Slavery to Pleasure Mars Spiritual Excellence
By Swami Chidananda
After talking about the wisdom1 of the ‘Indestructible Self,’ the Kathopanishad gives us a refresher course towards the end of the text, emphasizing self-restraint in our indulgence in sense pleasures.
The wise call that ‘spiritual excellence’ where the sense organs are firmly held under check.
tām yogam-iti manyante
sthirām-indriya-dhāranām
Katha Upanishad 2.3.11
Note that the word ‘yoga’ in the mantra above is not to be taken in the limited sense of the word as applicable to Patanjali’s system of eight limbs (astha-anga). It rather means the high plateau of spiritual living.
Lord Yama seems to say this towards the end of the celebrated scripture especially with a view to warn all the scholars of Vedānta that the quality of their real, daily life is a greater indication of how spiritually high they are, more than how much of the books they know.
Note 1: The Self is not born and does not die. – Katha Up. 1.2.18