishads) call Him the enjoyer (when He is ) 
united with the body , senses and the mind.

Manas as reins plays a  key role in controlling the route
of the horses (Sense organs and action organs) regarding
the travel of the chariot housing the Jeevan .

That is why , the appeals to "nenjamE" not to go
astray and to repeat the naamams of the Lord and 
AchAryans are made by the AzhwArs in their 
Paasurams in line with the path laid out by 
the VedAs. 

Additional references in the Rg Vedam, the oldest 
of the Vedams , to the mind are many . One of them is 
as  follows:

ManO nvA huvAmahE nArasamsEna sOmEna 
pithruNAm manmabhi: --Rg .vedam 10.57.3

The second part of the third Rk," pithruNAm manmabhi:
(huvAmahE)" says: with lyrics praising the elders ( AchAryans ),
we invoke the mind . The context for this can be gleaned
from the first Rk of Rg Vedam 10.57.

The first Rk of 10.57 addresses the Lord for control
over the mind: " O Illustrious Lord! Let us not stray 
from the righteous path (vishayAn thEshu gocharAn of
KaThopanishad ) , nor from the path of noble action
( of practising Bhakthi or Prapatthi Yogam ).

That is why the AzhwArs following the Vedic path
created the Tamizh MaRais and appealed to their
Nenjams (minds) to recite the names of the PrathamAchAryan
and instructed us to eulogize one's sadhAchAryan .

Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,
Daasan, V.SatakOpan   
  



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