I am sure that many bookworms end up at least once in their lives reading something that absolutely blows their mind. It sure happened to me on the summer when I was 17 years old. The book in question was The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, translated into English. It was my first foray into ancient Hindu scripture. I was not prepared for what I would encounter! What I expected was exotic and unfamiliar terminology, images, analogies and metaphors: these I certainly got in spades. But what I did not expect was not one but many creation stories – none of which tallied with each other. This took my simplistic, literal mind for an absolute loop. I asked myself, “Which one of these creation stories is true? How can I tell which one is true? They can’t all be true, can they?” And then the tension of maintaining a literal mindset collapsed: and I said to myself, “Yes, each of these creation stories are true in their own metaphorical way. Don’t even think of taking any of these literally.” And once that different perspective settled in my mind, I could enjoy what I was studying and absorb a lot of what it was willing to treat.
It is traditionally believed that there are in total 108 Upanishads. I have not read all of them; just fifteen (so far) have I read. The word “Upanishad” means “to sit close” (as in, close to the teacher) and these were the teachings provided at the end of the four Vedas (hence, the Upanishads are also called “vedanta”). The Upanishads, along with the Vedas as a whole, were – and still are – transmitted orally from generation to generation for millennia. And they are learned with such precision that schools in far corners of India which lost contact from each other for centuries, have been found to still be identical, syllable by syllable and intonation by intonation.
The Upanishads are far from uniform: the Mandukya Upanishad, at twelve verses, is the shortest; the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, is the longest, at six chapters. But neither of these Upanishads are my favourite; no, that distinction goes to the Katha Upanishad. Why is it my favourite? Partially because it is told in the form of a single story – and I am a sucker for stories! And partially it is because of the topic discussed in the story: that is, the mystery of life and death and what are the basic components of being human. Being raised in a Christian culture, I was familiar with the concept of the body and the soul; and, obviously, the mind is separate from both. But I did not clearly understand the relationship among these three. The Katha Upanishad introduced me to other components of myself and explained the relationship among these parts using an image that is impossible to forget. The one thing that bothered me, however, was the use of the term ‘Self’ in translations, but I find that for the non-Hindu, the term ‘Soul’ is easier to relate to, and so I have used it in my retelling of the Katha Upanishad. I make no claim to be a great intellectual: pile a lot of abstractions on me and I am guaranteed to fall asleep. But if you give me a story and clear visual images, I can easily digest a whole heap of abstractions!
The Katha Upanishad is part of the Yajur Veda. It is a medium-length Upanishad, at 117 verses.
The story begins with a priest, by name of Vajashrava, conducting a ritual sacrifice with the hope of achieving all that his heart desires. His teen-age son, Nachiketas, was observing nearby. Being a teenager, Nachiketas looked at the sacrifice critically. He observed that his father was giving away cows as part of the sacrifice – but the cows were old, barren and would not be able to yield any milk to the recipients. He says to his father, “What good can come of this?” (That is, why would one offer the least valuable things in one’s sacrifice instead of the best, seemingly following the letter, but not the spirit, of sacrifice.)
After watching this apparent hypocrisy, Nachiketas turns to his father and asks him, “Father, to whom will you give me?” Being busily engaged in reciting the ritual prayers (mantras) which must not be interrupted, Vajashrava did not reply. Nachiketas asked this question a second time, and then a third time. By this time, his father was really pissed off: he turned to his son and said to him, “To Death I give you, Nachiketas!” (The colloquial equivalent would be “Go to Hell!”)
Nachiketas may have been annoyingly inquisitive, but he was not an idiot. He reflected upon his father’s pronouncement and, in a spirit of sacrifice, said to himself, “May my father today achieve his purpose by offering me to Death… We humans wither like corn in the field, and yet, like grain cast on the ground, we are born again. To the realm of Yama, the God of Death, I now go.”
When Nachiketas reached the Realm of Death, he found that Yama (the God of Death) was not home. So, he sat down inside Yama’s house and waited. For three days and nights he waited without taking any food or water.
When Yama returned home and saw Nachiketas sitting there, he said to the boy, “For three nights you have waited, honoured guest; let me now offer you my belated greetings.” Knowing that Nachiketas was a Brahmin, he was fearful of the consequences of not showing him hospitality. Yama then asked Nachiketas to ask any three wishes and promised to grant them.
The boy’s first wish was that he be returned to the world of the living, welcomed by his father, and with no disharmony with his father. Yama promised him that his father will embrace him with joy and that he will live a long life.
Nachiketa’s second wish was to learn the sacred fire ritual from Yama, as the fire ritual is essential means for being able to enter heaven. Yama then revealed to his eager guest the essence and particulars of the sacrificial fire; Nachiketas repeated back to the God of Death everything that he had been taught. Yama then declared that henceforth the ritual will be called the Nachiketas Sacrificial Fire. He further declared that whoever commits mind, reason and spirit to lighting such a fire, and who engages in the three sacred duties of motiveless action, charity, and self-discipline, will go beyond the cycle of birth and death and attain the supreme peace of heaven.
Then Nachiketas stated his third wish: that Yama tell him what happens to a person when life leaves the body. The God of Death demurred, telling him, “It is an extremely complex matter; even the gods are confused about this, and so it will be too difficult for you to understand. I suggest that you choose something else, such as a long life, swift horses, majestic elephants, gold and wealth, dominion over the earth as a mighty king, beautiful women, fine chariots, heavenly music, great progeny who will live to a ripe old age, a guaranteed place in heaven – choose any of these, but do not ask about life beyond life.”
Nachiketas wisely replied to Yama, “But you understand that these things that you offer me will all pass away; please keep them – all of them. Wealth and beauty do not satisfy a person who is on their deathbed. I have no other questions and choose no other wish.”
Defeated by the boy’s obstinacy, he went on to teach Nachiketas the secrets of life, death, and what makes us human.
The God of Death said:
“There are two paths that can be tread in life: one leads outward and the other leads inward. The outward way leads to pleasure; the inward way leads to grace. It is the path of grace that leads to the Soul. These two paths eternally lie before each person: day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. The foolish, using no discrimination, choose to walk the path of pleasure, while the wise must distinguish between these two paths and choose which one to take. You, Nachiketas, rejected all the objects of desire that I offered you – thus, you have chosen to walk the path of grace.”
“These paths lead in opposite directions: one leads to knowledge, the other to ignorance. You clearly desire knowledge, Nachikas, for you spurned the objects of pleasure.”
“The path of grace does not reveal itself to the person who blunders through this world totally committed to it and its limitations. It is a subtle, hidden path that is never revealed to one who thinks that this world is all that there is. And who, thinking so, falls again and again into my (i.e., Death’s) hand.”
“This Soul cannot be reached by reasoning or debate; it must manifest itself through a teacher who himself wholly knows the Soul.”
“That Soul which you wish to know, which is subtle and difficult to see, is there deep within the deepest part of you. Fix all your thinking and all your inquiry on that ancient, radiant Soul. Having heard this truth, you must embrace it completely. Continue separating the eternal from the ephemeral and you will attain full realization of that most inner, most exquisite Soul – the source of true joy.”
“The single imperishable sound – Om – will lead you where you wish to go. Whether you wish to know the Soul as embodied in flesh or as it transcends embodiment, Om will lead you there.”
“That pure consciousness, which is the all-knowing, indwelling Soul is neither born nor does it die. It did not originate from anything, nor has it ever become anything; unborn, undying, constant – it lives when this body dies.”
“Smaller than the smallest particle of an atom, and yet more vast than the whole expanse of space – this Soul resides in the heart of all beings.”
“The person who has not attained tranquillity or is corrupt, who has not turned away from the brief satisfactions of this world and attained stillness of mind – such a person cannot know the Soul, though learned beyond compare.”
“Imagine that the Soul is seated in the back of a chariot. The body is the chariot and awareness is the driver. Think of the reins the driver is holding is the mind. The senses are the horses that those reins lead to, and the world and its many objects are the terrain the chariot moves along. The Soul, when it is in harmony with the body, mind, and senses, is the enjoyer of the world and the doer of all actions. So say the wise.”
“The foolish have minds that are scattered everywhere, with senses that race after everything, like horses with the bit between their teeth. They are unlike the wise, whose awareness grasps the mind firmly, guiding the senses along the rocky pathway of the world like an alert charioteer. However, one who fails to remember the presence of that radiant Soul in the heart of the chariot, who becomes careless and corrupt, cannot reach the goal that the Soul directs the chariot towards.”
“With properly discriminating awareness as the driver; a mind like steady reins directing the senses; and a body that is steadfast, one reaches That which provides a dwelling place within Itself for all.”
“More powerful than the senses are the desires that compel them. More powerful than the desires is the mind that formulates them. More powerful than the mind is the awareness which organizes it. And more powerful than the awareness is the Soul.”
“The only way to be delivered from the jaws of death is by seeking out That which is without taste, touch, sound or colour; which cannot be decayed by time; which is beginningless and endless. That which is ever present, yet beyond reach of the awareness, is That from which even awareness is born.”
“Approach life with a mind sharpened by your practices and see the One in the many. As long as you see diversity you will go from death the death. Cease this wandering and embrace your oneness.”
“Like rain on a high ground which flows down into rocky ravines, who sees only diversity, will run here, there and everywhere. Like pure water poured into pure water, the person who sees the One becomes the One.”
“Listen, and I will tell you the secret of the Eternal and the Soul, the secret of That which lives after death… That Soul is the immortal and the transcendent – the ground of all beings. There is nothing beyond That.”
“Just as fire is fire no matter when or where it burns, that One is all things no matter what their form. It is That which is within all, and it is That which transcends all.”
“There is only one Power, and it is That which is in the hearts of all. Whoever knows this to be true gains eternal peace. It is the Soul in the heart of all things which is the eternal amidst the ephemeral.”
“Let the five senses and the mind they serve become still. Let awareness itself cease all activity and become watchful. Then you will have begun your journey on the highest path. This is Yoga. But beware: remain ever vigilant. For even this state of Yoga can ebb and flow.”
“When your heart is free of all the desires that now surround it. You will stand at the gates of immortality before that Soul.”
Yama, the God of Death, finished his teaching to Nachiketas as follows:
“That Inner Being is there, present in the hearts of all. Bring all that you are before That – draw it out as you would a shaft from the centre of a reed. Know this pure and immortal Truth.”
What did this teaching accomplish for Nachiketas? When he first entered the Realm of Death, he was already free from the dualities of vice and virtue as well as free from desire and ignorance. But with the aid of the teaching provided to him by Yama, Nachiketas was able to merge with the Soul.
Reading this as a teen, I took myself to be Nachiketas and the teachings of Yama as being directed to me. The teachings of the Katha Upanishad became a cornerstone of my personal philosophy at that time and has stayed with me right to the present. And for that I am grateful. It is a gem of world philosophical heritage, right up there with the teachings of Socrates and Epictetus. At least, that’s the way I see it.
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degringolade
We are now well into the fifth year of these open posts. When I first posted 
It's getting on for midnight and
I'm very pleased to announce that the fourth Ariel Moravec occult detective novel, The House of the Crows, is now available for preorder.
We are now into the fifth year of these open posts. When I first posted 
It's getting on for midnight and
