Śruti / The twelve Upaniṣads / Kaṭha · 3 of 12

3. Naciketas

Kaṭha (कठ)

The Kaṭha (कठ) belongs to the black Yajurveda, to the Kāṭhaka (काठक) śākhā. The verse shelf sits all 119 mantras, in six vallī (वल्ली): 29, 25, 17, 15, 15, and 18. The shelf numbers the vallīs 1 through 6. A Śaṅkara commentary calls the last three the second adhyāya. Both numberings are in use. These pages follow the shelf.

The story is the dialogue of Naciketas (नचिकेतस्) and Yama (यम). Vājaśravasa gives his possessions away. The boy sees the barren cows and asks, three times, to whom his father will give him. The father answers, to Death. The boy goes to Yama's house and waits three nights unwelcomed. Yama, returning, grants three boons for the three nights. The first is his father's peace of mind. The second is the fire-altar that will bear the boy's name. The rite is named and not taught. The third boon is the one Yama does not want to give: what happens to a person at death.

Yama offers wealth, sons, long life, and pleasures. Naciketas refuses. Death then teaches. The self is not born and does not die when the body is slain. The way is as sharp as a razor's edge. The chariot, vallī 3, mantras 3 through 11, is the picture of the person who can travel that edge: the self is the rider, the body the chariot, the intellect the driver, the mind the reins, the senses the horses, the objects the roads. A driver with wisdom reaches the end. A driver without it does not.

The breakthrough is the third boon. Every lesser good is offered and declined, so that the teaching about death is not one more gift among gifts. It is what remains when the gifts have been refused. The two lines below are the shelf's own. This page does not split them again.

न जायते म्रियते वा विपश्चिन् नायं कुतश्चिन् न बभूव कश्चित् ।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे na jāyate mriyate vā vipaścin nāyaṃ kutaścin na babhūva kaścit |
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṃ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

The discerning one is not born, nor does he die. This one did not come to be from anywhere, nor did anyone. Unborn, constant, perpetual, ancient, he is not slain when the body is slain. The split words are on Kaṭha 2.18.

उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान् निबोधत ।
क्षुरस्य धारा निशिता दुरत्यया दुर्गं पथस् तत् कवयो वदन्ति uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata |
kṣurasya dhārā niśitā duratyayā durgaṃ pathas tat kavayo vadanti

Stand up. Wake. Having reached the best, learn. A sharpened razor's edge, hard to cross: that path is hard going, the seers say. The split words are on Kaṭha 3.14.

नेपालीमा

कठ कृष्ण यजुर्वेदको काठक शाखा हो। एक सय उन्नाइस मन्त्र, छ वल्ली, पदमा समावेश गरिएका छन्। वाजश्रवसले दान दिँदा नचिकेतसले सोधे, मलाई कसलाई दिनुहुन्छ? बुबाले भने, मृत्युलाई। केटाले यमको घरमा तीन रात पर्खिए। तीन वर मिले।

तेस्रो वर मृत्युपछि के हुन्छ भन्ने हो। यमले धन र आयु दिन खोजे। केटाले लिएनन्। आत्मा जन्मिँदैन, शरीर मर्दा मर्दैन। रथ वल्ली ३ को मन्त्र ३ देखि ११ हो। शब्दको पदच्छेद कठको सङ्ग्रहमा छ।

Where it sits

The book hub is the Kaṭha. Death is 2.18. The razor's edge is 3.14. The six questions are next.