The Word "Avyakta" in Katha Upanisad 1.3.11 Refers to the Subtle Body and Not to Pradhana
Introduction by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana
Invocation
tamah sagkhya-ghanodirna-
vidirnam yasya go-ganaih tam samvid-bhusanam krsna-pusanam samupasmahe
Let us offer our respectful obeisances to the Krsna-sun, which is decorated with transcendental knowledge, and which with its effulgence dispels the deep darkness of Sagkhya.
(Visaya): Previously the sutras affirmed that the Supreme Brahman is He the knowledge of whom brings liberation, He who is the seed of the birth, maintenance, and destruction of the material universes, who is different from both the jivas and dead matter, who possesses innumerable inconceivable potencies, who is all-knowing, who possesses all auspicious qualities, who is free from all inauspiciousness, who possesses unlimited opulences, and who is supremely pure. Now we will consider the theory that the pradhana (primordial material nature) and the pum (individual living entities) together comprise all that exists (and there is no God separate from them), which is propounded in the Kapila-tantra and perhaps also seen in some branches of the Vedas. They quote the following passage from Katha Upanisad:
indriyebhyah para hy artha
arthebhyac ca param manah manasas tu para buddhir buddher atma mahan parah
mahatah param avyaktam
avyaktat purusah parah purusan na param kiYcit
sa kastha sa para gatih
"The sense-objects are higher than the senses. The mind is higher than the sense-objects. Intelligence is higher than the mind. The mahat is higher than the intelligence. The avyakta (the unmanifested) is higher than the mahat. The purusa (the person) is higher than the unmanifested. Nothing is higher than the person. The person is the highest."
Samcaya: The doubt here is whether the word avyakta (the unmanifested) refers to the 2}pradhana (the primordial stage of material nature) or the carira (the body).
Purvapaksa: The opponent may answer this doubt by saying that because both sruti and 2}smrti give the sequence as first mahat, then avyakta, and then purusa, therefore the word avyakta here must refer to the pradhana.
Siddhanta: Whether the word 2}avyakta refers to pradhana or 2}carira is explained in the following sutra 1}.
anumanikam apy ekesam iti cen na carira-rupaka-vinyasta-grhitair darcayati ca.
anumanikam - the inference; apy - even; ekesam - of some; iti - thus; cen - if; na - not; carira -the body; rupaka - the metaphor; vinyasta - placed; grhitair - because of being accepted; darcayati -reveals; ca - and.
If some assume (that the word "avyakta" in this passage of the Katha Upanisad refers to the pradhana), then I say "No." The fact that this passage is part of a metaphor referring to the body clearly shows (that the word {.sy 168}avyakta" here means carira).
Purport by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana
The Kathakas (ekesam) consider (anumanikam) that the word avyakta here refers to the pradhana. The opponent may object: The etymology of the word avyakta is "That which is not (a) manifested" ( 2}vyakta). If this is so, then the word 2}avyakta cannot mean anything except the 2}pradhana (unmanifested material nature).
What is the answer to this objection? The answer is given in this sutra in the phrase beginning with the word carira. Because it is employed in a passage where the body is compared to a chariot, the word 2}avyakta here refers to the carira (body). The passage preceding this mention of avyakta, which is a metaphor where the material body is considered to be a chariot, clearly shows this. The preceding passage is given here.
atmanam rathinam viddhi
cariram ratham eva ca buddhim tu sarathim viddhi
manah pragraham eva ca
indriyani hayan ahur
visayams tesu gocaran atmendriya-mano-yuktam bhoktety ahur manisinah
yas tv avijnanavan bhavaty
ayuktena manasa sada tasyendriyany avacyani
dustacva iv saratheh
yas tu vijnanavan bhavati
yuktena manasa sada tasyendriyani vacyani
sad-acva iva saratheh
yas tu vijnanavan bhavaty
amanaskah sada-cucih na sa tat-Padam apnoti
samsaram cadhigacchati
yas tu vijnanavan bhavati
sa-manaskah sada cucih sa tu tat-Padam apnoti
yasmad bhuyo na jayate
vijnana-sarathir yas tu
manah pragrahavan narah so 'dhvanah param apnoti
tad visnoh paramam Padam indriyebhyah para hy artha
arthebhyac ca param manah manasas tu para buddhir buddher atma mahan parah
mahatah param avyaktam
avyaktat purusah parah purusan na param kiYcit
sa kastha sa para gatih
"The individual is the passenger in the car of the material body, and the intelligence is the driver. Mind is the driving instrument, and the senses are the horses. The self is thus the enjoyer or sufferer in the association of the mind and senses. So it is understood by great thinkers.
"For a fool who does not control his mind, the senses are wild horses drawing the charioteer. For the wise man who controls his mind the senses are good horses obedient to the charioteer. "An impious fool who does not control his mind does not attain the spiritual world. He attains the world of repeated birth and death. A pious wise man who controls his mind attains the spiritual world. He never again takes birth.
"A person who has transcendental knowledge as a charioteer, and who tightly holds the reins of the mind, attains the path's final destination: the supreme abode of Lord Visnu.
"The sense-objects are higher than the senses. The mind is higher than the sense-objects. Intelligence is higher than the mind. The mahat (material nature) is higher than the intelligence. The avyakta (the unmanifested) is higher than the mahat. The 2}purusa (person) is higher than the unmanifested. Nothing is higher than the person. The person is the highest."
Here the devotee who desires to attain the abode of Lord Visnu is described as the passenger in a chariot. His body and other possessions are described as a chariot with its various parts. The traveller who keeps the chariot and its parts under control attains the supreme abode of Lord Visnu. After this is explained, the verses beginning indriyebhyah para hy arthah explain how in the control of the body and its various adjuncts, which are metaphorically considered a chariot and its adjuncts, the various members is more or less difficult to control. In this metaphor of the chariot the senses and other adjuncts of the body are described as horses or other adjuncts of the chariot. The indriyebhyah verses continue this discussion. Of the things mentioned in the previous verses only the body itself is not listed in the indriyebhyah verses, and therefore the single ambiguous item ( 2}avyakta) must refer to the carira (body) by default. The pradhana interpretation of this word is also disproved because the content of the 2}indriyebhyah verses disagrees with the tenants of 2}sagkhya philosophy.
Now the following objection may be raised. The body is clearly manifest. How is it that it is here described as unmanifest? To answer this doubt the author says: