नैषा तर्केण मतिरापनेया
प्रोक्तान्येनैव सुज्ञानाय प्रेष्ठ ।
यां त्वमापः सत्यधृतिर्बतासि
त्वादृङ्नो भूयान्नचिकेतः प्रष्टा ॥ ९॥
naiṣā tarkeṇa matirāpaneyā
proktānyenaiva sujñānāya preṣṭha .
yāṃ tvamāpaḥ satyadhṛtirbatāsi
tvādṛṅno bhūyānnaciketaḥ praṣṭā .. 9..
This Knowledge cannot be attained by reasoning. Atman become easy of comprehension, O dearest, when taught by another. You have attained this Knowledge now. You are, indeed, a man of true resolve. May we always have an inquirer like you!
Commentary:
Argument is not a means of right knowledge. Logic is not going to help us, because argument is based on logical dissection of what in grammar is called the subject and the predicate. A sentence has a subject side and a predicate side. The very fact that we distinguish between the subject and the predicate in a sentence shows that they are not identical with each other. If they are one and the same, we should not use two different words. If they are unconnected, the sentence will be cut into two parts, and it will not convey a wholesome meaning. What logic or grammatical construing does, is that the apparently segregated parts of a sentence known as the subject and the predicate are brought together as two pieces of wood are dovetailed by a carpenter, yet not knowing that the two pieces of wood are always two pieces of wood. They have not become identical with each other. That is to say that logic, in its attempt at uniting two parts of a sentence which are actually sundered one from the other, will not ultimately be of any use to us because all logic is based on a certain hypothesis, and unless we logically establish the hypothesis itself, which cannot be done, logic will not help us. Logic is an intellectual activity, and as the intellect itself is a feeble medium of the individual egoistic personality, our argument, logic or disputation of any kind is not going to be of utility. Thus, this knowledge cannot come to us by logic and argument.
Naiṣā tarkeṇa matir āpaneyā, proktānyenaiva sujñānāya preṣṭha. Again the same word comes: anya. Somebody who is different from the logician has to teach us, and the one who is above the logician is the spiritual Master, like Yama himself. Then only does knowledge become rooted in our personality.
Yāṁ tvam āpas: “Nachiketas, you are blessed. You have obtained such a teacher, and the teacher has obtained such a suitable disciple. You are established in truthfulness,” says Yama. Tvādṛṅ no bhūyān naciketaḥ praṣṭā: “May I have more and more students like you, who put questions of this kind.” How happy Yama is, we can imagine. He is immensely pleased with this student. “You have obtained the best of teachers, and I have obtained the best of students. Wonderful!”
Swami Vivekananda Says —
Neither is the mind to be disturbed by vain arguments, for it is no more a question of argument, it is a question of fact.[Source] Do not disturb your mind by vain arguments, Nachiketas.[Source]
Reasoning is necessary to understand the point intellectually. But the Reality transcends reasoning.[Source] Until the truth has come through one who has had realisation, from one who has perceived it himself, it cannot become fruitful. Books cannot give it, argument cannot establish it.[Source]…here applies that beautiful saying of Buddha when he had a discussion with some Brahmins. They came discussing about the nature of Brahman, and the great sage asked, “Have you seen Brahman?” “No, said the Brahmin; “Or your father?” “No, neither has he”; “Or your grandfather?” “I don’t think even he saw Him.” “My friend, how can you discuss about a person whom your father and grandfather never saw, and try to put each other down?” That is what the whole world is doing. Let us say in the language of the Vedanta, “This Atman is not to be reached by too much talk, no, not even by the highest intellect, no, not even by the study of the Vedas themselves.”[Source]
“Fools go staggering to and fro, like blind men led by the blind.” They alone escape whose spiritual nature has been touched and vivified by the life-giving touch of the “Sad-Guru”. (The good teacher.)
Well has it been said by Bhagavan Bhashyakara:
दुर्लभं त्रयमेवैतत् देवानुग्रहहेतुकम्।
मनुष्यत्वं मुमुक्षुत्वं महापुरुशसंश्रयः॥
“These three are difficult to obtain in this world, and depend on the mercy of the gods — the human birth, the desire for salvation, and the company of the great-souled ones.”[Source]
If the mind is deluded and pulled into a whirlpool by books and scriptures, what is the good of all these scriptures? One says this, another says that. What book shall you take? Stand alone! See the glory of your own soul, and see that you will have to work.[Source]
