Nachiketas and His Father

uśan ha vai vᾱjaśravasaḥ sarvavedasaṁ dadau:
tasya ha naciketᾱ nᾱma putra ᾱsa. (1)

“Desiring heavenly enjoyment, Gautama performed a sacrifice called sarva dakshina. He had a son, Nachiketas, very thoughtful and discriminative.”

Desiring did he perform the sacrifice. The intention behind it was to gain heavenly pleasure. This represents the purely exoteric aspect of religion, the outward form of devotion and faith as different from the internal spirit or the esoteric significance of practice. While Gautama represents the outer form of religion, Nachiketas symbolises the inner spirit. The former attitude expects something from every religious act: ‘What shall I get from my pilgrimage, from a sacred bath, etc.?’ These are the questions of this mind. ‘If I will not get something, I will not be religious’. This attitude exhibits a commercial attitude leading to bigotry. While the outer form is necessary—like the legs of a person who can walk with them but needs a head to think with—it is inadequate by itself. The spirit should go hand in hand with the form. So, religion is different from spirituality, though it is very necessary. The outer form of worship should be an expression of inner surrender, and not a mere symbol. This is what Gautama’s sacrifice lacked. Desiring something he performed the sacrifice, but did not part with everything he had, as was required by its spirit. When this dakshina was given by him, Nachiketas thought to himself:

taṁ ha kumᾱraṁ santaṁ dakṣiṇᾱsu nīyamᾱnᾱsu śraddhᾱ-viveśa, so’manyata. (2)

Is this religion? He was a great spiritual example for all times to come, though his question was impertinent. He thought: “What is this sacrifice?”

pītodakᾱ jagdhatṛṇᾱ dugdhadohᾱ nirindriyᾱḥ,
anandᾱ nᾱma te lokᾱs tᾱn sa gacchata tᾱ dadat. (3)

He wants the pleasure of this world, so he did not part with the good cows; and he also wants the pleasure in the other world, so he gives (useless) cows. It is a poor sacrifice, because he offers that which is unworthy.

sa hovᾱca pitaram, tᾱta kasmai mᾱṁ dᾱsyasīti;
dvitīyaṁ tṛtīyam; taṁ hovᾱca: mṛtyave tvᾱ dadᾱmīti. (4)

In the fourth mantra, the teaching proper commences with: sa hovaca pitaram... “To whom do you propose to offer me?” The ‘me’ represents also the self of Gautama. If it is offering all, sarvadakshina, then it should include not only what belongs to one, but also his own self. Three times asked Nachiketas this question. The answer was, “Unto death I offer you.” Though this was the answer to the son, it mystically means the death of the soul.

Three times asked the boy, implying the ‘I’ has to be given up in three stages, not at once. The first one is the physical offering, followed by the subtle and the causal, because we are this threefold being; we can also call it conscious, subconscious and unconscious. We are citizens of three worlds; this is brought out when one takes sanyasa. The seeker takes an oath that he renounces the pleasures of this world, of the astral world and of the heavens—all the three worlds. The offering has to be total and all-inclusive. Psychologists call this condition introversion, and it is self-abnegation in ethics. So Nachiketas’ thrice-repeated question has spiritual import of the necessary threefold offering of every seeker. This is like dying, for who can offer his whole being to God? We cannot even offer our physical possessions. To offer the mind and the subconscious is veritable death. The threefold personality has to pass through veritable death, and this is rebirth, as it were, into the awakening of the spirit. It is rebirth in the spirit, and death to all that is physical. “Let the ‘me’ be offered in its threefold significance!” is the outer and inner meaning of the mantra.

bahῡnᾱm emi prathamaḥ, bahῡnᾱm emi madhyamaḥ,
kiṁ svid yamasya kartavyam yan mayᾱdya kariṣyati. (5)

It is the darkness of not-knowing that is spiritual death. Nachiketas thought: “What is the business of Yama that is being achieved through me? Why should I go to him? I have served my father well. I may be the first or at least the next, but not the worst. What is the intention of his offering me to Yama?”

anupaśya yathᾱ pῡrve pratipaśya tathᾱpare,
sasyam iva martyaḥ pacyate sasyam ivajᾱyate punaḥ. (6)

“Well, whatever you have said is all right,” he said to Gautama, and added: “Don’t withdraw your words. Remember our ancestors who have adhered to truth always. Let it be so, although it may be unpleasant. Though you might have unwittingly, in anger, said it, don’t take it back. Like a corn in the field does a human being grow and fall: the seed grows only to fall and falls only to grow. So is human life; and if I pass away, let there be no grief, because birth and death are only correlatives.”

The Upanishad does not mention what happened to Nachiketas or Gautama after this conversation. The Taittiriya Brahmana says that the boy went to the hall of Yama, either due to the words of Gautama or by the power of his own tapas.

Nachiketas in the House of Death

vaiśvᾱnaraḥ praviśaty atithir brᾱhmaṇo gṛhᾱn:
tasyaitᾱṁ śᾱntiṁ kurvanti, hara vaivasvatodakam. (7)

When Nachiketas reached the abode of Yama, Lord Yama was not there. This is a very important stage in the seeker’s life: when the disciple goes to the Guru, the latter often does not welcome him, but shows indifference.

Suka went to Janaka’s court and was asked to wait. There was no warm reception; he was not told when the Guru would be available or even if he would be available at all—but instead, great temptations were presented to him.

Yama came after three days and, during that time, Nachiketas waited patiently. In contrast to Suka, we do not know what he was thinking or doing. Another important truth is taught here: that a guest should be honoured. A guest who comes of his own accord, an atithi—one who comes without a particular tithi or day—is regarded as God. It is the universal Soul that presents Itself as the guest. One who comes to you, expecting help, is to be regarded as God Himself; such a one is to be propitiated. Such a guest, if turned out, takes away all the merits of that person who is inhospitable.

ᾱśᾱ-pratīkṣe saṁgataṁ sῡnṛtᾱṁ ceṣṭᾱpῡrte putra-paśῡṁś ca sarvᾱn,
etad vṛṅkte puruṣasyᾱlpamedhaso yasyᾱnaśnan vasati brᾱhmaṇo gṛhe. (8)

“Of the person in whose house a guest starves, is not being given, even when asked for; of that person, the guest goes away taking all virtues and merits, and also the lives of all his children and cows; all these are destroyed.”

When God is turned out of a house, anything can happen, is what is suggested by this. There is a beautiful story in the Chhandogya Upanishad, of a poor man who went for alms. When people refused him, he asked: “Do you know to whom you are refusing to give? To the Universal Prana!” They were frightened to hear this, and called him back and offered alms. The spiritual man is a godly man; a saint is a divine person. And hence, the atithi who is coming either to bless you or to test you may go away, taking everything of yours, if you turn a deaf ear to him.

When Yama returned to his abode, his courtiers told him: “Lord, a guest has come; an uninvited guest. Who is more important than he! He is God who has come as the universal fire.” Yama answered: “Please him. Let him not burn; give him water!”

When Yama presents himself before Nachiketas, the spirit of the Upanishad rises to great intensity.

Yama’s Address to Nachiketas

tisro rᾱtrīr yᾱd avatsīr gṛhe me’naśnan brahman atitthir namasyaḥ.
namaste’ṡtu brahman; svasti me’stu tasmᾱt prati trīn varᾱn vṛṇīṣva. (9)

Yama says to Nachiketas: “O Brahmana, you have fasted in my house for three nights. I make obeisance to you! Ask from me three boons, for the three nights you starved here, so that I may be blessed and do not incur the sin of not giving to my guest. May auspiciousness be mine!”

The soul that ascends to God has to break three knots—the knots of avidya, kama and karma, corresponding to the three bodies: sthula, sukshma and karana. Karma is the character of the physical body, kama of the subtle body, and avidya of the causal. These three are like impregnable fortresses; hard is it to penetrate them! They are called the tripura of the three demons of ignorance, desire and action. The only way of liberating oneself from them is fasting. They are veritable nights; they are darkness.

Three boons will be bestowed in accordance with these three fasts of the physical, subtle and causal realms. Eating is a great bondage which can do and undo things. When you take food of any particular realm or any person, you are bound and obliged to them. On all these levels of being, there are temptations of various kinds. The free person is he who does not get bound by them, by not accepting gifts. When you take something from someone, you must return it to him, which obligation brings you rebirth. If you have not taken anything, you need not come back. Thus, the three nights represent the breaking of the three knots of avidya, kama and karma. These fasts bring great advantages. The first is universal renown. Even if you starve for twenty-one days, your name appears in newspapers and you become a world-celebrity; this is only a gross form of starvation. But accepting nothing which does not really belong to, or is not really needed by you, is a great tapas. The spiritual seeker often gets more than even householders. This is a temptation which prevents a soul from progressing. So, accept not anything in the physical, subtle and causal realms! But the higher you go, the deeper are the temptations. The physical ones are weaker than the higher ones which are more powerful and more difficult to overcome. Yama, as the universal night, offers three boons for the three nights of fasting observed by Nachiketas.

Nachiketas’ First Wish

śᾱnta-saṁkalpaḥ sumanᾱ yathᾱ syᾱd vīta-manyur gautamo mᾱbhi mṛtyo,
tvat-prasṛṣṭam mᾱbhivadet-pratīta, etat trayᾱṇᾱm prathamaṁ varaṁ vṛṇe. (10)

“As the first gift, O Lord, offer this to me: when I return, released by you to the world of my father, may he receive me with a calm mind, free from anger, recognising me as I have been before; not thinking that I am dead and returning.”

This implies that Nachiketas must return, and when returned, should be recognised. He wants normal circumstances to prevail when he returns. This is the result of fasting for one night: one becomes normal in a spiritual sense, and the world from which the soul rose accepts it truly. Many believe this verse to mean that by the power of fasting, austerity etc., a seeker can gain world-renown; you will wield a power which the world will recognise. This is a boon, but also a temptation of which one has to be cautious. A person, who was just a part of the world, now becomes a world figure. Every seeker will have to pass through this stage, and to each one it will come in a different shape.

To give an example, there was a mahatma in the regions above Gangotri. For more than twenty years he did not even come to the village, such was his vairagya. But suddenly, desire arose in his mind to go and preach to the world. Of course, his retreat must have done some good, because no tapas goes without effect. Such a temptation also came to the Buddha. Mara said to him: “You have attained the highest! Go and preach to the world!” If one yields to this, he returns before reaching the topmost level, feeling a satisfaction that the world recognises him, and spiritual pride takes over. It is difficult to truly transcend this stage; and it is doubtful if there is anyone now who has done it. It would be a rise to universal renown and universal knowledge.

yathᾱ purastᾱd bhavitᾱ pratīta auddᾱlakir ᾱruṇir matprasṛṣṭaḥ,
sukhaṁ rᾱtrīś śayitᾱ vītamanyus tvᾱṁ dadṛśivᾱn mṛtyumukhᾱt pramuktam. (11)

Yama says: “Your first boon is granted, and you will be recognised by your father who will be happy to receive you, who has returned with knowledge. What is the second boon?”