* I THE KATHA-UPANISHAD -1st ADHYÂYA- VALLÎ 1-3

[Anne Terri]

God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - The Upanishads

p. 1
KATHA-UPANISHAD
FIRST ADHYÂYA
FIRST VALLÎ

1. VÂGASRAVASA 1, desirous (of heavenly rewards), surrendered (at a sacrifice) all that he possessed. He had a son of the name of Nakiketas.

2. When the (promised) presents were being given (to the priests), faith entered into the heart of Nakiketas, who was still a boy, and he thought:

3. 'Unblessed 2, surely, are the worlds to which a man goes by giving (as his promised present at a sacrifice) cows which have drunk water, eaten hay, given their milk 3, and are barren.'

4. He (knowing that his father had promised to give up all that he possessed, and therefore his son also) said to his father: 'Dear father, to whom wilt thou give me?'

p. 2

He said it a second and a third time. Then the father replied (angrily):

'I shall give thee 1 unto Death.'

(The father, having once said so, though in haste, had to be true to his word and to sacrifice his son.)

5. The son said: 'I go as the first, at the head of many (who have still to die); I go in the midst of many (who are now dying). What will be the work of Yama (the ruler of the departed) which to-day he has to do unto me 2?

p. 3

6. 'Look back how it was with those who came before, look forward how it will be with those who come hereafter. A mortal ripens like corn, like corn he springs up again 1.'



(Nakiketas enters into the abode of Yama Vaivasvata, and there is no one to receive him. Thereupon one of the attendants of Yama is supposed to say:)

7. 'Fire enters into the houses, when a Brâhmana enters as a guest 2. That fire is quenched by this peace-offering;--bring water, O Vaivasvata 3!

8. 'A Brâhmana that dwells in the house of a foolish man without receiving food to eat, destroys his hopes and expectations, his possessions, his righteousness, his sacred and his good deeds, and all his sons and cattle 4.'

(Yama, returning to his house after an absence of three nights, during which time Nakiketas had received no hospitality from him, says:)

9. 'O Brâhmana, as thou, a venerable guest, hast dwelt in my house three nights without eating,

p. 4

therefore choose now three boons. Hail to thee! and welfare to me!'

10. Nakiketas said: 'O Death, as the first of the three boons I choose that Gautama, my father, be pacified, kind, and free from anger towards me; and that he may know me and greet me, when I shall have been dismissed by thee.'

11. Yama said: 'Through my favour Auddâlaki Âruni, thy father, will know thee, and be again towards thee as he was before. He shall sleep peacefully through the night, and free from anger, after having seen thee freed from the mouth of death.'

12. Nakiketas said: 'In the heaven-world there is no fear; thou art not there, O Death, and no one is afraid on account of old age. Leaving behind both hunger and thirst, and out of the reach of sorrow, all rejoice in the world of heaven.'

13. 'Thou knowest, O Death, the fire-sacrifice which leads us to heaven; tell it to me, for I am full of faith. Those who live in the heaven-world reach immortality,--this I ask as my second boon.'

14. Yama said: 'I tell it thee, learn it from me, and when thou understandest that fire-sacrifice which leads to heaven, know, O Nakiketas, that it is the attainment of the endless worlds, and their firm support, hidden in darkness 1.'

15. Yama then told him that fire-sacrifice, the beginning of all the worlds 2, and what bricks are

p. 5

required for the altar, and how many, and how they are to be placed. And Nakiketas repeated all as it had been told to him. Then Mrityu, being pleased with him, said again:

16. The generous 1, being satisfied, said to him:

I give thee now another boon; that fire-sacrifice shall be named after thee, take also this many-coloured chain 2.'

17. 'He who has three times performed this Nâkiketa rite, and has been united with the three (father, mother, and teacher), and has performed the three duties (study, sacrifice, almsgiving) overcomes birth and death. When he has learnt and understood this fire, which knows (or makes us know) all that is born of Brahman 3, which is venerable and divine, then he obtains everlasting peace.'

18. 'He who knows the three Nâkiketa fires, and knowing the three, piles up the Nâkiketa sacrifice, he, having first thrown off the chains of death, rejoices in the world of heaven, beyond the reach of grief.'

19. 'This, O Nakiketas, is thy fire which leads to heaven, and which thou hast chosen as thy second boon. That fire all men will proclaim 4. Choose now, O Nakiketas, thy third boon.'

20. Nakiketas said: 'There is that doubt, when a man is dead,--some saying, he is; others, he is not. This I should like to know, taught by thee; this is the third of my boons.'

21. Death said: 'On this point even the gods

p. 6

have doubted formerly; it is not easy to understand. That subject is subtle. Choose another boon, O Nakiketas, do not press me, and let me off that boon.'

22. Nakiketas said: 'On this point even the gods have doubted indeed, and thou, Death, hast declared it to be not easy to understand, and another teacher like thee is not to be found:--surely no other boon is like unto this.'

23. Death said: 'Choose sons and grandsons who shall live a hundred years, herds of cattle, elephants, gold, and horses. Choose the wide abode of the earth, and live thyself as many harvests as thou desirest.'

24. 'If you can think of any boon equal to that, choose wealth, and long life. Be (king), Nakiketas, on the wide earth 1. I make thee the enjoyer of all desires.'

25. 'Whatever desires are difficult to attain among mortals, ask for them according to thy wish;--these fair maidens with their chariots and musical instruments,--such are indeed not to be obtained by men,--be waited on by them whom I give to thee, but do not ask me about dying.'

26. Nakiketas said: 'These things last till tomorrow, O Death, for they wear out this vigour of all the senses. Even the whole of life is short. Keep thou thy horses, keep dance and song for thyself.'

27. 'No man can be made happy by wealth. Shall we possess wealth, when we see thee? Shall we live,

p. 7

as long as thou rulest? Only that boon (which I have chosen) is to be chosen by me.'

28. 'What mortal, slowly decaying here below, and knowing, after having approached them, the freedom from decay enjoyed by the immortals, would delight in a long life, after he has pondered on the pleasures which arise from beauty and love 1?'

29. 'No, that on which there is this doubt, O Death, tell us what there is in that great Hereafter. Nakiketas does not choose another boon but that which enters into the hidden world.'

---

Footnotes

1:1 Vâgasravasa is called Âruni Auddâlaki Gautama, the father of Nakiketas. The father of Svetaketu, another enlightened pupil (see Khând. Up. VI, 1, 1), is also called Âruni (Uddâlaka, comm. Kaush. Up. I, x) Gautama. Svetaketu himself is called Âruneya, i.e. the son of Âruni, the grandson of Âruna, and likewise Auddâlaki. Auddâlaki is a son of Uddâlaka, but Sa?kara (Kâth. Up. I, 11) takes Auddâlaki as possibly the same as Uddâlaka. See Brih. Âr. Up. III, 6, 1.

1:2 As to @änanda@, unblessed, see Brih. Âr. Up. IV, 4, 11; Vâgas. Samh. Up. 3 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. i, p. 310.

1:3 Ânandagiri explains that the cows meant here are cows no longer able to drink, to eat, to give milk, and to calve.

2:1 Dadâmi, I give, with the meaning of the future. Some MSS. write dâsyâmi.

2:2 I translate these verses freely, i.e. independently of the commentator, not that I ever despise the traditional interpretation which the commentators have preserved to us, but because I think that, after having examined it, we have a right to judge for ourselves. Sa?kara says that the son, having been addressed by his father full of anger, was sad, and said to himself: 'Among many pupils I am the first, among many middling pupils I am the middlemost, but nowhere am I the last. Yet though I am such a good pupil, my father has said that he will consign me unto death. What duty has he to fulfil toward Yama which he means to fulfil to-day by giving me to him? There may be no duty, he may only have spoken in haste. Yet a father's word must not be broken.' Having considered this, the son comforted his father, and exhorted him to behave like his forefathers, and to keep his word. I do not think this view of Sa?kara's could have been the view of the old poet. He might have made the son say that he was the best or one of the best of his father's pupils, but hardly that he was also one of his middling pupils, thus implying that he never was among the worst. That would be out of keeping with the character of Nakiketas, as drawn by the poet himself. Nakiketas is full of faith and wishes to die, he would be the last to think of excuses why he should not die. The second half of the verse may be more doubtful. It may mean what Sa?kara thinks it means, only that we should get thus again an implied complaint of Nakiketas against his father, and this is not in keeping with his character. The mind of Nakiketas is bent on what is to come, on what he will see after death, and on what Yama will do unto him. 'What has Yama to do,' he asks, 'what can he do, what is it that he will to-day do unto p. 3 me?' This seems to me consistent with the tenor of the ancient story, while Sa?kara's interpretations and interpolations savour too much of the middle ages of India.

3:1 Sasyâ, corn rather than grass; , ? Benfey; Welsh haidd, according to Rhys; different from sash-pa, ces-pes, Benfey.

3:2 Cf. Vasishtha XI, 13; Sacred Books of the East, vol. xiv, p. 51.

3:3 Vaivasvata, a name of Yama, the ruler of the departed. Water is the first gift to be offered to a stranger who claims hospitality.

3:4 Here again some words are translated differently from Sa?kara. He explains âsâ as asking for a wished-for object, pratikshâ as looking forward with a view to obtaining an unknown object. Sa?gata he takes as reward for intercourse with good people; sûnritâ, as usual, as good and kind speech; ishta as rewards for sacrifices; pûrta as rewards for public benefits.

4:1 The commentator translates: 'I tell it thee, attend to me who knows the heavenly fire.' Here the nom. sing. of the participle would be very irregular, as we can hardly refer it to bravîmi. Then, 'Know this fire as a means of obtaining the heavenly world, know that fire as the rest or support of the world, when it assumes the form of Virâg, and as hidden in the heart of men.'

4:2 Sa?kara: the first embodied, in the shape of Virâg.

5:1 Verses 16-18 seem a later addition.

5:2 This arises probably from a misunderstanding of verse 11, 3.

5:3 Gâtavedas.

5:4 Tavaiva is a later addition, caused by the interpolation of verses 15-18.

6:1 Mahâbhûmau, on the great earth, has been explained also by mahâ bhûmau, be great on the earth. It is doubtful, however, whether mahi for mahin could be admitted in the Upanishads, and whether it would not be easier to write mahân bhûmau.

7:1 A very obscure verse. Sa?kara gives a various reading kva tadâsthah for kvadhahsthah, in the sense of I given to these pleasures,' which looks like an emendation. I have changed agîryatâm into agâryatâm, and take it for an acc. sing., instead of a gen. plur., which could hardly be governed by upetya.

Vol. XV THE UPANISHADS - PART II -
TRANSLATION OF THE KATHA-UPANISHAD 1
(SEBO1)Translated by F. Max Müller - 1879
God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - The Upanishads
This text is in the public domain because it was published prior to 1923

[Anne Terri]

God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - The Upanishads

p. 8
SECOND VALLÎ

1. Death said: 'The good is one thing, the pleasant another; these two, having different objects, chain a man. It is well with him who clings to the good; he who chooses the pleasant, misses his end.'

2. 'The good and the pleasant approach man: the wise goes round about them and distinguishes them. Yea, the wise prefers the good to the pleasant, but the fool chooses the pleasant through greed and avarice.'

3. 'Thou, O Nakiketas, after pondering all pleasures that are or seem delightful, hast dismissed them all. Thou hast not gone into the road 1 that leadeth to wealth, in which many men perish.'

4. 'Wide apart and leading to different points are these two, ignorance, and what is known as wisdom. I believe Nakiketas to be one who desires knowledge, for even many pleasures did not tear thee away 2.'

5. 'Fools dwelling in darkness, wise in their own conceit, and puffed up with vain knowledge, go round and round, staggering to and fro, like blind men led by the blind 3.'

6. 'The Hereafter never rises before the eyes of the careless child, deluded by the delusion of wealth. "This is the world," he thinks, "there is no other;"--thus he falls again and again under my sway.'

7. 'He (the Self) of whom many are not even able

p. 9

to hear, whom many, even when they hear of him, do not comprehend; wonderful is a man, when found, who is able to teach him (the Self); wonderful is he who comprehends him, when taught by an able teacher 1.'

8. 'That (Self), when taught by an inferior man, is not easy to be known, even though often thought upon 2; unless it be taught by another, there is no way to it, for it is inconceivably smaller than what is small 3.'

9. 'That doctrine is not to be obtained 4 by argument, but when it is declared by another, then, O dearest, it is easy to understand. Thou hast obtained it now 5; thou art truly a man of true resolve. May we have always an inquirer like thee 6!'

10. Nakiketas said: 'I know that what is called a treasure is transient, for that eternal is not obtained by things which are not eternal. Hence the Nâkiketa fire(-sacrifice) has been laid by me (first); then, by means of transient things, I have obtained what is not transient (the teaching of Yama) 7.'

11. Yama said: 'Though thou hadst seen the fulfilment of all desires, the foundation of the world, the endless rewards of good deeds, the shore where

p. 10

there is no fear, that which is magnified by praise, the wide abode, the rest 1, yet being wise thou hast with firm resolve dismissed it all.'

12. 'The wise who, by means of meditation on his Self, recognises the Ancient, who is difficult to be seen, who has entered into the dark, who is hidden in the cave, who dwells in the abyss, as God, he indeed leaves joy and sorrow far behind 2.'

13. 'A mortal who has heard this and embraced it, who has separated from it all qualities, and has thus reached the subtle Being, rejoices, because he has obtained what is a cause for rejoicing. The house (of Brahman) is open, I believe, O Nakiketas.'

14. Nakiketas said: 'That which thou seest as neither this nor that, as neither effect nor cause, as neither past nor future, tell me that.'

15. Yama said: 'That word (or place) which all the Vedas record, which all penances proclaim, which men desire when they live as religious students, that word I tell thee briefly, it is Om 3.'

16. 'That (imperishable) syllable means Brahman, that syllable means the highest (Brahman); he who knows that syllable, whatever he desires, is his.'

17. 'This is the best support, this is the highest support; he who knows that support is magnified in the world of Brahmâ.'

18. 'The knowing (Self) is not born, it dies not; it sprang from nothing, nothing sprang from it. The

p. 11

[paragraph continues] Ancient is unborn, eternal, everlasting; he is not killed, though the body is killed 1.'

19. 'If the killer thinks that he kills, if the killed thinks that he is killed, they do not understand; for this one does not kill, nor is that one killed.'

20. 'The Self 2, smaller than small, greater than great, is hidden in the heart of that creature. A man who is free from desires and free from grief, sees the majesty of the Self by the grace of the Creator 3.'

21. 'Though sitting still, he walks far; though lying down, he goes everywhere 4. Who, save myself, is able to know that God who rejoices and rejoices not?'

22. 'The wise who knows the Self as bodiless within the bodies, as unchanging among changing things, as great and omnipresent, does never grieve.'

23. 'That Self 5 cannot be gained by the Veda, nor by understanding, nor by much learning. He whom the Self chooses, by him the Self can be gained. The Self chooses him (his body) as his own.'

24. 'But he who has not first turned away from his wickedness, who is not tranquil, and subdued, or whose mind is not at rest, he can never obtain the Self (even) by knowledge!

25. 'Who then knows where He is, He to whom the Brahmans and Kshatriyas are (as it were) but food 6, and death itself a condiment?'

---

Footnotes

8:1 Cf. I, 16.

8:2 The commentator explains Laughing with Joyupantah by vikkhedam kritavantah. Some MSS. read Laughing with Joyupante and Laughing with Joyupanti, but one expects either Laughing with Joyupyante or Laughing with Joyupati.

8:3 Cf. Mund. Up. II, 8.

9:1 Cf. Bhag. Gîtâ II, 29.

9:2 Cf. Mund. Up. II, 4.

9:3 I read anupramânât. Other interpretations: If it is taught by one who is identified with the Self, then there is no uncertainty. If it has been taught as identical with ourselves, then there is no perception of anything else. If it has been taught by one who is identified with it, then there is no failure in understanding it (agati).

9:4 Âpaneyâ; should it be âpanâya, as afterwards sugñânâya?

9:5 Because you insist on my teaching it to thee.

9:6 Unless no is negative, for Yama, at first, does not like to communicate his knowledge.

9:7 The words in parentheses have been added in order to remove the otherwise contradictory character of the two lines.

10:1 Cf. Khând. Up. VII, 12, 2.

10:2 Yama seems here to propound the lower Brahman only, not yet the highest. Deva, God, can only be that as what the Old, i.e. the Self in the heart, is to be recognised. It would therefore mean, he who finds God or the Self in his heart. See afterwards, verse 21.

10:3 Cf. Svet. Up. IV, 9; Bhag. Gîtâ VIII, 11.

11:1 As to verses 18 and 19, see Bhag. Gîtâ II, 19, 20.

11:2 Cf. Svet. Up. III, 2 0; Taitt. Âr. X, 12, 1.

11:3 The commentator translates 'through the tranquillity of the senses,' i.e. dhâtuprasâdât, taking prasâda in the technical sense of samprasâda. As to kratu, desire, or rather, will, see Brih. Âr. IV, 4; 5.

11:4 Cf. Tal. Up, 5.

11:5 Cf. I, 7-9; Mund. Up. III, 2, 3; Bhag. Gîtâ I, 53.

11:6 In whom all disappears, and in whom even death is swallowed up.

Vol. XV THE UPANISHADS - PART II
TRANSLATION- THE KATHA-UPANISHAD 1 -1st ADHYÂYA- VALLÎ 2

Read more: glbresearch.proboards.com/post/new/4372#ixzz2TRfcYlfS

(SEBO1)Translated by F. Max Müller - 1879
God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - The Upanishads
This text is in the public domain because it was published prior to 1923

[Anne Terri]

God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - The Upanishads

p. 12
THIRD VALLÎ

1. 'There are the two 1, drinking their reward in the world of their own works, entered into the cave (of the heart), dwelling on the highest summit (the ether in the heart). Those who know Brahman call them shade and light; likewise, those householders who perform the Trinâkiketa sacrifice.'

2. 'May we be able to master that Nâkiketa rite which is a bridge for sacrificers; also that which is the highest, imperishable Brahman for those who wish to cross over to the fearless shore 2.'

3. 'Know the Self to be sitting in the chariot, the body to be the chariot, the intellect (buddhi) the charioteer, and the mind the reins 3.'

4. 'The senses they call the horses, the objects of the senses their roads. When he (the Highest Self) is in union with the body, the senses, and the mind, then wise people call him the Enjoyer.'

5. 'He who has no understanding and whose mind

p. 13

[paragraph continues] (the reins) is never firmly held, his senses (horses) are unmanageable, like vicious horses of a charioteer.'

6. 'But he who has understanding and whose mind is always firmly held, his senses are under control, like good horses of a charioteer.'

7. 'He who has no understanding, who is unmindful and always impure, never reaches that place, but enters into the round of births.'

8. 'But he who has understanding, who is mindful and always pure, reaches indeed that place, from whence he is not born again.'

9. 'But he who has understanding for his charioteer, and who holds the reins of the mind, he reaches the end of his journey, and that is the highest place of Vishnu.'

10. 'Beyond the senses there are the objects, beyond the objects there is the mind, beyond the mind there is the intellect, the Great Self is beyond the intellect.'

11. 'Beyond the Great there is the Undeveloped, beyond the Undeveloped there is the Person (purusha). Beyond the Person there is nothing--this is the goal, the highest road.'

12. 'That Self is hidden in all beings and does not shine forth, but it is seen by subtle seers through their sharp and subtle intellect.'

13. 'A wise man should keep down speech and mind 1; he should keep them within the Self which is knowledge; he should keep knowledge within the Self which is the Great; and he should keep that (the Great) within the Self which is the Quiet.'

14. 'Rise, awake! having obtained your boons 2,

p. 14

understand them! The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path (to the Self) is hard.'

15. 'He who has perceived that which is without sound, without touch, without form, without decay, without taste, eternal, without smell, without beginning, without end, beyond the Great, and unchangeable, is freed from the jaws of death.'

16. 'A wise man who has repeated or heard the ancient story of Nakiketas told by Death, is magnified in the world of Brahman.'

17. 'And he who repeats this greatest mystery in an assembly of Brâhmans, or full of devotion at the time of the Srâddha sacrifice, obtains thereby infinite rewards.'

---

Footnotes

12:1 The two are explained as the higher and lower Brahman, the former being the light, the latter the shadow. Rita is explained as reward, and connected with sukrita, lit. good deeds, but frequently used in the sense of svakrita, one's own good and evil deeds. The difficulty is, how the highest Brahman can be said to drink the reward (ritapa) of former deeds, as it is above all works and above all rewards. The commentator explains it away as a metaphorical expression, as we often speak of many, when we mean one. (Cf. Mund. Up. III, 1, 1.) I have joined sukritasya with loke, loka meaning the world, i.e. the state, the environment, which we made to ourselves by our former deeds.

12:2 These two verses may be later additions.

12:3 The simile of the chariot has some points of similarity with the well-known passage in Plato's Phædros, but Plato did not borrow this simile from the Brahmans, as little as Xenophon need have consulted our Upanishad (II, 2) in writing his prologue of Prodikos.

13:1 Sa?kara interprets, he should keep down speech in the mind.

13:2 Comm., excellent teachers.

Vol. XV THE UPANISHADS - PART II
TRANSLATION- THE KATHA-UPANISHAD 1 -1st ADHYÂYA- THIRD VALLÎ

Read more: glbresearch.proboards.com/post/new/4372#ixzz2TRgCPk8R

(SEBO1)Translated by F. Max Müller - 1879
God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - The Upanishads
This text is in the public domain because it was published prior to 1923