Katha Upanishad
Encyclopedia
The Katha Upanishad also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
: कठ उपनिषद्) (, also ), also titled "Death as Teacher", is one of the mukhya ("primary") Upanishads commented upon by Shankara
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (IAST: pronounced , (Sanskrit: , ) (788 CE - 820 CE), also known as ' and ' was an Indian philosopher from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta...
. It is associated with the school
Shakha
A shakha , is a Hindu theological school that specializes in learning certain Vedic texts, or else the traditional texts followed by such a school. An individual follower of a particular school or recension is called a ...
of the Black Yajurveda, and is grouped with the Sutra
Sutra
Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...
period of Vedic Sanskrit
Vedic Sanskrit
Vedic Sanskrit is an old Indo-Aryan language. It is an archaic form of Sanskrit, an early descendant of Proto-Indo-Iranian. It is closely related to Avestan, the oldest preserved Iranian language...
. It is a middle Upanishad. It contains passages that suggest contact with Buddhist ideas, so was likely composed after the fifth century BCE. It figures as number 3 in the Muktika
Muktika
The Muktikā refers to the canon of 108 upaniṣadas of the Advaita school enumerated in the Muktikopaniṣad, the 108th of which is the Muktikopaniṣad itself...
canon of 108 Upanishads. It consists of two chapters (adhyāyas), each divided into three sections (vallis) that contain between 15 and 29 verses (ślokas) apiece. The Katha has some passages in common with the Gita. According to modern scholars, it propounds a dualistic
Dualism
Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...
philosophy.
Katha may be the most widely known amongst all the Upanishads; its early Persian translations first found their way into Europe. Max Müller
Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller , more regularly known as Max Müller, was a German philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion...
translated it 1879, Edwin Arnold
Edwin Arnold
Sir Edwin Arnold CSI CIE was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work, The Light of Asia.-Biography:...
rendered it in verse, as "The Secret of Death" and Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
gave the central story at the end of his essay, Immortality. Central to the text is the story of Nachiketa
Nachiketa
Nachiketa is the child protagonist in an ancient Hindu fable about the nature of the soul and Brahman. The story is told in the Katha Upanishad , though the name has several earlier references. He was taught Self-knowledge, the separation of the human soul from the body, by the god of Death, Yama...
, son of sage Vajasravasa, and his encounter with Yama
Yama
Yama , also known as Yamarāja in India and Nepal, Shinje in Tibet, Yanluowang or simply Yan in China, Yeomla Daewang in South Korea and Enma Dai-Ō in Japan, is the lord of death, in Hinduism and then adopted into Buddhism and then further into Chinese mythology and Japanese mythology. First...
, Hindu God of death
The story
The Upanishad uses as its base the story of Vajashravasa वाजश्रवसः, which was first mentioned in the RigvedaRigveda
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...
(10. 135), and also in the Taittiriya Brahmana (3.1.8), and later the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
(Anusasana Parva 106). vAja-shravasaH वाजश्रवसः means descendant of vAja-shravA वाजश्रवा. vAja-shravA was the name of a sage, as well as means 'one who is famous (-shravA) for his charity of giving grains (vAja-)', implying the great sage arUNa अरुण . uddAlaka उद्दालक was the son of aruNa, and he performs a sacrifice in which he was required to give away all his worldly possessions. His son Nachiketa
Nachiketa
Nachiketa is the child protagonist in an ancient Hindu fable about the nature of the soul and Brahman. The story is told in the Katha Upanishad , though the name has several earlier references. He was taught Self-knowledge, the separation of the human soul from the body, by the god of Death, Yama...
नचिकेता saw that the cows given were all who had 'drank-their-last-water' (पीतोदकाः), 'eaten-their-last-grass' (जग्धतृणाः), 'milched-for-last' (दुग्धदोहाः), 'whose senses had been diminished' (by old age) (निरिन्द्रियाः). Such charity was not going to give his father any merits. Feeling disturbed by the inappropriateness of his father's observance of the sacrifice, Nachiketa asks to whom was he given (since he too was a possession of the Rishi and hence needed to be given away). The sage ignores him twice, but on third asking, the irritated sage said in anger, "Unto Yama
Yama (Hinduism)
Yama is the lord of death in Hinduism, first recorded in the Vedas. Yama belongs to an early stratum of Indo-Iranian theology. In Vedic tradition Yama was considered to have been the first mortal who died and espied the way to the celestial abodes, thus in virtue of precedence he became the ruler...
, I give thee.", whereupon Naciketas goes to the abode of Yama, and, finding him absent, waits there for three days and nights. Yama on his return, offers to grant him three wishes. (1.1.9)
Naciketas wishes the following:
- to be allowed to return to his father alive, and that his father not be angry with him (1.1.10);
- to be instructed as to the proper performanceKalpaKalpa is a small town in the Sutlej river valley, above Recong Peo in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, Northern India, in the Indian Himalaya. Inhabited by Kinnauri people and famous for its apple orchards. Apples are a major cash-crop for the region...
of Vedic fire-sacrificeHistorical Vedic religionThe religion of the Vedic period is a historical predecessor of Hinduism. Its liturgy is reflected in the mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites...
in order to gain immortalityImmortalityImmortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
(1.1.12–13); - to be given knowledge about life after death (1.1.20).
Yama grants the first wish immediately (1.1.11). In answer to Naciketa's second question, Yama expounds the performance of a special fire-sacrifice, which he states is to be named after Naciketa (1.1.15–19).
- "He who knows the three-fold Naciketa-fire and performs the Naciketa fire-sacrifice with three-fold knowledge, having cast off the fetters of death and being beyond grief, he rejoices in the realm of heaven." (1.1.19, trans. ParamanandaSwami Paramananda (Ramakrishna Mission)Swami Paramananda was one of the early Indian teachers who came to the United States to spread the Vedanta philosophy and religion in America...
)
Before answering the third question, Yama tests Nachiketa, offering him all sorts of worldly pleasures instead, but Naciketas insists (1.1.21–29). The remainder of the text (parts 1.2 to 2.3) contains Yama's teaching concerning true immortality.
Yama's teaching
YamaYama (Hinduism)
Yama is the lord of death in Hinduism, first recorded in the Vedas. Yama belongs to an early stratum of Indo-Iranian theology. In Vedic tradition Yama was considered to have been the first mortal who died and espied the way to the celestial abodes, thus in virtue of precedence he became the ruler...
begins his teaching by distinguishing between preya, "what is pleasant", and shreya, "what is beneficial." A similar distinction between the pleasant and the beneficial was made in ancient Greek philosophy by Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
.
Yama's teaching also notably includes the parable of the chariot
Chariot
The chariot is a type of horse carriage used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Ox carts, proto-chariots, were built by the Proto-Indo-Europeans and also built in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 BC. The original horse chariot was a fast, light, open, two wheeled...
(1.3.3–4), not unlike (and roughly contemporary to) the one found in Parmenides
Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. The single known work of Parmenides is a poem, On Nature, which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides...
, or the one in Plato's Phaedrus. Yama's parable consists of the following equations:
- atmanĀtman (Hinduism)Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...
, the "Self" is the chariot's passenger - the body is the chariot itself
- consciousness (buddhiBuddhiBuddhi is a feminine Sanskrit noun derived from the same root as the more familiar masculine form Buddha Buddhi is a feminine Sanskrit noun derived from the same root as the more familiar masculine form Buddha Buddhi is a feminine Sanskrit noun derived from the same root as the more familiar...
) is the chariot driver - the mind (manasManasManas may refer to one of the following:*Manas, a Kyrgyz epic poem with 500,000 lines.*The Pali and Sanskrit term for "mind"; see**Manas **Manas-vijnana, one of the eight consciousnesses taught in Yogacara Buddhism...
) is the reins - the five senses (indriyaIndriyaIndriya, literally "belonging to or agreeable to Indra" is the Sanskrit and Pali term for physical strength or ability in general, and for the five senses more specifically....
) are the chariot horses - the objects perceived by the senses are the chariot's path
The Katha Upanishad is also notable for first introducing the term yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
(lit. "yoking, harnessing") for spiritual exercise:
- "When the five organs of perception become still, together with the mind, and the intellect ceases to be active: that is called the highest state. This firm holding back of the senses is what is known as Yoga." (2.3.10–11, trans. Paramananda)
Notable verses
श्रेयश्च प्रेयश्च मनुष्यमेतः
तौ सम्परीत्य विविनक्ति धीरः ।
श्रेयो हि धीरोऽभि प्रेयसो वृणीते
प्रेयो मन्दो योगक्षेमाद्वृणीते ॥ ॥ कठ उपनिषद् – 1.2.2 ॥
Translation:
The preferable and the pleasurable approach man.
The intelligent one examines both and separates them.
Yea, the intelligent one prefers the preferable to the pleasurable,
(whereas) the ignorant one selects the pleasurable
for the sake of yoga (attainment of that which is not already possessed)
and kshema (the preservation of that which is already in possession). – Katha Upanishad – 1.2.2
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत
प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत ।
क्षुरस्य धारा निशिता दुरत्यया
दुर्गं पथस्तत्कवयो वदन्ति ॥ कठ उपनिषद् – 1.3.14 ॥
Translation:
Arise, awake, and learn by approaching the exalted ones,
for that path is sharp as a razor’s edge, impassable,
and hard to go by, say the wise. Katha Upanishad – 1.3.14
In popular culture
A verse in the Upanishad inspired the title and the epigraphEpigraph (literature)
In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional...
of W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
's 1944 novel The Razor’s Edge, later adapted, twice, into films of the same title (see articles on 1946
The Razor's Edge (1946 film)
The Razor's Edge is the first film version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel. It was released in 1946 and stars Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, Herbert Marshall, supporting cast Lucile Watson, Frank Latimore and Elsa Lanchester. Marshall plays Somerset Maugham....
and 1984
The Razor's Edge (1984 film)
The Razor's Edge is the second film version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel. The film was released in 1984 and stars Bill Murray, Theresa Russell, Catherine Hicks, Denholm Elliott and James Keach...
films). The epigraph reads, "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard." taken from a verse in the Katha-Upanishad – 1.3.14. Maugham had visited India in 1938 and met Ramana Maharishi at his ashram
Sri Ramana Ashram
Sri Ramana Ashram also known as Sri Ramanasramam is the ashram, which was home to modern sage and Advaita Vedanta philosopher, Ramana Maharishi from 1922 till his death here in 1950...
in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
.