Katha Upanishad

1. Part 1.1

   1.1.1A man named Vajasravasa, hoping for rewards in heaven, held a ritual where he promised to give away everything he owned. He had a son named Nachiketas.
2. 1.1.2While the gifts were being handed to the priests, the boy Nachiketas was filled with deep faith and began to think hard about what he saw.
3. 1.1.3Nachiketas thinks that giving away old, worn-out cows that can no longer eat, drink or give milk brings no blessing. Such a gift is empty and does no good.
4. 1.1.4Since his father had promised to give away everything, Nachiketas asks him three times, 'To whom will you give me?' His father angrily answers, 'I give you to Death.'
5. 1.1.5Nachiketas reflects that he is neither the first nor the last to die. He wonders what Yama, the god of death, will do with him.
6. 1.1.6Nachiketas says to look at those who lived before and those who will come after. People grow old and die like grain, and like grain they are born again.
7. 1.1.7Nachiketas arrives at Death's house and waits there. Voices remind Yama (here called Vaivasvata, son of the Sun) that a holy guest is like a fire in the home and must be welcomed with water and kindness.
8. 1.1.8Yama's servants warn him that a priestly guest left without food in a careless host's house brings ruin. The host loses his hopes, his wealth, his good deeds, his children and his cattle.
9. 1.1.9Yama, the god of death, comes home and apologizes to the boy Nachiketas. Because Nachiketas waited three nights in his house without food, Yama offers him three wishes.
10. 1.1.10For his first wish, Nachiketas asks that his father, Gautama, calm down and stop being angry with him. He wants his father to recognize him and welcome him warmly when Death sends him back home.
11. 1.1.11Yama grants the first wish. Nachiketas's father, also called Auddalaki Aruni, will know his son and love him as before. He will sleep peacefully, free of anger, once he sees his son come back alive from death.
12. 1.1.12Nachiketas describes heaven. There is no fear there, no death and no worry about growing old. People there are free of hunger, thirst and sorrow, and they are happy.
13. 1.1.13For his second wish, Nachiketas asks Death to teach him the fire ritual that leads to heaven. He says he truly has faith. He has heard that those in heaven do not die.
14. 1.1.14Yama agrees to teach the fire ritual. He tells Nachiketas that understanding it leads to endless worlds. It is their firm foundation, though it is hidden and hard to see.
15. 1.1.15Yama explains the fire ritual: what bricks to use for the altar, how many, and how to lay them. Nachiketas repeats it all back correctly. This pleases Death, also called Mrityu.
16. 1.1.16Pleased, the generous Yama gives Nachiketas an extra gift. The fire ritual will be named after him, and he also receives a colorful necklace.
17. 1.1.17Yama says that a person who does this Nachiketas ritual three times rises above birth and death. That person must also stay close to father, mother and teacher, and do three duties: study, worship and giving to others. Whoever truly understands this sacred fire finds lasting peace.
18. 1.1.18Yama says that whoever knows and performs the threefold Nachiketas fire ritual breaks free from death's grip. That person is happy in heaven, beyond the reach of grief.
19. 1.1.19Yama tells Nachiketas that this heaven-leading fire is now his, as his second wish. People everywhere will call it by his name. Then Yama asks him to choose his third wish.
20. 1.1.20For his third wish, Nachiketas asks what happens when a person dies. Some say the person still exists and others say they do not. He wants Death himself to teach him the truth.
21. 1.1.21Death tries to avoid the question. He says even the gods once doubted this and it is very hard to understand. He asks Nachiketas to pick a different wish.
22. 1.1.22Nachiketas refuses to back down. If even the gods were unsure, and if no teacher could explain it better than Death himself, then no other wish could be as valuable.
23. 1.1.23Death tries to tempt Nachiketas with other gifts. He offers children and grandchildren who live a hundred years, cattle, elephants, gold, horses, a great kingdom, and as long a life as he wants.
24. 1.1.24Death keeps offering. Nachiketas can have wealth and long life, rule the whole earth, and enjoy everything he desires, if only he picks something else.
25. 1.1.25Death offers even rare pleasures no human can get, like beautiful women with chariots and music to serve him. He only asks that Nachiketas stop asking about death.
26. 1.1.26Nachiketas answers that these pleasures only last a short while and they wear out a person's strength. Even a whole lifetime is short. He tells Death to keep his horses, dancing and songs.
27. 1.1.27Nachiketas says money cannot make anyone truly happy. Riches mean little when death is always coming. He will only accept the wish he already chose: to know what happens after death.
28. 1.1.28Nachiketas asks Death a question. Who would want a long life full of beauty and love, once he has met the gods who never grow old? Every human body slowly wears out.
29. 1.1.29Nachiketas will not take any other gift. He wants Death to explain what happens after we die, the question people argue about. He wants to know the hidden truth.

30. Part 1.2

    1.2.1Death (Yama) begins teaching. What is good for us and what feels pleasant are two different things, and both pull at us. Choosing the good goes well, but choosing only the pleasant makes a person miss life's true goal.
31. 1.2.2Both the good and the pleasant come to every person. A wise person looks at them carefully, tells them apart, and picks the good. A foolish person picks the pleasant because he is greedy.
32. 1.2.3Death praises Nachiketas. He thought about every pleasure he was offered and turned them all down. He did not take the road of chasing wealth, where many people are ruined.
33. 1.2.4Not knowing the truth and real wisdom are two very different roads that lead to different places. Death sees that Nachiketas truly wants wisdom, because all those pleasures could not pull him away.
34. 1.2.5Some foolish people think they are clever and are proud of what they know. In fact they wander lost, like blind people being led by other blind people.
35. 1.2.6A careless person dazzled by money never thinks about life after death. He thinks this world is all there is. Because of that, Death says, he falls into Death's power again and again.
36. 1.2.7Many people never even hear about the Self, the true inner being in each of us. Many who hear about it still do not understand. A person who can teach it is rare and wonderful, and so is a person who understands it.
37. 1.2.8If a poor teacher explains the Self, it is hard to grasp, even if you think about it a lot. You need a real teacher to show the way, because the Self is finer than the smallest thing.
38. 1.2.9This truth cannot be reached by arguing. When a true teacher explains it, it becomes easy to understand. Death tells Nachiketas he has received it and praises his firm determination, wishing for more students like him.
39. 1.2.10Nachiketas says he knows riches do not last, and things that pass away cannot buy what lasts forever. He performed the fire ritual named after him, and by using passing things that way he gained the lasting teaching of Yama.
40. 1.2.11Yama says Nachiketas was shown every wish come true, great rewards, a place without fear, and lasting rest. Yet, being wise, he firmly put all of it aside.
41. 1.2.12God, the ancient one, is hidden deep inside us, like something in a dark cave, and is hard to see. A wise person who finds God through meditation on the inner Self leaves both joy and sorrow far behind.
42. 1.2.13A person who hears this teaching, takes it to heart, and sees the subtle inner Being apart from all outer qualities, feels true joy. Yama believes the door to Brahman, the highest reality, is open to Nachiketas.
43. 1.2.14Nachiketas asks Yama to tell him about the reality that is beyond everything: beyond this and that, beyond cause and effect, beyond past and future.
44. 1.2.15Yama answers briefly. The word all the holy books (the Vedas) speak of, which all spiritual effort aims at, and which students long for, is Om.
45. 1.2.16The syllable Om never perishes, and it stands for Brahman, the highest reality. Whoever truly knows Om gains whatever he wishes for.
46. 1.2.17Om is the best and highest support to lean on. Whoever knows this support is honored in the world of Brahma, the creator god.
47. 1.2.18The Self, the knowing presence inside us, is never born and never dies. It has no beginning and lasts forever. When the body is killed, the Self is not killed.
48. 1.2.19Yama, the god of death, teaches the boy Nachiketas that the true Self can never kill or be killed. A person who thinks they are the killer, or the one killed, does not understand what they really are.
49. 1.2.20The Self, your deepest being, is tinier than the tiniest thing and bigger than the biggest, and it lives hidden in the heart. A person who has let go of craving and sorrow can see its greatness, as a gift from the Creator.
50. 1.2.21The Self sits still yet travels far, and lies down yet goes everywhere. Yama asks who but someone like himself can truly know this God, who is both joyful and beyond joy.
51. 1.2.22A wise person knows the Self has no body, even though it lives inside bodies. It never changes while everything around it changes, and it is everywhere. Knowing this, that person never grieves.
52. 1.2.23You cannot reach the Self just by studying the Vedas (holy texts), by being clever, or by learning a lot. The Self reveals itself to the person it chooses and makes that person its own.
53. 1.2.24A person who has not first stopped doing wrong, who is not calm and self-controlled, and whose mind is restless, cannot reach the Self, even with knowledge.
54. 1.2.25Yama asks who can really know where this Great One is. To him, even priests and warriors are like food, and death itself is just a spice added to the meal.

55. Part 1.3

    1.3.1Two selves live in the cave of the heart: the individual self, who tastes the results of its own actions, and the highest Self. Those who know Brahman (the ultimate reality), and people who do the special Nachiketa fire ritual three times, call them shadow and light.
56. 1.3.2This is a prayer: may we master the Nachiketa fire ritual, a bridge for those who make offerings, and also come to know the highest, never-ending Brahman, which carries seekers to the shore where there is no fear.
57. 1.3.3Think of yourself like a chariot ride: your true Self is the passenger, your body is the chariot, your thinking mind (buddhi, the power to decide) is the driver, and your everyday mind is the reins.
58. 1.3.4In this picture, your senses are the horses, and the things they want are the roads they run on. When the Self is joined with body, senses and mind, the wise call it the one who experiences and enjoys.
59. 1.3.5If a person lacks good judgment and never holds their mind firmly, their senses run wild, like unruly horses that the driver cannot control.
60. 1.3.6But if a person has good judgment and always holds their mind steady, their senses obey, like well-trained horses obey a good driver.
61. 1.3.7A person without good judgment, who is careless and impure, never reaches the goal. Instead they keep being born again and again.
62. 1.3.8But a person with good judgment, who is careful and pure, reaches the goal, and from there they are never born again.
63. 1.3.9A person who lets wisdom drive and keeps a firm hold on the mind reaches the end of the journey, the highest home of Vishnu (God).
64. 1.3.10There is a ladder of what is deeper: beyond the senses are the things they sense, beyond those is the mind, beyond the mind is the intellect, and beyond the intellect is the Great Self.
65. 1.3.11Beyond the Great Self is the Unmanifest (the hidden source of the world), and beyond that is the Purusha, the Supreme Person. Nothing is beyond the Purusha; it is the final goal.
66. 1.3.12The Self is hidden in every living being and does not show itself openly. But people with a sharp, refined mind can see it.
67. 1.3.13A wise person should quiet their speech into the mind, the mind into the intellect, the intellect into the Great Self, and that into the Self which is perfect peace.
68. 1.3.14Wake up and get moving! You have been given great gifts, so learn to understand them. The wise say the path to finding your true Self is as hard to walk as the sharp edge of a razor.
69. 1.3.15The true Self cannot be heard, touched, seen, tasted or smelled. It never ages, never began and never ends. A person who comes to know it is set free from the grip of death.
70. 1.3.16A wise person who tells or hears this old story of Nachiketas, the boy who was taught by Death, is honored in the world of Brahman, the highest reality.
71. 1.3.17Whoever recites this deep teaching to a gathering of priests, or with devotion during the Shraddha, the ceremony honoring dead ancestors, gains endless rewards.

72. Part 2.1

    2.1.1Death, still teaching the boy Nachiketas, says the Creator made our senses point outward, so people look out at the world instead of inward. But a wise person who wanted to live forever closed his eyes, looked within, and saw the true Self.
73. 2.1.2Foolish people chase outside pleasures and get caught in the trap of death. Wise people know what lasts forever, so they do not look for anything lasting in this changing world.
74. 2.1.3The same inner Self that lets us see, taste, smell, hear and feel touch is what knows everything else too. Death tells Nachiketas this is the answer he asked for.
75. 2.1.4The one who sees and knows things, whether we are awake or dreaming, is the great Self that is everywhere. A wise person who understands this stops grieving.
76. 2.1.5The living soul that enjoys life's experiences is the true Self. It is always close by and rules over past and future. Whoever knows this is no longer afraid.
77. 2.1.6The Self is the first being that came out of the creative heat, even before water existed. It lives in the heart and shows itself through the world's elements. This is the Self Death is describing.
78. 2.1.7The Self is also Aditi, the mother of the gods, who holds all the gods within her. She comes forth with the breath of life, lives in the heart and appears through the elements. This too is that Self.
79. 2.1.8Agni, the fire god who sees everything, hides in the two sticks rubbed together to make fire, guarded like a baby in its mother's womb. People worship it every morning with offerings. This fire is also that Self.
80. 2.1.9The place the sun rises from and sets into holds all the gods, and nothing goes beyond it. That is the Self.
81. 2.1.10What we see in this world is the same as Brahman, the unseen highest reality, and Brahman is the same as this world. Whoever thinks they are separate keeps going from one death to another.
82. 2.1.11Brahman can be reached through a focused mind, and then you see no difference at all between things. Whoever keeps seeing separation goes from death to death.
83. 2.1.12The inner Person, said to be the size of a thumb, lives in the middle of the body. It rules past and future. Whoever knows it no longer fears.
84. 2.1.13This thumb-sized inner Person is like a clean flame with no smoke. It rules past and future, and it stays the same today and tomorrow.
85. 2.1.14Rain falling on a mountain top runs off in every direction. In the same way, a person who sees everything as separate keeps running after many different things.
86. 2.1.15Pure water poured into pure water becomes one and stays pure. Death tells Nachiketas, whom he calls Gautama after his family, that the Self of a wise knower becomes one with the highest reality in the same way.

87. Part 2.2

    2.2.1The body is like a town with eleven gates, the body's openings, where Brahman, the Unborn, lives. Brahman's thinking is never crooked. Whoever turns to it stops grieving and becomes truly free.
88. 2.2.2Death, teaching the boy Nachiketas, says that Brahman (the one ultimate reality) is present everywhere. It is the sun in the sky, the air, the fire on the hearth, and the holy drink in the ritual jar. It lives in people, in gods, in heaven, in water, on earth and on mountains. It is the True and the Great.
89. 2.2.3Brahman is what makes us breathe in and breathe out. It sits at the center of the body, and all our senses serve it like worshippers.
90. 2.2.4When the Self that lives in the body leaves it at death, what is left behind? Only the lifeless body. The Self was what truly mattered.
91. 2.2.5We are not kept alive only by breathing in and out. We live because of something deeper, the Self, which the breath itself depends on.
92. 2.2.6Death says to Nachiketas (here called Gautama, his family name) that he will now explain the ancient secret of Brahman and what happens to a person after death.
93. 2.2.7After death, some beings are born again into a new body, and others become things like plants or stones. Where they go depends on what they did and what they understood in life.
94. 2.2.8The highest Being stays awake inside us even while we sleep and creates our dreams. That is Brahman, the Immortal. All worlds rest in it, and nothing goes beyond it.
95. 2.2.9Fire is one thing, but it takes different shapes depending on what it burns. In the same way, the one Self lives in all things and looks different in each, yet it is also beyond them all.
96. 2.2.10Air is one, but it takes the shape of whatever it fills. In the same way, the one Self lives inside every being and seems different in each, yet it also stays beyond them.
97. 2.2.11The sun lights up dirty things but does not become dirty. In the same way, the Self inside everyone is never stained by the world's suffering, because it stands apart from it.
98. 2.2.12There is one ruler, the Self inside all things, who shows up in many forms. Those who find this Self inside themselves have lasting happiness; others do not.
99. 2.2.13There is one eternal knower behind all our passing thoughts, and it answers the wishes of many beings. Those who find it inside themselves have lasting peace; others do not.
100. 2.2.14The wise sense the highest joy, which words cannot describe, and simply say, "This is that." Nachiketas asks how he can understand it: does it shine by its own light, or does it reflect another light?
101. 2.2.15Death answers that the sun, moon, stars, lightning and fire cannot light up Brahman. Instead, Brahman is the light that makes all these shine.

102. Part 2.3

     2.3.1The world is like an ancient tree that grows upside down: its roots are above in Brahman and its branches spread down into the world. That root is Brahman, the Immortal, which holds all worlds, and nothing goes beyond it.
103. 2.3.2Everything in the world came out of Brahman and moves by its breath. Brahman is awesome and frightening, like a raised sword. Those who know it become immortal.
104. 2.3.3Because of the awe of Brahman, fire burns and the sun shines. The gods Indra (king of the gods) and Vayu (the wind), and even Death itself, rush to do their jobs out of that same awe.
105. 2.3.4If a person does not come to know Brahman before their body dies, they must be born again into another body.
106. 2.3.5In this human life, Brahman can be seen clearly, like a face in a mirror. In other worlds it is seen less clearly: blurry like a dream in the world of the ancestors, shaky like a reflection in water in the world of heavenly singers, and only in the world of Brahma (the creator god) as clear as light is from shade.
107. 2.3.6A wise person sees that the senses are separate from the true Self. Waking and sleeping belong to the senses, not to the Self. Knowing this, the wise person grieves no more.
108. 2.3.7Death, the teacher, lists layers from outer to inner. The mind is deeper than the senses. Deeper than the mind is the first created Being, then the Great Self, and deeper still is the Undeveloped, the hidden root of the world.
109. 2.3.8Beyond even the Undeveloped is the Person, the true Self. It is everywhere, yet no one can see it. Anyone who comes to know this Self is set free and does not die.
110. 2.3.9No one can see the Self with their eyes, because it has no form. It is grasped through the heart, through wisdom and through the mind. Those who know it become immortal.
111. 2.3.10The highest state comes when the five senses and the mind are completely still. Even the thinking mind stops moving.
112. 2.3.11Holding the senses firmly in check is what Yoga means. A person must stay alert and careful, because this calm state can come and then slip away.
113. 2.3.12The Self cannot be reached by words, by thinking or by seeing. It can only be grasped by someone who firmly accepts that it exists.
114. 2.3.13A person first grasps the Self by accepting that it is real. That means accepting both the unseen Brahman, the ultimate reality, and the visible world that comes from it. Once a person accepts this, the Self's true nature becomes clear to them.
115. 2.3.14When all the cravings in a person's heart come to an end, that mortal person becomes immortal. They reach Brahman, the ultimate reality.
116. 2.3.15When every knot that binds the heart is cut, even while living here on earth, the mortal becomes immortal. This is the whole of the teaching.
117. 2.3.16The heart has a hundred and one channels, and one of them goes up to the top of the head. A person who leaves the body through that channel at death reaches immortality. The other channels lead in other directions.
118. 2.3.17The inner Self, said to be no bigger than a thumb, always lives in the human heart. A person should patiently separate this Self from the body in their understanding, the way one pulls the soft inner stalk out of a reed. They should know it as shining and undying.
119. 2.3.18Nachiketa, the boy who had questioned Death, received this knowledge and the whole practice of meditation. He became free from desire and death and reached Brahman. Anyone else who understands the Self this way will reach the same goal.
120. 2.3.19This is a closing prayer for teacher and student together. They ask God to protect them both, to give them strength, to make their learning bright, and to keep them from quarreling. It ends with Om and a wish for peace three times.