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Introduction: The Two Chariots
The Katha Upanishad presents a remarkable dialogue between Yama, the god of Death, and Naciketas, who seeks an understanding of the self's status after death. As preparation for this truth, Yama likens the individual to a chariot. In his account, the chariot itself is compared to the body, the charioteer to the intellect, the reins to the mind, the horses to the senses, and the road to the objects of the senses. He concludes: "the enjoyer is the self endowed with body, sense and mind; thus say the wise."1 This conception of the self has implications for the behavior of the truth seeker: "But whoever is wise with the mind always applied, has the senses subdued like good horses of the charioteer.... [T]he man, whose charioteer is wise, the reins of whose mind are well applied, obtains the goal of the road, the highest place of Vishnu."2
Yama's chariot-self is not alone, however. As has often been noted, Plato's Phaedrus provides a striking corollary to the Upanishadic account, as Socrates describes the soul as a winged chariot in which a charioteer drives a team of two steeds. On the one hand, the first horse is noble and of good breeding-white with black eyes, he is "on the more honorable side." He aims at "glory," but his pursuit is temperate, and he remains obedient to the charioteer: the horse "consort[s] with sôphrosunê (moderation) and modesty," and "needs no whip, being driven by the word of command alone." On the other hand, the second horse is ignoble and of poor breeding-black with gray eyes, he is "a massive jumble of a creature." He aims at the satisfaction of sensual desires; rash, "hot-blooded," and tending toward hubris, this horse is "hard to control with whip and goad." The charioteer, finally, pursues truth. He is "the soul's pilot"-he directs the soul "aloft to the region where the gods dwell," where the soul may reach wisdom, the "soul's proper food."3
While the remarkable similarities between the Katha Upanishad and the Phaedrus certainly give rise to a great many tantalizing historical and literary questions, the present essay will focus on the philosophical work done by these two chariots.4 I will argue that each represents a move toward...