The Upanishads: Katha - Prashna - Mundaka

By Sri M

Katha Kathopanishad comes from the Yajurveda. It is the story of Nachiketas, son of Vajashravas, discussing the important question of Death and immortality with Yama the Lord of Death. This ancient story, mentioned in various other scriptures, is discussed in the Kathopanishad in detail. Kathopanishad is one of the ten principal Upanishads. Pras

• Language: English
• Publisher: Magenta Press & Publication Pvt Ltd
• Release date: Feb 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9789382585213

Sri M

Sri M was born in Tiruvananthapuram, Kerala. At the age of nineteen and a half, attracted by a strange and irresistible urge to go to the Himalayas, he left home. At the Vyasa Cave, beyond the Himalayan shrine of Badrinath, he met his Master and lived with him for three and a half years, wandering freely, the length and breadth of the snow clad Himalayan region. What he learnt from his Master Maheshwarnath Babaji, transformed his consciousness totally. Back in the plains, he, as instructed by his Master, lived a normal life, working for a living, fulfilling his social commitments and at the same time preparing himself to teach all that he had learnt and experienced. At a signal from his Master he entered the teaching phase of his life. Today, he travels all over the world to share his experiences and knowledge. Equally at home in the religious teachings of most major religions, Sri M, born as Mumtaz Ali Khan, often says "Go to the core. Theories are of no use" Sri M is married and has two children. He leads a simple life - teaching and heading the Satsang Foundation, a charitable concern promoting excellence in education. At present he lives in Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh, just three hours from Bangalore.

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Katha Upanishad

The Katha Upanishad, or Kathopanishad, is a part of the Yajur Veda. This beautiful Upanishad is found in the Taittiriya section of the Yajur Veda. Although the philosophical knowledge and understanding is given in clear detail in the Kathopanishad through the story of Nachiketas, it is not the first time that this particular story appears in the scriptures.

The earliest occurrence of the story of the boy Nachiketas, is in the Rig Veda, though not in detail. One can find the detailed version in the Taittiriya Brahmana. In fact, in the Anushasan Parva of the Mahabharat, there is a brief reference to it. Nachiketas questions his father, the great rishi Vaajashravasa, about a certain idea that occurs to him and then the entire Upanishad is about what happens subsequently.

It is a very old story, or katha, which has been utilized by this Upanishad so that one may understand the deeper aspects of being. In the Upanishads, what is important is not the person who is talking or the person who is listening, but the teaching. Anyone can talk to anybody, but whether the one who is talking has knowledge, and whether the one who is listening is open to it – that is the main concern of the Upanishads.

As we go along, sometimes you will find some names interchanged. You will suddenly come across someone in this Upanishad being called by a name that is someone else’s in some other Upanishad. So it is not the name that is important but the actual substance.

Let us first get an idea of what an Upanishad is and then come to the Kathopanishad. To sum up briefly, an Upanishad is what is known as the Wisdom Section, the jnaanakaanda of the Vedas. Vedas include the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads. The Upanishad appears at the end of the Vedas, as the last part. Since it comes at the end of the Vedas, it is also called veda-antah, which means the end of the Vedas. Some people have given a different meaning to this. It is said veda means to study, to read, to understand and Vedanta means once this is understood, there is nothing more to be studied. Thus again, it means end of the Vedas.

Apart from that, the word Upanishad is formed by the three syllables, upa, ni and shad. Upa means to move closer and shad means to sit down. Upa – to move closer; not just the physical proximity but also to go closer and closer to the understanding of what is being said by the rishis. It also means moving closer to the Truth. Besides, the Upanishad is not something to be read – unfortunately, that is what we are doing now – but heard. The Upanishad is part of the literature which is known as the shruthi – that which is heard. It is not something which we hear and then take with us, store it in the brain, go home, think about it and decide whether we want to understand it or not. Then it is not shruthi any more. If the mind is kept open, the moment it is said, it is understood. This is the shruthi.

The word shad means to sit. When you sit down, you are settled and you want to listen to something. When you stand up, it means you are unsettled, you may want to walk out. So when you sit down, it means that physically, you have sat down to listen. It also means that the mind has settled down. Sometimes, physically one can sit here but the mind can wander. Sit down means the mind has to also sit down and listen.

The ni that connects upa and shad is the syllable that indicates the attitude with which one is sitting. Ni indicates that the person who is listening is sitting at a lower level. However, it means that the person who is listening is sitting, not physically, but with the attitude of I have to understand. If I say, I know, then I cannot understand. If I say, I know, before examining something, then there is no examination. One cannot look into it. So I sit down saying, For the time being, let me put aside the things that I know and let me listen to what is being said. When you want to pour liquid from one vessel to another, you have to keep the other vessel below. What it means is to have an open mind and the humility to say, I don’t know. Let me listen.

If the teacher has gone deep into the subject, he or she will also have the humility to say, This is what I have understood: listen, and find out for yourself if it is true. The entire Upanishadic teaching is a dialogue. It is not as if somebody says, You hear this and you believe it. No! It says, Look into this. Follow instructions and find out for yourself and then decide what you want. This is how the Upanishad teaches.

The Katha Upanishad is one of the ten principal Upanishads. The great Adi Shankaracharya has also written a commentary on it. It is called katha because it is a story; it begins with a story. This Upanishad comes from the Yajur Veda and is one of the earlier Upanishads. Most of the Upanishads begin with an invocation. There is a meaningful invocation in this Upanishad, which is a very popular one, chanted in many schools and religious institutions. It is:

Aum saha naav avatu

saha nau bhunaktu

saha veeryam karavaavahai

tejasvi nav adheetam astu

maa vidvishaavahai

Aum shantih shantih shantih

"May that Supreme Being protect both of us;

May that Supreme Being be pleased with both of us;

May we both work together with vigour;

May our study make us both illumined;

Let there be no misunderstanding between us.

Aum peace! Peace! Peace!"

During the Upanishadic teaching, when the teacher and student sit down together, neither is more important than the other. The prayer is for them both: May that Supreme Being protect both of us, "May He be pleased with both of us. May we work together with veeryam (vigour)."

One needs energy and vigour to do any work. This is one of the questions that Nachiketas asks his father, in the course of the Upanishad. He asks his father, who was gifting decrepit cows which had no strength, Why are you giving away these feeble cows for sacrifice? There is nothing in them. Give away something that has energy.

May we work together with energy and vitality. May our study and understanding make us illumined. The teacher says, I am getting illumined by the teaching. So also is the student. This is mutual understanding and co-operation. Without such involvement, the Upanishad cannot be understood.

I say this because I go for talks and sometimes, a question is not asked as a question; it is more an argument. Or, someone tries to tell us what he knows, or we try to oppose him with what we think is right. The Upanishad cannot be studied that way.

It has to be studied with an understanding that the chief import of the Upanishad must be the search for the Truth. That is why in the Upanishads, the person who looks for the Truth is called satya kaama. In the Chandogya Upanishad, you will read about Satyakaama Jabala, whose name Satyakaama means he who has but one ‘desire’ or (kaama), which is to find the ‘truth’ (satya); nothing else is important to him.

Then: Aum shantih shantih shantih – Aum Peace! Peace! Peace! Ultimately, peace is what we need. If the study of the Upanishad does not bring peace, then it is better to wind up such a study. Ultimately whatever you have, if there is no peace, it means nothing.

So this shantimantra talks about the equal importance of the teacher as well as the student, or, the speaker as well as the listener and how both the teacher and the taught are to be protected and sustained. They have to work together to understand the Truth and there need be no dislike between the two. This is the essential message of the Upanishad.; It says, Listen to what is being said, so that there is no disagreement between the two. The Upanishadic exercise is not one of argumentation but one of discussion and understanding.

All that have been stated here are not my words. I am only translating what has been said in the Upanishad, which is the shruthi, which is the original scripture of this ancient land;. We now begin the Katha Upanishad with a story.

Part 1: CHAPTER 1

SHLOKA 1

ushan ha vai vaajashravasah sarva vedasam dadau

tasya ha nachiketaa naama putra aasa

The sage, Vaajashravasa, desirous of heaven, performed a sacrifice in which he gave away all his possessions. He had a son called Nachiketas.

The story goes that the sage Vaajashravasa desired heaven and for this he performed the Vishvajit sacrifice to win the entire universe. He gave away everything so that he could attain the svarga loka – heaven. This is our usual behaviour. We are ready to give up everything as long as we achieve our aim in life. So Vaajashravasa was also ready to do that. Performing that sacrifice, he gave away all that he possessed.

He had a son called Nachiketas. The word nachiketa is interesting. It means one who does not understand, and therefore wants to understand. But Vaajashravasa feels that he has understood everything: he knows what he wants to get and he is giving away everything for that. Here is the son, still young, and with an open mind who does not understand and therefore wants to understand the Truth.

The son watches his father giving everything away in sacrifice in order to attain svarga loka.

SHLOKA 2

tam ha kumaaram santam dakshinaasu niiyamaanaasu

shraddhaa vivesha sah manyata

"When the gifts were being given away to the priests, shraddhaa entered into the heart of the young boy, and he thought"

What does shraddhaa mean? It has been loosely translated as faith. shraddhaa means all these things put together: faith in one’s self, one-pointedness, total attention to the real as opposed to the unreal, to the true as opposed to the hypocritical. That shraddhaa, for understanding the Truth, entered the heart of the young boy Nachiketas.

Although he was just a boy, as he looked at the cows that were being given away as gifts to the priests who had come to conduct the sacrifice, a thought entered his mind:

SHLOKA 3

peetodakaa jagdha trinaa dugdha dohaa nirindriyaah

anandaa naama te lokaas taan sa gacchata taa