Nechiketa and the Truth of Existance After Death
An exploration of the katho Upnishad for the modern seeker.
One of the most profound inquiries in human history is not about how to live ,but about what happens after we die. The Indian philosophy ,these question is embodied in the story of a young boy named Nechiketa .His story ,told in the Katho upnished ,,is not a myth about death ,but a timeless investigation into immortality.
The Katho Upnishad belongs to the Krishna Yajurveda and is considered one of the principal Upnidhad .The central characters are Nechiketa ,a boy of unwavering resolve ,and Yama ,the Lord of Death himself .
The story :A Question Born of Truth .
The story begins with the sage Vajashravasa ,who performs a great Sacrifice called Vishvjit ,in which he must give away all his possessions . But he gives away old barren cows ,that are of no use .Seeing this hypocrisy ,his young son Nechiketa is troubled . He asked his father,” To whom will you give me ?..
Enraged by the repeated questioning ,his father flurried out ,”Mrityuave tvm dadami iti.”-“I give you to death.”
Taking his father’s words as sacred command,Nechiketa goes to the abode of Yama .Yama is away and Nechiketa waits for three days and three nights without food and water at his doorsteps . When Yama returns ,he is ashamed that a Brahmn guest had to wait .To atone ,he offers Nechiketa three boons .
The first Boon – Nechiketa asks for is that his father be pacified and not be angry when he returns ,Yama grants it .
The second boon -he asks for the knowledge of the fire sacrifice that leads to heaven-the Nechiketa Agni . Yama grants it and declare that the fire henceforth be known by Nechiketa’s name .
For the third boon asks the ultimate question :
” yeyam prete vichikitsa manushye astityeke nayam astiti chaike ,etod vidyam anuskishtas tvayaham esha varas tritiyah”.
Their this is doubt about a man when he is dead -some says he exists ,other say he does not .This I should like to know ,taught by you .This is the third of my boons.
Yama ‘s Test and Nechiketa’s Determination;
Yama is taken aback .This is not a question about rituals or heaven.This is the secret of existence itself ,a mystery even the gods pondered . Yama tries to dissuade him.He offers him everything a human could desire in its place -son and grandsons who will live a hundred years,vast herds of cattle.elephants,gold and horses,great kingdoms and celestial nymphs of unsurpassed beauty to serve him.He says,”Ask for all these ,but do not ask about death.”
But Nechiketa refuses .His reply is one of all the most powerful statements of dispassion ever written .
These pleasures are fleeting ,O Yama – .They wear out the vigor of the senses .Even the longest life is short ,keep your chariots . Your songs and dances . Man cannot be satisfied with wealth .When we have seen your face ,how can we desire to live long ?The boon I have asked is the only boon I desire .
Pleased by his maturity in such a young boy ,Yama agrees to teach him .
YAMA TEACHING :The State After Death .
The Yama teaching does not begin with death ,but with life .He explains that two paths lie before humanity.
The first is Shreya ,the good ,the path of wisdom and liberation .The second is Preya ,the pleasant ,the path of immediate gratification and worldly pleasure .The ignorant chooses Preya,while the wise chooses Shreya .Those who choose Preya go round and round in the cycle of birth and death .
yama then reveals the core truth about the state after death .
- The self Never dies :Yama declares that the true self ,the Atman ,is never born and never dies .
“Na jayete mriyate va vipashchit “
The wise self is not born,nor does it die.It is unborn,eternal ,everlasting and ancient . It is not slain when the body is slain .
What does is the physical body ,the Annaneya Kosha .When continues is the subtle being,Death is not an end ,but the discarding of a worn-out garment .
2. The journey of the Subtle Body .After the death of the physical body , the individual does not immediately merge with the Supreme .The Atman ,along with the mind,senses and the accumulated impressions of karma,leaves the body through an aperture at the crown of the head or an through other outlets,according to one’s life and thoughts .
Yama explains with a beautiful metaphor of chariot:
The Atman is the master of the chariot,the body is the chariot itself ,the intellect (Buddhi ) is the charioteer,the mind (manas) is the reins,the senses are the horses and the objects of senses are the roads .If the charioteer is not wise and the journey leads to repeated birth .If the charioteer is wise ,the journey leads to the Supreme destination from which there is no return.
3. What Determines the After Death State :
The state after death is not arbitrary punishment of reward.It is the natural continuation of the state of consciousness cultivated during life .
Yama says that as is one’s desire,so is one’s will,as is the one’s will,so is one’s deed,as is one’s deed,so is one’s destiny.Those whose minds are attached to worldly desires are reborn in the world of action to fulfill them.Those who have performed meritorious rituals but still desire heavenly pleasures attain the realm of the ancestors (Pitriloka ) and enjoy celestial pleasures until their merit is exhausted ,after which they return to earth .
But those who have realized the self ,who have known ‘Atman Brahmasmi”.I am brhm are liberated .For them ,there is no coming or going .
” yda serve pramuchyante kama yesya hridi shritah,atha martyo amrito bhvti atra brahma samashnute “.
When all desires that dwell in the heart are cast away ,then the mortal becomes immortal and attains Brahmn even here in this life ,thus the highest state after death ,but state of consciousness -Moksha ,Liberation .It is not going to heaven ,but freedom from the need to go anywhere .
4.The two concepts of immortality :
Yama makes a subtle distinction,The heaven attained by sacrifices is also called immortality in the veda’s but is relative immortality -long life in higher realm .True immortality is the realization of the Atman as one with Brhmn ,the unchanging after death ,it is to be realized before death.The knower of Atman becomes immortal while still living a Jivanmukta .
Relevance for today –
Nechiketa’s question is more relevant to day then ever .In an age of material science that can explain the body but not consciousness ,his inquiry reminds us that we are not human beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual being having a human experience .
The teaching of Yama gives us three practical insights :
First -It removes the fear of death ,fear arises from identifying with the body.When we know we are the eternal Atman ,death becomes a door away not a wall .
second-It makes us responsible .Our after death condition is not decided by a judge outside ,but shaped by the choices we make every day.Every thought and action is a seed for the next journey .
Third-It gives us ultimate hope,The katha Upnishad concludes that this secret knowledge ,taught by Death to Nechiketa .when heard and contemplated, leads one to liberation.Any one Any who has the courage of Michekta-the courage to prefer truth over comfort-can realized .it .
In the end Yama did not give Nechiketa a description of a ghostly world he gave him the knowledge of the self .For the Upnishadas,the answer to,What happens after daeth?is found only by answering”Who I am,I before death ?.
madan lal sharma
website-http://thegodweknow.com