Commentary on the Kathopanishad: 1,1 Swami Krishnananda

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Friday 11, Sep 2026, 16:00.
Books
Vedanta & Upanishads
Commentary on the Kathopanishad: 
Swami Krishnananda
Discourse 1: Nachiketas Goes to the Lord of Death -1.

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Discourse 1: Nachiketas Goes to the Lord of Death -1.

The manner of presentation of the Kathopanishad, and also some of its contents, bear some resemblance to the manner of presentation of the Bhagavadgita. The Bhagavadgita commences with a student, the seeker Arjuna, and the Kathopanishad, which is what we are going to study now, starts with a student, Nachiketas by name. Arjuna, as a seeker of higher knowledge, surrendered himself to his Master, Sri Krishna. Here Nachiketas surrenders himself to Yama, the Lord of Death, for the sake of knowledge.

The Bhagavadgita instruction starts with the distinction between sankhya and yoga. The Kathopanishad starts with an instruction on the distinction between the good and the pleasant. Sankhya and yoga are distinguished in the beginning of the Bhagavadgita. Here we have the distinction drawn by the great teacher between the good thing and the pleasant thing.

As the Bhagavadgita proceeds to more and more complicated themes, the Kathopanishad also moves to very interesting subjects. Surprisingly, the analogy of the inverted tree that we have in the Kathopanishad: ūrdhva-mūlo'vāk-śākha (K.U. 2.3.1), we also have in the Bhagavadgita: ūrdhvamūlam adhaḥśākham (B.G. 15.1). That very same word is there in the Kathopanishad as we have in the Bhagavadgita. Which came first, and which came afterwards, we need not discuss here. Perhaps the Upanishads came first, and the Bhagavadgita came afterwards. Questions of life and death, and problems concerning human life, the nature of the immortality of the soul and the hereafter, which is the aim of the soul's ascent finally, are some of the themes which appear to be commonly present in the Kathopanishad and in the Bhagavadgita.

Auṁ saha nāv avatu, saha nau bhunaktu, saha vīryaṁ karavāvahai: tejasvi nāv adhītam astu: mā vidviṣāvahai; auṁ śāntih, śāntih, śāntih. A Shanti Mantra is recited at the beginning of the Upanishad. Every Upanishad has some Shanti Mantra which is recited in the beginning as well as in the end. In this particular context of the Kathopanishad, the Shanti Mantra is what we have recited just now.

Saha nāv avatu: May That protect us both. Here 'both' means the teacher and the disciple. May we, the teacher and the disciple, be blessed and protected by That. Saha nau bhunaktu: May That energise both of us, and on the one side, make us fit for teaching, and on the other side, make us fit for receiving the teaching. Saha vīryaṁ karavāvahai: May we get strengthened by the energy imparted by the teacher. Tejasvi nāv adhītam astu: May our study impart radiance and light to us. Mā vidviṣāvahai: May there be no conflict between us, may there be no difference of opinion between us, may there be nothing between us which will break the harmony between us, may there be always harmony between us. Auṁ śāntih, śāntih, śāntih: May there be peace, may there be peace, may there be peace. “May there be peace” is said three times as an invocation of divine powers for the freedom from three kinds of troubles to which humanity is generally held: troubles that arise from our own selves, known as adhyatmika tapa; troubles from the outside world, known as adhibhautika tapa; troubles coming from above by thunderstorm, heavy rains, and even earthquakes, which are all superphysical occurrences causing pain to mankind, known as adhidaivika tapa. May there be peace in all the three directions. We begin the study of the Kathopanishad after the recitation of the Shanti Mantra.

Uśan ha vai vājaśravasaḥ sarva-vedasaṁ dadau: tasya ha naciketā nāma putra āsa (1.1.1). This is the first mantra of the Kathopanishad. The meaning of this passage is that a sage, a holy man called Vajasravasa, wanting to reach heaven, desiring the joys of the celestial kingdom, performed a sacrifice called Sarvavedas, also known as Vishvajit. The condition of this particular kind of sacrifice, which is performed for the attainment of heaven after death, is that the person aspiring for this joy of the celestial world should offer in charity everything that he has. Whatever one considers as one's belonging should be offered in gift, in charity, so that after this performance of the sacrifice one has nothing to call one's own. One remains stripped of all possessions and the consciousness of having any kind of belonging.

This is a very difficult situation to imagine. Many of us may not be able to summon to our own mental imagination how it would look if we were stripped of every idea of possession and belonging. “I have no house, I have no land, I have no money. There is nothing with me that I can call my possession.” That circumstance in life is a very interesting theme for study in spiritual psychology. The spiritual method of approach to life is specifically a way of placing oneself in a condition in which one is not actually now, but in which one can find oneself some day or the other. It requires a power of imagination. One can imagine that one is a king. It is not merely a joke. The mind can enjoy in sheer imagination the powers and glories of an emperor or it can imagine the tragedy and grief of a beggar because, after all, human experience, whatever be its nature, is a mental operation in the end. All our experiences in life are psychological, a kind of position that the mind occupies in the structure of individual existence, by which experiences follow. Usually, the buffeting of the individual by outer circumstances in the world causes experience. Inner conditions of the body may also cause certain experiences, but we can summon an experience even without anything happening outside or inside us.

Actually, the way of meditation, the principal occupation of the yoga student, is nothing but a circumstance that we are creating in our own mind which does not physically exist in the world. In a similar manner is the purpose of this sacrifice called Vishvajit, wherein one frees oneself from every kind of attachment. This was attempted by the great sage Vajasravasa, who had a son called Nachiketas. This is what the first mantra, the first passage, the first sloka, the first verse of the Kathopanishad tells us: uśan ha vai vājaśravasaḥ sarva-vedasaṁ dadau: tasya ha naciketā nāma putra āsa.

Taṁ ha kumāraṁ santaṁ dakṣiṇāsu nīyamānāsu śraddhā-viveśa, so'manyata (1.1.2). The innocent boy, being a very little lad, was observing the sacrifice. Children are very observant and can sometimes notice things much better than older people because of the tremendous concentration that they have and their capacity to focus their minds on only one thing. The boy was observing the great sacrifice being performed by the father and the gifts being given in great abundance to all the people gathered there. Some feeling arose in his mind. There was some kind of inner transformation that took place in the mind of this little boy when he saw his father giving charity—giving, giving, giving, giving everything. What did the boy notice? What was he seeing? He was seeing a very interesting phenomenon.

Pītodakā jagdha-tṛṇā dugdha-dohā nirindriyāḥ anandā nāma te lokās tān sa gacchata tā dadat (1.1.3) is the third mantra. The venerable father, wanting to enjoy the joys of heaven and trying to follow the conditions of the sacrifice meant for that purpose, was giving cattle in charity. Perhaps, as was the case in ancient times, cattle were considered as real wealth, more than gold and silver, which was not respected very much. Generally people did not own coins, currency notes, gold and silver, as much as cattle. Cattle wealth was great wealth. So when cattle were given as gifts in charity, it was tantamount to giving whatever wealth one has. Cattle were being offered as gifts. What kind of cattle?

Here is the peculiarity of the situation which touched the very heart of this little boy. The boy was not foolish; he was intelligent. He had a sense of what was proper and what was not proper. What was he seeing? Cattle were being given in gift. What kind of cattle? Pītodakā: They had drunk water for the last time. They would not drink further. Jagdha-tṛṇā: They had chewed grass for the last time. They would not be able to eat grass further on. Dugdha-dohā: They had been milked for the last time, and further milk would not come from them. Nirindriyāḥ: They were so weak that they were tottering. They could not even walk properly. They were in the lowest ebb of their life principle, weakened by starvation—bony cattle that could not eat grass further, could not yield milk anymore, and could not even drink water. Such cattle were being given as gifts. Very surprising indeed!

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Continued

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