Kathopanishad - Chapter 2, Valli 1 - Sinhala

කඨෝපනිෂත් අධ්යාය 2, වල්ලී 1, deepens the interior turn begun in the first අධ්යාය. The section opens with a powerful diagnosis: the senses are naturally turned outward, so the inner Self is missed unless attention is consciously reversed. From there, the text unfolds a rigorous non-dual contemplative map.

This වල්ලී is structurally elegant. It moves from psychological correction (outwardness and desire) to witness-recognition (across waking and dream), then to cosmological pointers (source of deities, sun, and life), and finally to explicit non-duality and contemplative assimilation. The repeated refrain ඒතද්වෛ තත් marks each insight as pointing to the same supreme reality.

අධ්යාය 2
වල්ලී 1

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
This is Katha Upanishad chapter 2, section 1, the section that establishes the inward turn to the inner Self and the repeated "this indeed is That" contemplative pointers.

පරාංචිඛානි ව්යතෘණත්ස්වයංභූස්තස්මාත්පරාඞ්පශ්යති නාංතරාත්මන්‌।
කශ්චිද්ධීරඃ ප්රත්යගාත්මානමෛෂදාවෘත්තචක්ෂුරමෘතත්වමිච්ඡන්‌ ॥1॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The Self-born projected the sense openings outward; therefore beings look outward and not toward the inner Self. But some discerning one, seeking immortality, turns attention inward and realizes the inner Self.

පරාචඃ කාමානනුයංති බාලාස්තේ මෘත්යෝර්යංති විතතස්ය පාශම්‌।
අථ ධීරා අමෘතත්වං විදිත්වා ධ්රුවමධ්රුවේෂ්විහ න ප්රාර්ථයංතේ ॥2॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Immature people pursue outward desires and fall into death's widespread snare. The wise, knowing the immortal, do not seek the permanent in impermanent things.

යේන රූපං රසං ගංධං ශබ්දාන්ස්පර්ශාංශ්ච මෛථුනාන්‌।
ඒතේනෛව විජානාති කිමත්ර පරිශිෂ්යතේ। ඒතද්වෛ තත්‌ ॥3॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That by which form, taste, smell, sound, touch, and pleasure are known - by that alone all this is known. What then remains unknown here? This indeed is That.

ස්වප්නාංතං ජාගරිතාංතං චෝභෞ යේනානුපශ්යති।
මහාංතං විභුමාත්මානං මත්වා ධීරෝ න ශෝචති ॥4॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That by which one witnesses both dream and waking - knowing that great, all-pervading Self, the wise no longer grieves.

ය ඉමං මධ්වදං වේද ආත්මානං ජීවමංතිකාත්‌।
ඊශානං භූතභව්යස්ය න තතෝ විජුගුප්සතේ। ඒතද්වෛ තත්‌ ॥5॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Who knows this Self as the inner living principle, the enjoyer and the Lord of past and future, no longer recoils in fear. This indeed is That.

යඃ පූර්වං තපසෝ ජාතමද්‌භ්යඃ පූර්වමජායත।
ගුහාං ප්රවිශ්ය තිෂ්ඨංතං යෝ භූතේභිර්ව්යපශ්යත। ඒතද්වෛ තත්‌ ॥6॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That which is prior to cosmic manifestation, prior even to elemental emergence, yet abiding in the inner cave and discerned through beings - this indeed is That.

යා ප්රාණේන සංභවත්යදිතිර්දේවතාමයී।
ගුහාං ප්රවිශ්ය තිෂ්ඨංතීං යා භූතේභිර්ව්යජායත। ඒතද්වෛ තත්‌ ॥7॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That cosmic principle, appearing through vital force as Aditi and manifesting through beings while dwelling in the inner cave - this indeed is That.

අරණ්යෝර්නිහිතෝ ජාතවේදා ගර්භ ඉව සුභෘතෝ ගර්භිණීභිඃ।
දිවේ දිවේ ඊඩ්යෝ ජාගෘවද්භිර්හවිෂ්මද්භිර්මනුෂ්යේභිරග්නිඃ। ඒතද්වෛ තත්‌ ॥8॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Like fire hidden in the arani sticks, like an embryo carefully held, Agni is to be daily invoked by vigilant offering humans. This indeed is That.

යතශ්චෝදේති සූර්යෝऽස්තං යත්ර ච ගච්ඡති।
තං දේවාඃ සර්වේऽර්පිතාස්තදු නාත්යේති කශ්චන। ඒතද්වෛ තත්‌ ॥9॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
From That the sun rises and into That it sets; in That all deities are grounded; none can go beyond That. This indeed is That.

යදේවේහ තදමුත්ර යදමුත්ර තදන්විහ।
මෘත්යෝඃ ස මෘත්යුමාප්නෝති ය ඉහ නානේව පශ්යති ॥10॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
What is here is there, and what is there is here. Whoever sees separateness here as ultimate goes from death to death.

මනසෛවේදමාප්තව්යං නේහ නානාऽස්ති කිංචන।
මෘත්යෝඃ ස මෘත්යුං ගච්ඡති ය ඉහ නානේව පශ්යති ॥11॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
This truth must be realized through a refined inward mind; here, in reality, there is no true multiplicity. Whoever sees separateness as absolute goes from death to death.

අංගුෂ්ඨමාත්රඃ පුරුෂෝ මධ්ය ආත්මනි තිෂ්ඨති।
ඊශානෝ භූතභව්යස්ය න තතෝ විජුගුප්සතේ। ඒතද්වෛ තත්‌ ॥12॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
The "thumb-sized" purusha is said to abide in the heart-center, the Lord of past and future; knowing this, one no longer recoils in fear. This indeed is That.

අංගුෂ්ඨමාත්රඃ පුරුෂෝ ජ්යෝතිරිවාධූමකඃ।
ඊශානෝ භූතභව්යස්ය ස ඒවාද්ය ස උ ශ්වඃ। ඒතද්වෛ තත්‌ ॥13॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That same meditative purusha is like smokeless light, Lord of past and future - the same in today and tomorrow. This indeed is That.

යථෝදකං දුර්ගං වෘෂ්ටං පර්වතේෂු විධාවති।
ඒවං ධර්මාන්පෘථක්‌ පශ්යංස්තානේවානුවිධාවති ॥14॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Just as rainwater on mountains runs in many scattered channels, so one who sees realities as absolutely separate runs after that very multiplicity.

යථෝදකං ශුද්ධේ ශුද්ධමාසික්තං තාදෘගේව භවති।
ඒවං මුනේර්විජානත ආත්මා භවති ගෞතම ॥15॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
As pure water poured into pure water becomes one with it, so for the sage who truly knows, identity abides in the Self, O Gautama.

Browse Related Categories: