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In fact, rebirth is due to unfulfilled desires. But everyone has to pass through every difficulty. Otherwise, they are not known, as they cannot be avoided by mere theoretical understanding. Solid objects are forces and not physical bodies. They appear as solid because our body appears to be solid, but neither of them is. All are forces whirling in space, and they appear as solid due to our sense of touch. When thissense is not functioning, you cannot know solid objects, and so too with all the five senses; they deceive you. This is avidya or ignorance: But vidya is different.
They run hither and thither, finding not what they seek. We take advice from people who do not understand. How can it be helpful? But this is the world. People run here and there for happiness because of their desires, but find it nowhere. They are misguided, and it is unfortunate that there is no one who can see things as they are. Everyone is on the same level of learning. Learning itself becomes a form of ignorance, just as our happiness is itself ignorance because we think we are happy when we come into contact with sense-objects.
Ignorance has two sides, positive and negative. Negatively, you are not conscious of it at all. It is avarana, a veil; what you experience in deep sleep. Positively, it is called vikshepa. It projects itself outside, making you think of what is not there. That is the dream state. Which one is better? In dream we suffer more than in deep sleep, and it may appear that sleep is better. Or you may prefer the false happiness of dreams.
The very same vikshepa also works in the waking state. There are three kinds of realities: The world of waking appears to have a practical value, a utility; but it is as much a world of ignorance as the world of dream from the point of view of paramarthika-satta. The objects are much more real than the dream objects. Our present happiness and sorrows seem to be more meaningful than dream happiness or dream sorrows. The fact is that both are avidya or ignorance—waking and dreaming.
In sleep which is 34 avarana, as well as in dream or waking which are vikshepa, ignorance prevails. On account of this, people think that there is nothing wrong with the world and foolishly imagine that they are learned. Can you regard a dream pandit as a really learned man? Likewise, in the waking state you are ignorant, and so is your teacher. People get deluded because of wealth and greed for things, and in this ignorance of youth, health, fame and position, they proclaim: What he means is that they undergo unending births and deaths.
Falling under the law of karma, they do not learn until they are given a painful lesson by nature itself. There is not only birth and death, but there is suffering. They are proud even when they do not know anything. It is difficult even to hear, and there are people who cannot understand It even then. A wonder is the explainer of It; wonderful is that person who can 35 understand It when taught by a competent one. The second section of the Upanishad is an analysis of the nature of duty and desire: Their whispers are heard by us simultaneously—one trying to overpower the other, sometimes creating a small tumult, so that they cannot be distinguished.
Daily life is one dilemma, the conscience speaking of shreyas, and the lower self murmuring that pleasure is desirable in preference to duty. Why do people mostly listen to the latter voice? Because the objects connected to pleasure are visible to the senses, while the side of duty is not so visible. We believe in what we see, but find it hard to believe in the invisible. The senses are connected with objects of pleasure, but duty is something which the senses cannot understand.
Often duty seems to be painful and imposed.
The reason is simple: Limited to this world of senses, we cannot see the other realms, so we do not concern ourselves with them. And for all practical purposes, we take for granted that they do not exist at all. The ignorant, proud of empty learning, do not pay proper attention towards duty; they do not believe in the ultimate good, in God and the other worlds, but they believe in objects, even though they are perishable, even though they may bring death, humiliation, deprivation, because of their visibility, and this, because of the indivisibility of the good and the other worlds.
This position is not one of acquisition, but of understanding, of discrimination. He is the example of a seeker who got over temptations by comprehending, and not because they were curbed by law, scriptures or the guru. When the disciple understands the true situation, no ordinance by any of them is necessary.
Nachiketas realised that objects are not to be acquired for enjoyment, but to be understood and studied. They are not for hugging. The world is not to be possessed. No one can possess the world, because everyone is a part of it; belongs to it in an integral way. So an individual fails when he treats it as an object of enjoyment, for the world and all its objects are an opportunity to train ourselves in understanding. The world is one of the ways in which God peeps through space and time: Most people are like Duryodhana and want adoration rather than the silent divinity that does not reveal itself to the senses.
The more we realise the interconnectedness and harmony of being, the nearer are we to God. The more the separation between man and man, the greater the assumption of the individual, the more are we away from Him. This is what Yama implies in the conversation with Nachiketas: Though God is speaking to us daily, we do not hear Him because of the noise the senses set up. We see the colour and the panorama of the world they present us, but not Him.
Realms beyond the physical are less and less separated in their contents or units. While in the physical world we see many persons, one thing having no relation to another, the higher we go into the subtle realms, the nearer do persons and things appear to come—just as in a triangle with a wide base there is also an apex, and as the two sides go higher towards it the distance between the two sides becomes less and less until they meet.
In the Absolute, people come together; and when you realise the intimacy of things, your love for them diminishes, just as you do not love your body the way you love sense- objects. There are what is called nether regions, lower than this physical world, which are inhabited by asuras, demons and the like—beings who are more sensuous, wrathful and body-conscious. There are seven worlds above and seven below ours, which means that there can be states of consciousness worse than the human, ignorance deeper than the human, and knowledge higher than the human.
The seven higher realms are of great subtlety and intimacy, so that when we reach the highest, one reflects in the other and one becomes the image of the other. This is omniscience or cosmic consciousness: The higher world is not visible to the ignorant, and so we cling to this world. If we were aware of all the higher ones, we would no longer think: Like a sudden waking up from dream, there is sometimes a sudden awakening into Reality. This is called sadyo-mukti. You cannot get it by reading a book.
The teacher of it must be an expert—so subtle is this knowledge. But there remains no doubt when He is taught by one who knows Him as himself. Subtler than the atom is this truth. You may be able to see an atom, but this cannot be seen. The teacher is like the honeybee who draws the honey from all books and gives you the essence. The force behind the words spoken by the Guru is important. It is his power that is conveyed through his words. Not merely this; the proximity to the teacher is itself a force. The words he speaks, his thoughts and the good notion he has about the disciple are important.
Unless it is taught by a superior teacher, it cannot be understood. Without him, there is no way. But, my dear, taught by one who knows the truth, it is well understood.
Even scriptures speak in a language, and words cannot convey it. It cannot be communicated to another for want of means, say the scriptures.
It is insight—the intuition of the Guru that reveals this knowledge. The intuition of the Guru reveals itself as intuition in the disciple. They are not two persons; they are only two centres—one revealed and the other unrevealed. Yet, as a candidate of the celestial realm, I performed the vaishvanara sacrifice.
I have reached the everlasting by impermanent means. Some think it is spoken by Yama; some others, by Nachiketas. However, it cannot be Nachiketas saying it for at least one reason. Because Nachiketas has only heard about it but has not yet performed it. It is by performing the vaishvanara-agni. I know it does not by itself lead to the absolute Truth. It is anitya and through it one cannot reach the nitya. The residents of brahma-loka do not have a physical or even subtle body, but have only a causal one, merely one step below the Absolute where it makes no difference as to where things are; everything is everywhere.
But there is something higher than these levels: What is the wonder of this? The wonder is that nothing is the means to it. The non-eternal cannot take you there; and everything you have—body, mind, intellect etc. But Nachiketas wants to know only that. It must be, because we are asked to do good, show affection to others. A rule of righteousness is imposed upon us. So, there must be something, but what is it?
When one approaches it, one loses himself. And when I am not there, neither is the other. If the subject is not, the object is also not. This is the mystery: Logic, your possessions, all that is conceivable by your thoughts, is perishable and cannot help you. Hence, in the realisation of God, nothing can come to your aid but God Himself. The human element, everything sensual and external must be cast aside, and only the divine element relied upon.
The question of Nachiketas is how to bring about this transition from the human to the divine. When the soul is released of its individuality, what happens to it? No one has given an answer to this. When asked by Maitreyi, Yajnavalkya says that the question itself ceases to exist when the answer reveals itself. The questioner and the answer vanish: But where there is no one to speak, no one to see, and no one to understand, who is to communicate to whom? We have to know It as That Which Is. Even the state of universal knowledge is comparatively transient, because in it everything is an object of omniscience.
The subject-object relationship exists even there. But Reality is going beyond everything, because there is not even that everything in the Absolute. Though eternal means alone is the eternal realised; this is the mystery. Because of the subtlety of this wisdom it is said that a Guru is necessary as an embodiment of insight which can be conveyed, but not spoken or written.
Here, all your loves and affections get fulfilled, like flowing rivers finding their contentment in reaching the ocean. The movement of desires to objects is a blind activity of the senses, continuing until this stage is reached. All desires are due to a sense of separation from the beloved object. The longing to unite oneself with that from which one is separated is desire. The urge to come together is desire. So, when you come into union with an object, you seem to be in a state of fulfilment.
But, says the Upanishad, this is not really fulfilling wants, because they rise again, like a creditor coming again and again until his dues are cleared. If they had really been fulfilled, why should desires rise again? They are not satisfied with what you give, because in a so-called enjoyment, you do not unite. The whole world cannot make you happy because you never can come into union with it, and because you fail in this, you take another birth.
Yet, you do not learn the lesson. Your understanding cannot arise, precisely due to the desires. Satisfaction comes only in the ocean of hiranyagarbha. Here, you reach a state of perpetual balance. You do not stand opposed to the object of desire, as you do now. You are able to move freely into the very soul of it. There is no isolation of subject- object, and hence there is perpetual happiness. Hiranyagarbha, the universal mind or intelligence, is also the support of all the worlds, the cause of all creation.
The virat is an external or physical expression of that 43 internal hiranyagarbha. Just as our mental condition supports our body, hiranyagarbha supports all the worlds. Here, all sacrifices, all good works, all charity, find their rewards, because from indra-loka, swarga-loka and other realms, you come back, but from brahma-loka there is no return.
Tearless is this region, because there are no desires. Where there is no desire, there is no fear, because there is no opposition or counterpart to one another. One flows, merges into the other. All your praises reach hiranyagarbha. You may praise anyone, it reaches Him. All words that you utter are a description of His Being. He is the only object of praise. When you call anyone, you call Him. He is the grand Goal of expression in action and speech. Can you imagine this state?
Your head will reel. Nachiketas rejected even this, because it is a part of creation. Hiranyagarbha is the highest satisfaction, but the seeking soul must abandon It and ask for that which is hidden even behind It. That about which even the gods have doubt, about which even the scriptures do not speak adequately, what is That—That Being which cannot be perceived, either by the 44 eyes or any other sense-organ? He is the most hidden of all hidden secrets, the mysterious divine Being. Where is He hidden? People go to different places seeking Him, but He is hidden in the bottom of the very seeker himself.
You carry Him wherever you go, yet you ask for Him. He cannot be seen because He is what sees through the eyes. He cannot be thought of, because He is that which thinks through the mind. So deeply hidden is He in your own heart that you cannot see Him. You yourself stand as an object to Him. You are an empirical subject, while He is the Absolute Subject or the paramarthika-satta. Most ancient is this Being. He was here before your coming into existence, before creation came into existence. Before the creation of the cosmos, even behind the sankalpa of the cosmic Creator He was.
And so, even the gods came into being after Him. Temporary, transient things cannot be a means to the realisation of this Truth. There is something fundamentally wrong in our approach to it. You can liken it to a supreme emperor whom one can approach by no means; yet he is approachable. Even the ground upon which you tread to see the king is his. Similarly, even the life that we possess that we possess is His.
It is difficult, thus, to understand how to reach Him. Nothing can please Him because He has everything. You cannot offer anything to Him because everything belongs to Him, and you yourself are His property. Then, what is the way? Yama does not want to explain it, because it cannot be explained, as all questions imply the connection of a means with an end, while He is neither a means nor an end.
This yoga is the way to God-realisation. In the whole Kathopanishad, there is no explanation of what this adhyatma-yoga is. We have to go to other Upanishads, like the Brhadaranyaka— especially in the discourses of Yajnavalkya to Janaka and Maitreyi—for a description of it. Then you have nothing before you, of what can you be conscious? And yet I say it is consciousness; for while there is nothing to be conscious of, still It Is consciousness, because everything has merged into It. This is the Absolute. Where there are objects to think of, it is hiranyagarbha, but where everything has merged into consciousness, nothing remains to be explained.
The seeker and the sought are the same. Nachiketas, for you this gate is open. The Atman is the support of all dharma , the supreme law. Every law is but an expression of His nature. Saints are therefore the vehicles of righteousness. They do not follow the Manu Smirti or any other law, but the smritis follow them. If one listens to this supreme dharma, one gets transported into spiritual ecstasy. One becomes supremely joyous, because the object of joy has been attained. If your son whom you thought dead came back to you, how joyous you would be!
You have lost your own Self and you have found it now! That which you have been seeking for years and years has come! While the gates of heaven are closed to ordinary people, they are open to such seekers as Nachiketas who have a clarified understanding. Really speaking, the gates of heaven are always open. What happens is that people lose their eyesight when they go near them.
This happens every day to us, in deep sleep. We touch them, but we become unconscious and blindly pass them by, and then say that they are closed. Our own desires make us pass them by when we try to approach these gates, by saying: No going unless we are fulfilled! They give us a blow on our head when we are about to see God face to face. No man of desires can see God. The reason behind this is that the Lord cannot be seen by men of desires. Please, tell me more! Now that Yama has answered, Nachiketas will not cease to question.
After having been given a wonderful description of the highest, he says: Where dharma and adharma have their play, where subject and object come together, is world-consciousness. What is That which shoots up like a spark when the match is struck, consuming that which is hidden in it? What is That which is neither the done nor the not-done, midway between doing and not-doing, like the karma yoga of the Bhagavadgita? That which is not past or future—not coming by your effort and also not otherwise.
That which Yama sees is not a content of creation, because what is seen is hiranyagarbha which has already been passed over. You must go beyond creation. It is not contained in space, and so not in time.
It is an eternal Presence. The question of Nachiketas is itself a hint of what he seeks from Yama. That which exists as the non-interfering Principle in all, that which is the Seer of the activity of the cosmos—that is the Being which he wants. They control their energies to pierce through the fortress of ignorance, to melt the flint of avidya, kama and karma.
No passionate person can do this. No one who lacks brahmacharya can behold this Being. People think that the Vedas speak of many gods, but they speak of one God only. They speak of the same God in different languages. The Veda itself says, ekam sat vipra bahuda vadanti: The one God is spoken of variegatedly in different expressions of ecstasy by the sages to whom the mantras were revealed. When the Kumaras went to Dakshinamurthy for wisdom, the answer was silence. At least Yama says one word. The Mandukya Upanishad describes what this Om is: In the form of creation, it is accessible; but formless, as the Absolute, it is inaccessible.
It is the visible and the invisible. It is in creation, and it stands beyond it as well. The chant of Om is in itself a great sadhana. It puts the whole system into spiritual balance. It also means imperishable. So it is all this. If at all you can reach Brahman by any means, it is by Om. It is the Supreme, beyond which there is nothing.
It is the imperishable, and it is both the manifest and the unmanifest, by knowing which one gains access to everything. When you chant or meditate on Om, you have with you whatever you want. You become possessed of all things by realising it. You can possess only that which you have seen and over which you have control. Here, knowledge and power merge into a single experience. One who performs this upasana diffuses his personality into Om. The worship of a sadhaka is to get into the soul of his devata, and when the upasana is complete, the devata enters the worshiper, and both become the same.
Pranava is not a symbol in the sense of the term. A word you write on paper may represent a name or description. You have the symbol which makes you call a tree into consciousness. But Om is not like that. It is a vibration that is produced in our system, and it is the symbol of the symbol; a secondary symbol of Brahman. It is a chant, and not a written word. It is a force or power engulfing our personality when we chant it. Om emanates from the centre of the body, which is the navel.
The original condition of pranava is not audible. Coming from the subtle body, it becomes audible only when finally uttered by the mouth. The initiation into it is most important, because this chant and meditation is a great art, and is difficult. Once one flows into the chant of 50 Om, one transcends all mantras. Om has no devata —it is all things, and to enter into it is to enter into creation.
It is the supreme imperishable Brahman. It is Brahman because it gives access to everything, and having experienced it or known it in realisation, or having become it, one becomes fit to possess anything anywhere. The answer to your needs flows to you from all directions when this Supreme becomes manifest in your consciousness, and you become an instrument of its manifestation in this world.
While all other supports will leave you, it will not leave you. It is the best of, and support of, all supports—knowing which you reach brahma-loka. In its manifest form, it represents brahma-loka. And in its unmanifest form, it represents the Absolute, expanding itself gloriously. This syllable Om is the Atman or Brahman about which Nachiketas asked. What is that which transcends everything, was his question.
Nothing else but Om can become a vehicle for the expression of the Highest, because it is general and not particularised. The content of Om is the Imperishable. The Eternal Indestructable Soul na jayate mriyate va vipascin nayarh kutascin na babhuva kascit: He is Knowingness; the capacity to know. He does not know things like the mind knows or sees. The knower of the Atman does not exist. Who is to know the knower?
If he is known, he is not the Atman. When the form changes, the essence does not change. Such is the Atman. He has not come from somewhere; he has no place; he occupies all this universal space. He has neither a cause nor an effect, nor can he go anywhere nor become anything. Creation does not apply to him. The whole of it is a vehicle for him, and nothing happens to him when it changes. While the body is destroyed, he does not undergo transformation.
Most wonderful is he! Neither the destroyer nor the destroyed know the truth when they think that the Atman goes with the body. He who thinks that He can be destroyed knows not the truth because he thinks He is an object, whereas He is the supreme Subject. People look at the Atman like they look at an object, but He is not that either. He is subtler than the mind and intellect, and hence cannot be seen. Most expansive is He, greater than the great. Because He is the innermost existence in every thing, He is seated in the hearts of all beings.
This Atman, the Soul of all beings, is the Heart; not the physical one that pumps blood, but the Centre of our personality; the very Source of all that we are; the Essence of our being. Shantoyamatma —this Atman is peace. He is the flooding of feeling that rises in us when we lose consciousness of our personality and yet are conscious.
When we forget the existence of everything outside ourselves, and ourselves too, the Essence of this is the Atman. The T has a soul behind it which is He, speaking through the entire personality.
Such is this mysterious, magnificent, elusive Atman who is hidden in all beings. How can we behold Him? Any sankalpa prevents His manifestation. If you assert yourself, either by feeling or willing or thinking, you block His ray. To affirm anything is to have sankalpa, and such a one cannot be a yogin. Think not, affirm not, will not—this is the way! He who has no personality, who wants not anything, becomes fit for His realisation. How does He manifest?
In whom and when? Dhatuh prasadat —what this means is a matter of controversy. All commentators of the Bhakti School, especially the Vaishvanas, say that it means the grace of God. Dhatu is creator, and prasada is grace. Your effort has to cease, because any effort is an obstacle to His revelation. Knowledge arises by the will of God. When the whole personality becomes tranquil, when there is a tendency to universality, the entire person gets focused in consciousness. We may accept both. He is the other as well as your own Self.
But He is within also. God can send His grace from within, but can also send it from without, and then it is that you behold His glory. It is not described in books. It is beheld directly. The Opposite Characteristics of the Supreme asTno durarh vrajati, sayano yati sarvatah: Lying down in one place, He goes everywhere. Before our mind reaches brahma-loka, that Atman is already there. The Self Atman , smaller than small, greater than great, is hidden in the heart of each creature, Free from avarice, free from grief, peaceful and content, he sees the supreme glory of Atman.
In final verses of the second Valli, the Katha Upanishad asserts that Atman-knowledge, or Self-realization, is not attained by instruction, not arguments nor reasoning from scriptures. It is comprehended by oneself through meditation and introspection. It is not attained by those who do not abstain from misconduct, not those who are restless nor composed, not those whose mind is not calm and tranquil, but only those who live ethically, are composed, tranquil, internally peaceful, search within and examine their own nature.
The third Valli of Katha Upanishad presents the parable of the chariot , to highlight how Atman, body, mind, senses and empirical reality relate to a human being. Know that the Atman is the rider in the chariot, and the body is the chariot, Know that the Buddhi intelligence, ability to reason is the charioteer, and Manas mind is the reins. The senses are called the horses, the objects of the senses are their paths, Formed out of the union of the Atman, the senses and the mind, him they call the "enjoyer".
The Katha Upanishad asserts that one who does not use his powers of reasoning, whose senses are unruly and mind unbridled, his life drifts in chaos and confusion, his existence entangled in samsara. Those who use their intelligence, have their senses calm and under reason, they live a life of bliss and liberation, which is the highest place of Vishnu.
This metaphorical parable of chariot is found in multiple ancient Indian texts, and is called the Ratha Kalpana. A similar simile is found in ancient Greek literature, such as the Parmenides , Xenophon 's prologue of Prodikos, and in the Platonic dialogue Phaedrus. The Katha Upanishad, in verses 1.
It asserts that Artha objects, means of life are above Indriya senses , that Manas mind is above Artha in this hierarchy, above the Manas is Buddhi intellect, his ability to reason , above the Buddhi is Atman his Soul, great Self. The Soul is hidden in all beings, asserts the Katha Upanishad; it does not show itself, but its awareness is felt by seers with agrya sukshma subtle, more self-evident conscious, keen thinkers.
Man should, asserts Katha Upanishad, holistically unify his tempered senses and mind with his intellect, all these with his Atman Soul, great Self , and unify his "great Self" with the Self of the rest, the tranquility of Oneness with the Avyaktam and "cosmic soul". Having obtained these boons, understand them!
Like the Razor's sharp edge is difficult to traverse, The path to one's Self is difficult.
The Eternal Soul: Commentary on the Katha Upanishad [Brahmrishi Vishvatma Bawra, William F. Milcetich] on www.farmersmarketmusic.com *FREE* shipping on qualifying. Editorial Reviews. About the Author. Brahmrishi Vishvatma Bawra () is the founder of the International Brahmrishi Mission. He was born in a small.
Paul Deussen states that verses 1. The fourth Valli starts by asserting that inner knowledge is that of unity, eternal calmness and spiritual Oneness, while the external knowledge is that of plurality, perishable "running around" and sensory objects. For definition, it deploys an epistemic combination of "positive assertions" as well as "exposition by elimination", the latter repeated with, [61]. Atman, asserts Katha Upanishad, is the subject of Self-knowledge, the bearer of spiritual reality, that which is all-prevading, inside every being, that unifies all human beings as well as all creatures, the concealed, eternal, immortal, pure bliss.
It exists and active when man is in awake-state, it exists and active when man is in dream-state. To know Atman, look inward and introspect; to know objects, look outward and examine, states Katha Upanishad. Everything that changes is not Atman, that which was, is, will be and never changes is Atman. Soul is the lord of the past, the lord of the now, and the lord of the future. Anyone who runs after sensory-impressions, gets lost among them just like water flows randomly after rainfall on mountains, state verses 2.
There is no plurality and separateness between the essence Atman of I and others, between the essence of nature and spirit, asserts Katha Upanishad in verses 2. This position contrasts with one of the fundamental premises of the dualistic schools of Hinduism. Ramanuja doesn't and offers a theistic dualism based interpretation instead. Katha Upanishad's fifth Valli is an eschatological treatise.
It begins by stating that human body is like a Pura Sanskrit: The individual, asserts Katha Upanishad, who understands and reveres this town of eternal, non-changing spirit, is never crooked-minded, is always free. This Soul is worshipped by all the gods.
Body dies, Soul doesn't. The Soul is always awake and active, while one is asleep, shaping wishful dreams. It is one with Brahman. It is everywhere, within and without, it is immortal. This universal, oneness theme is explained by the Katha Upanishad by three similes , which Paul Deussen calls as excellent. That individual is perennially happy, asserts Katha Upanishad, who realizes the Atman is within him, that he himself is the Master, that the inner Self of all beings and his own Self are "one form manifold", and none other.
Meaning is Atman, full of perennial peace. It is he who realizes this who shines, his splendour shines everything with and by Anu , the whole world shines by such joy unleashed, such splendour manifested. The sixth Valli continues the discussion of Karma and rebirth theory, sections of which Max Muller states is possibly interpolated and inserted in a later period. The first five verses of the last section of the Upanishad assert that those who do not know or do not understand Atman return to the world of creation, and those who do are free, liberated.
The Katha Upanishad, in verses 2. Only when Manas mind with thoughts and the five senses stand still, and when Buddhi intellect, power to reason does not waver, that they call the highest path. That is what one calls Yoga, the stillness of the senses, concentration of the mind, It is not thoughtless heedless sluggishness, Yoga is creation and dissolution. The Katha Upanishad concludes its philosophical presentation in verses of the sixth Valli.