Commentary on the Kathopanishad: 1.3 Swami Krishnananda

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Monday 05, October 2026, 17:40.
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Vedanta & Upanishads
Commentary on the Kathopanishad: 1.3
Swami Krishnananda
Discourse 1: Nachiketas Goes to the Lord of Death -3.

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In another edition of this Upanishad that occurs in the Taittiriya Brahmana, the same story is told in a different way. A voice from the sky speaks.

Nachiketas went to the abode of the Lord of Death, and passed three nights in the absence of Yama. He went there when Yama was not at home, and stood outside, starving.

After three days, when the lord of the house came,

he asked, “You have been here for three nights. What did you eat?”

“On the first day, your cattle,” so goes the reply.

“What did you eat on the second day?”

“Your progeny.”

“What did you eat on the third day?”

“All your good works.”

The word used in the Sanskrit language for an uninvited guest is atithi. Atithi is one who comes uninvited. The uninvited comers are sometimes considered as God coming because anything that happens without our knowledge and without our interference should be considered as the work of God, especially if the atithi is a knower of Brahman, a Brahmana. In Nachiketas' case he was such. He was a Brahmin boy, and very self-controlled and, therefore, very powerful. If such a person arrives at the gates of the house of a person and is not properly received, he shall destroy all the good works of the lord of that house. Like a fire does the atithi come. As a burning flame does the atithi enter the house.

Vaiśvānaraḥ praviśaty atithir brāhmaṇo gṛhān: tasyaitāṁ śāntiṁ kurvanti, hara vaivasvatodakam (1.1.7): Commentators say that this verse, this particular half passage, is actually the words spoken by the queen of Yama. The queen speaks, say the commentators of this passage, to pacify this new guest. “He is burning like a flame because of no attention being paid to him. May he be satisfied. Bring water immediately. Wash his feet, make him seated, and offer him gifts so that his anger may subside and you will have peace. For three days this boy has been standing here without anyone's knowledge. He will destroy all your good deeds and all your belongings. All your future will be in ruins if you do not treat him properly. Bring water.”

Āśā-pratīkṣe saṁgataṁ sūnṛtāṁ ceṣṭāpūrte putra-paśūṁś ca sarvān, etad vṛṅkte puruṣasyālpamedhaso yasyānaśnan vasati brāhmaṇo gṛhe (1.1.8): When a person come in that way is not properly received, what happens? All the hopes of the lord of the house are destroyed then and there. All his expectations get burnt to ashes. All the good things that he has done immediately die. All his friends depart. All the results that followed from his sacrifices, i.e., philanthropic deeds such as charities of different types that he has done to people and the results of Vedic sacrifices, they also immediately perish. His children die, and his cattle perish when he disregards an atithi who comes. If the lord of the house, not knowing the value of receiving guests, atithis, ignores their presence, he loses everything that he has got and himself gets ruined. This is what happens when a starving man stands in front of him.

Yama is suddenly aware of all this because of the instruction that is imparted to him by his own queen: “Great danger is ahead for you if you do not satisfythis lad.”

Tisro rātrīr yād avatsīr gṛhe me'naśnan brahman atitthir namasyaḥ. namaste'stu, brahman; svasti me'stu; tasmāt prati trīn varān vṛṇīṣva (1.1.9). “My dear boy,” says Yama, “you have stood at my house for three nights without taking anything from me, without taking food and drinking water. You are a respectable holy man. Holy respectable Brahmacharin, I have made a great mistake in not being present when you came, and I made you starve. You did not drink even water. Namaskar. Prostration to you. I salute you and prostrate myself before you, great Brahmin, the glory of tapas. May peace be unto me. Do not curse me. As a recompense for the trouble that I have given to you, please ask for three boons. I shall immediately, instantaneously, grant you these three boons.”

This is an introduction to the Kathopanishad.

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Discourse 2: The First Two Boons-1.
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