If the slayer thinks he slays, and if the slain thinks himself slain, both fail to understand: this one neither slays nor is slain.
हन्ता चेन्मन्यते हन्तुँ हतश्चेन्मन्यते हतम् । उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायँ हन्ति न हन्यते ॥ १९॥
Browse topics
Source
- Tradition
- Hindu
- Source text
- Katha Upanishad
- Chapter
- Katha Upanishad
- Verse / page
- KU.1.2.19
- Topics
- Self-KnowledgeImmortalityReality
Same theme, different voices
Two birds, companions bound together, cling to the same tree. One of them eats the sweet fruit; the other looks on without eating.
द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परिषस्वजाते । तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभिचाकशीति ॥ १॥
Just as 'I' is not the house, similarly, 'I' is not the body even. 'I' is in fact a spirit originating and flowing from God, a ramification of the divine entity. The value of human life or importance of the human body comes from the very realisation of this fact.
Whoever is ignorant of himself is yet more ignorant of other things; and inasmuch as a man is bound to know God, he must first know himself, in order that by rightly perceiving his own temporality he may recognize the eternity of God.