''Ratha Kalpana'' () is a metaphor used in

Hindu scriptures Hindu texts are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. A few of these texts are shared across these traditions and they are broadly considered Hindu scriptures. These ...

to describe the relationship between the

senses A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system rec ...

, mind, intellect and the

Self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhoo ...

. The metaphor was first used in the ''

Katha Upanishad The ''Katha Upanishad'' (Sanskrit: कठोपनिषद् or कठ उपनिषद्) (') is one of the ''mukhya'' (primary) Upanishads, embedded in the last eight short sections of the ' school of the Krishna Yajurveda.Paul Deussen. ...

'' and is thought to have inspired similar descriptions in the '' Bhagavad Gita'', the '' Dhammapada'' and

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

's '' Phaedrus''. Gerald James Larson, a scholar of Indian philosophies, believes that the chariot metaphor contains one of the earliest references to ideas and terminology of the Indian philosophical school Samkhya.

Background

The chariot analogy first appears the third chapter of ''Katha Upanishad'', as a device to explain the Atman (Self) as distinct from the mind, intelligence and sense organs. In this context, spiritual practice is seen as a return to

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

through the levels of manifested existence. The metaphor forms a part of the teaching imparted to

Nachiketa Nachiketa (), also rendered Nachiketas and Nachiketan, is a character in Hindu literature. He is the son of the sage Vājashravas, or Uddalaki, in some traditions. He is the child protagonist of an ancient Indian, dialogical narrative, about th ...

, a child seeking knowledge about life after death, by

Yama Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities. ...

, the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

god of death. William K. Mahony, in ''The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Imagination'', writes, "We have in this metaphor an image of a powerful process that can either lead to fulfillment or in which the seeker can become lost."

Analogy

Verses 1.3.3–11 of ''Katha Upanishad'' deal with the allegoric expression of human body as a chariot. The body is equated to a chariot where the horses are the senses, the mind is the reins, and the driver or charioteer is the intellect. The passenger of the chariot is the Self (Atman). Through this analogy, it is explained that the Atman is separate from the physical body, just as the passenger of a chariot is separate from the chariot. The verses conclude by describing control of the chariot and contemplation on the Self as ways by which the intellect acquires Self Knowledge.

Shankaracharya Shankaracharya ( sa, शङ्कराचार्य, , " Shankara-''acharya''") is a religious title used by the heads of amnaya monasteries called mathas in the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism. The title derives from Adi Shankara; te ...

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