2.2: Attādhikaraṇam - The Eater mentioned in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad is the Lord

“The Lord is the eater, because He seizes and consumes all moving and non-moving entities. This is also confirmed by the context.”

« Vedānta-sūtra: The Govinda-bhāṣya of Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa

Topic 2: Attādhikaraṇam - The Eater mentioned in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad is the Lord

The Lord is the father and also the destroyer of the universe

attā carācara-grahaṇāt, prakaraṇāc ca

“The Lord is the eater, because He seizes and consumes all moving and non-moving entities. This is also confirmed by the context.”

Sūtra 1.2.9 - The Lord takes all moving and non-moving entities

attā carācara-grahaṇāt

attā: the eater, enjoyer; carācara: the moving and non-moving, animate and inanimate; grahaṇāt: seizing, holding, consuming.

The Lord is the eater, because He seizes and consumes all moving and non-moving entities.

Commentary: There is an enigmatic passage on the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.2.25) which states:

yasya brahma ca kṣātram ca, ubhe bhavataḥ odanaḥ
mṛtyur yasyopasecanam, ka itthā veda yatra saḥ

“There is a person for whom the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas are food, and death is merely a seasoning. Who truly knows this person and his variegated qualities?”

The Vedas include many passages describing the feats of great kṣatriyas who can fight even with the demigods. Arjuna fought with Lord Śiva, Muchukunda assisted the demigods in fighting the asuras, and so on. Brāhmanas, in turn, are described as even more powerful than kṣatriyas, because they are full of mystical power and can easily kill them using curses. Vena was extremely powerful, but when he became a tyrant, the brahmanas killed him by just cursing him to die. After that, they churned his dead body to produce a new king, Pṛthu. Therefore, in Vedic societies, both brahmanas and kṣatriyas are revered and taken as role models.

Who is this mysterious entity that devours even the most powerful brāhmanas and kṣatriyas? He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

This is explained by Vyāsadeva with the words carācara-grahaṇāt: Because He takes both moving and non-moving entities.

As pointed out by both Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa and Ranga Ramanuja, in the deeper sense, the words brahma ca kṣātram in the verse of the Kaṭha Upaniṣad don’t mean just brāhmanas and kṣatriyas, but the entire universe, which is both created and destroyed by the Lord. Therefore, the eating of brāhmanas and kṣatriyas is not a planned, specific intent, but just part of the universal cycles.

The Lord creates, and when the time comes, the whole universe is destroyed. Because the whole cosmic manifestation merges into the body of Mahā-Viṣnu, it is said that it is sprinkled with the sauce of death and eaten. It may sound terrifying, but this is just another manifestation of the power of the Lord. Since no one else apart from the Lord can eat the whole universe (and all the other material universes), it’s clear that the whole passage describes Him.

A sauce is something which, while being eaten, is the cause of other things also being eaten. Death causes the end of all living beings, but at the end, death itself (which is just one of the Lord’s energies) is eaten by the Lord, together with everything else.

One could argue that other passages of the scriptures mention that the Lord does not eat, but this is easily explained here. The Lord doesn’t eat the results of karma, as in ordinary eating, but He has His own transcendental eating, just as he has a transcendental form, transcendental senses, transcendental pastimes, etc.

Another possible argument is that the next verse after the passage speaks about fire (“The knowers of Brahman who serve the five fires”), and the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad (1.4.6) mentions that “agnir annādaḥ” (fire is the eater); therefore, one could consider that ordinary fire is the eater mentioned in this passage, or that, rather, the passage refers to Agni, the demigod. However, this is a very speculative interpretation that doesn’t find any real ground in the verse.

With the previous ideas rejected, one could then propose that the eater must be the jīva, since eating is an action, and jīvas perform actions. In the Mundaka Upaniṣad (3.1.1), for example, it is mentioned that from the two birds situated in the tree, only the jīva eats, while Paramātmā does not eat: “Two birds of beautiful plumage and close friends reside on the same tree. One of them eats the fruits of the tree, thinking they are sweet. The other bird simply observes.”

This sūtra, however, gives the proper conclusion: The eater is Brahman, the Supreme Person. He is the one who kills and eats everyone, including even the most powerful sages and warriors. Even death doesn’t affect Him, being a mere seasoning to His food.

Even with all the previous explanations, the idea of God destroying and “eating” may sound unsettling to some. To this, we can answer that God has both a beautiful and a terrible aspect. Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions that those who are devotees see God in His beautiful aspect, as Govinda, while the ones who are atheistic are forced to meet with Him in his terrible aspect as death.

This can be understood in connection with Bhagavad-gītā 11.32, where Kṛṣṇa says:

kālo ’smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt pravṛddho, lokān samāhartum iha pravṛttaḥ
ṛte ’pi tvām na bhaviṣyanti sarve, ye ’vasthitāḥ praty-anīkeṣu yodhāḥ

“Time I am, the great destroyer of the worlds, and I have come here to destroy all people. With the exception of you [the Pāṇḍavas], all the soldiers here on both sides will be slain.”

The word kāla means “time”. Time is the force that destroys everything that is material. All material manifestations are created at some point, persist for some time, and are eventually destroyed. Everything that exists inside the universe (and the universe itself) has to face destruction at a certain point. Because the identity we have now is not our eternal identity as pure souls, we can only keep it for a certain time. Eventually, it will be destroyed, because kāla or time eventually destroys everything. That’s why kāla, in the context of this verse, can also be translated as “death”.

Time is controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus He is ultimately the eater, the One who destroys everything and kills everyone. This was seen by Arjuna in his vision of the universal form. Astonished, he spoke (Bg 11.25-30):

“O Lord of lords, O refuge of the worlds, please be gracious to me. I cannot keep my balance seeing thus Your blazing deathlike faces and awful teeth. In all directions I am bewildered.

All the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, along with their allied kings, and Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Karṇa – and our chief soldiers also – are rushing into Your fearful mouths. And some I see trapped with heads smashed between Your teeth.

As the many waves of the rivers flow into the ocean, so do all these great warriors enter blazing into Your mouths. I see all people rushing full speed into Your mouths, as moths dash to destruction in a blazing fire.

O Viṣṇu, I see You devouring all people from all sides with Your flaming mouths. Covering all the universe with Your effulgence, You are manifest with terrible, scorching rays.”

Why is it so? Why can’t God be just a kind old man who approves whatever we do?

The point is that the material world is temporary and transient by nature. In its original state, the soul has an eternal and transcendental position, but when we desire to lord over this material world, we accept material identities under the spell of the false ego. Because these identities are different from our original identity as a soul, they can’t be eternal. In this way, we transmigrate through different forms of life, with each body representing a new chapter in our journey in the material ocean.

Once inside a material body, we can play for some time, but if at the end of this period we are not ready to return to our original position, we are forced to abandon it and accept another body, starting again from the beginning. This process is called death, and the Lord is the ultimate controller.

This is ultimately His mercy because if we were allowed to stay eternally in the same body, we would become entrapped in some kind of eternal torment, without ever being able to return to our original sat-cit-ananda position. Through this process of birth and death in different forms of life, the Lord gradually coaches us into returning to our original consciousness.

Sūtra 1.2.10 - Naciketā meets Yamarāja

prakaraṇāc ca

prakaraṇāt: from the context, topic in discussion; ca: also

This is also confirmed by the context.

Commentary: The eater being the Lord becomes even clearer when we examine the context of the verse. The Kaṭha Upaniṣad brings a conversation between Nachiketā (a Brāhmaṇa boy) and Yamaraja. It is divided into two chapters, each with three parts (or six in total).

The first part sets the narrative, with Nachiketā angering his father and being sent to the abode of Yamaraja, where he waits for three days for an audience. Surprised by his tolerance, Yamaraja grants him three boons. Nachiketā first asks to be reunited with his father, and then to be instructed in a process of fire sacrifice that leads to liberation. Yamaraja instructed him, and as an extra blessing, renamed the process in homage to him: Nachiketā. By knowing this process, based on the knowledge of the Lord, the jīva and the fire, Yamaraja promises, one can become free from material attraction and lamentation and attain Vaikuṇṭha.

Liberation means the destruction of one’s subtle body and material consciousness. In other words, what we call “jīva” – the material consciousness that is developed around the reflection of the consciousness of the spirit soul, including the false-ego, mind, and intelligence – is destroyed when one attains liberation. What happens after that? Does one cease to exist, as believed in Buddhism? Does one merge into the absolute truth as believed by impersonalists (which also implies ceasing to exist as an individual), or is there something else that allows one to continue existing as an individual in the transcendental plane? As the third boon, Nachiketā asks for detailed knowledge of this topic, which is a great secret.

Yamaraja reveals himself hesitant to grant this boon and explain all these intricate philosophical topics, but the real reason behind his hesitancy is the fact that this knowledge is very confidential. Essentially, Nachiketā asked for knowledge about the process of devotional service, which is a great secret, hidden in the verses of the scripture. Yamaraja granted the three boons expecting he would ask for simple material blessings, but instead Nachiketā revealed himself intelligent enough to ask for the most valuable secret.

Hesitant, Yamaraja tries to lure Nachiketā by offering him a long life and all kinds of opulences, but the intelligent boy is not interested. Yama is thus forced to reveal to him the great secret, which is the central topic of the rest of the discussion.

The second part of the description, which includes the verse yasya brahma ca kṣātram ca mentioned in the previous sūtra, starts with a discussion on the nature of śreyas and preyas (doing what is truly beneficial, compared with what is just momentarily pleasant), a glorification of Nachiketā for his sincerity. This is followed by a discussion on the nature of transcendental knowledge and the nature of the soul.

The whole section, starting from verse 1.2.20, speaks about the Supreme Lord. Text 1.2.20, for example, states:

aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān ātmā’sya jantor nihito guhāyām
tam akratuḥ paśyati vīta-śoko dhātu-prasādān mahimānam ātmanaḥ

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead is smaller than the smallest and greater than the greatest. He dwells within the heart of all living beings. When, by the mercy of the Lord, one can with a pure mind understand His glories, he becomes free from lamentation.”

Text 1.2.22 explains that the Lord has no material body but at the same time is situated within all temporary bodies, being all-pervading and endowed with all power, etc. Then, text 1.2.23 brings the first of many passages that indicate devotional service to the Lord:

nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo na medhayā na bahunā śrutena
yam evaiṣa vṛṇute tena labhyas tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛṇute tanūm svām

“The Lord cannot be attained by mere contemplation, intellectual brilliance, or scriptural study. He is attained by a person whom the Lord chooses. The Lord then reveals himself to that devotee.”

This verse shows how the mechanical process of meditation, study, austerity, etc., can’t bring one to the Lord. They may help in the beginning, and even bring one to the stage of impersonal liberation, but the supreme goal can be achieved only by satisfying the Lord by practicing devotional service. As in other verses of the Upaniṣads, it is not as direct as in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but it clearly makes the point that God is a person and the ultimate goal is to establish a personal relationship with Him, which is possible only through loving service.

Finally, texts 1.3.1 and 1.3.2, which come immediately after the verse “yasya brahma ca kṣātram ca”, speak about meditation on the Lord. In this way, with both the verses before and after speaking about the Supreme Lord, it becomes clear that text 1.2.25 also speaks about Him.

The topic of the Lord as the destroyer, or eater of the words, is also described in the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā.

In verse 11.43, Arjuna declares:

pitāsi lokasya carācarasya, tvam asya pūjyaś ca gurur garīyān
na tvat-samo ’sty abhyadhikaḥ kuto ’nyo, loka-traye ’py apratima-prabhāva

“You are the father of this complete cosmic manifestation, of the moving and the nonmoving. You are its worshipable chief, the supreme spiritual master. No one is greater than You, nor can anyone be one with You. How then could there be anyone greater than You within the three worlds, O Lord of immeasurable power?”

Verse 11.30 emphasizes the other side:

lelihyase grasamānaḥ samantāl, lokān samagrān vadanair jvaladbhiḥ
tejobhir āpūrya jagat samagram, bhāsas tavogrāḥ pratapanti viṣṇo

“O Viṣṇu, I see You devouring all people from all sides with Your flaming mouths. Covering all the universe with Your effulgence, You are manifest with terrible, scorching rays.”

After explaining the nature of the Lord and the process of fixing our minds on Him as the object of meditation and love, the Kaṭha Upaniṣad ends with Naciketā going back to Godhead after receiving the instructions of Yamaraja and perfectly understanding them. Naciketā attained not only liberation, but a spiritual body, becoming an associate of the Lord in Vaikuṇṭha.

mṛtyu-proktām naciketo’tha labdhvā vidyām etām yoga-vidhim ca kṛtsnam brahma-prāpto virajo’bhūd vimṛtyur anyo’py evam yo vid adhyātmam eva

“The boy sage, having obtained the complete devotional knowledge taught by Yamaraja, attained a spiritual body, pure and eternal. One who knows the Supreme Lord attains the same supreme goal as Him.” (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.3.18)

Exercise

Now it’s your turn. Can you answer the following arguments using the ideas from this section?

Opponent: “The Kaṭha Upaniṣad describes (1.2.25) that yasya brahma ca kṣātram ca, ubhe bhavataḥ odanaḥ mṛtyur yasyopasecanam: There is a being for whom Brāhmaṇas and Kṣatriyas are food, and death is a seasoning. Some propose that this eater must be Brahman; we disagree.

Eating is a function of an individual soul connected with a material body. It cannot reasonably be predicated of Brahman, which is, by definition, beyond sense-contact and without sense organs. The eater thus must be the jīva; this is the clear meaning of the passage. The embodied jīva is the performer of all types of material actions, including eating.

In the Mundaka Upaniṣad 3.1.1, it’s mentioned: dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā, samānam vṛkṣam pariṣasvajāte, tayor anyaḥ pippalam svādvatti, anaśnan anyo abhicākaśīti. Of the two birds situated in the tree, only the jīva eats. The other bird observes. Considering that the passage describes an eater, it is clear that the jīva is the eater. The verse then mentions that we should know this eater, which sets us in the direction of understanding our transcendental nature.

It could also be accepted that the passage speaks, figuratively, about fire, since both Brāhmanas and Ksatriyas are burned in the funeral pyre after death, and the universal fire incinerates the whole universe, matching the description of the verse.

If insisted that the passage speaks about some higher principle, it could be offered that it can refer to Agni, since it is mentioned “agnir annādaḥ”: Agni is the eater.

If Brahman were to be accepted as the eater of all things, then Brahman would perform action (karma), be in contact with the material objects being eaten, and as a result would undergo modification. This contradicts the well-established doctrine that Brahman is changeless and actionless. Therefore, the eater can’t be Brahman.”

Description: The opponent is not a Vaiṣṇava or an Advaitin, but rather a representative of the Nyaya or Mīmāmsā school, who resists identifying the eater with the passage with Brahman, preferring to argue that it may be the jīva, or a demigod. Śrī Baladeva refutes this by establishing that the eater is the Supreme Lord, who devours all at the time of cosmic dissolution.

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