नैषा तर्केण मतिरापनेया
प्रोक्तान्येनैव सुज्ञानाय प्रेष्ठ ।
naiṣā tarkeṇa matir āpaneyā
proktānyenaiva sujñānāya preṣṭha |
(Kaṭha Upaniṣad: 1.2.9)
“This understanding is not attainable
By means of argumentation.
Only [when] taught by another
Does it lead to apt knowledge,
O dearest one.”
Commentary
According to the seventeenth century Śrī Vaiṣṇava commentator Śrī Raṅga Rāmānuja, “this understanding” (eṣā matiḥ) refers to understanding related to the Self (Ātma-viṣayiṇī matiḥ) and the statement, “This understanding is not attainable by means of argumentation” (naiṣā tarkeṇa matir āpaneyā) means that understanding of the Self is not able to be known on its own even by someone who is adept in argumentation. Rather, this understanding leads to apt knowledge (sujñānāya), that is, knowledge of the means to mokṣa, only when taught by a guru, someone other than oneself (svasmād anyenaiva guruṇā upadiṣṭaiva matiḥ mokṣa-sādhana-jñānāya bhavati). The vocative, “O dearest one” (preṣṭha) refers to Naciketās, the student whom Yama, the speaker of the verse, is addressing.
Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmīpāda gives an alternate interpretation of this verse in his commentary in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (1.37) based on the reading preṣṭhā in place of preṣṭha, in which case the word becomes a qualifier of “understanding” (matiḥ) rather than an invocation of Naciketās:
śobhana-jñānāya preṣṭhā parama-yogyatvena priyatamā eṣā matis tarkeṇa nija-nyāyena hetunā proktād anyena vidhinā kṛtvā nāpaneyā apamārge na praveśanīyety arthaḥ |
(Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“This understanding, dearest for the sake of apt knowledge, that is, dearmost because of [its] being most suitable [for the attainment of apt knowledge], is not to be drawn away, that is, to be caused to enter into a wrongful path, by way of argumentation, that is, the reasoning of one’s own logic by using means other than the stated [i.e., by using forms of reasoning apart from those that have been taught to be applicable]. This is the meaning.”
A translation of the verse based on this commentary is as follows:
“This understanding,
Dearest for the sake of apt knowledge,
Is not to be drawn away
By means of of argumentation—
That other than the stated.”