Overcome The Great impediments to Spiritual Progress

Divine Life Society Publication: Discourse 3 - The Secret of the Katha Upanishad by Sri Swami Krishnananda

“Overcome Avidya (ignorance), Kama (desire) and Karma (action) by Yajna ( sacrifice), Dana (charity) and Tapas (discipline)”

The Great impediments to spiritual progress

The great impediments to spiritual progress are known as avidya, kama and karma—ignorance, desire and action. These three aspects of the obstacle are really a single obstacle presenting itself in three different ways. An ignorance of the true and ultimate nature of things is called avidya. We call it ignorance, or nescience, or the absence of knowledge, or darkness, etc. This ignorance, avidya, breeds a desire for the external objects of sense—kama. An ignorance of the character of reality, which is avidya, at once presupposes an affirmation of personality, ahamkara—and a desire to contact other personalities. Avidya causes ahamkara simultaneously. They are almost inseparable, like the heat and the light of fire. The moment there is this self-affirmation born of ignorance, there is a necessary consequence of it following, viz. a longing to make good what has been lost, by way of contact with things. That is called kama. To fulfil kama or desire there is karma or action. So the whole of one’s life is a threefold effort of avidya, kama and karma— ignorance, desire and action. This is the tripura or the threefold fortress of the demoniacal powers, which Lord Siva is supposed to have broken through with a single arrow. These are the three citadels made of gold, silver and iron, as they say in the Puranas. These are the three knots or granthis—Brahma-granthi, Vishnu-granthi and Rudra-granthi —which the hatha-yogins and the kundalini-yogins and the tantrikas speak of—avidya, kama, karma. It is a single power appearing as three independent impediments to the expression of knowledge.

Overcoming the threefold bondage

The three fasts of Nachiketas may be compared to the soul’s endeavor to break through these three fortresses, a withdrawal gradually effected from the outer to the inner, overcoming the force of karma, overcoming the power of kama and finally overcoming avidya. Three forms of tapas or austerity have to be undergone with three aids and with the help of three sadhanas or spiritual practices. You overcome birth and death with these three processes. You gain mastery over those conditions which limit you to the body in all its three layers of expression and to the three planes—the physical, the astral and the celestial. These are the essential bondage of the soul inwardly as well as outwardly limiting its expression and confining it to samsara or earthly existence and suffering. The overcoming of this threefold bondage is the implication of the term ‘trinachiketa’ mentioned in the Upanishad.

The instruments that have to be made use of in this effort are the mind, the intellect and the spirit (manas-buddhi-atma), all combined in a single-pointed effort—tribhiretya sandhim. You have also to perform three actions, to which a reference has been made in the eighteenth chapter of the Bhagavadgita: trikarma—yajna, dana, tapas. Yajna is the sacrifice which one performs for attaining union with Reality. It includes all forms of self-abnegation and dedication. The Lord himself is compared to yajna—Yajno vai vishnuh, and in the masterly Purusha-Sukta of the Vedas the whole creation is compared to a yajna of the Supreme Being. Yajna is, therefore, the supreme effort of the soul to unite itself with God. Dana is the charitable disposition of the soul towards others. Charity does not mean only parting with a few rupees or dollars. Charity is an attitude of the mind. It may be expressed in the form of physical action, or it may not be so expressed. It includes charitable feelings, a charitable attitude, conduct and behavior towards others. The capacity to appreciate the situation of others is charity. When you are in a position to enter into the feelings and the actual conditions and circumstances of other souls and other persons and feel as they feel and think as they think and act as they act, not with a sweating effort but with a spontaneous expression of your nature, that would be the essence of a charitable nature—dana. Tapas is personal discipline, bodily, verbal as well as mental. One who puts forth this threefold spiritual endeavor overcomes birth and death—Tarati janma-mrityu.

Excerpts from:

If you would like to purchase the print edition or audio CD, visit:
The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore

If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.