Katopanishad (A commentary by H. H. Sri Sri Ravishankar) –
"At the Door of Death"
1) Katha Upanishad – “tha” means the final. What is the final thing about life? What is the end? What is the ultimate?
2) Every Upanishad begins with Shanti Mantra and ends with Shanti Mantra. “Shanti” means “Peace”.
ॐ सह नाववतु । - Let us be together
सह नौ भुनक्तु । - Enjoy this life together
सह वीर्यं करवावहै । - Let us grow in strength together
तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै । - Let us glow together
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥ - Shanti, Shanti, Shanti
3) You can go deep into knowledge in a peaceful environment, but you can’t do so if the environment is disturbed. If your mind is disturbed, you have to do pranayama, yoga, meditation and kriya, to calm it and only then you can talk about higher knowledge. The minute you sit close to the Master, the vibration is already getting transferred and by the vibration; the mind is already becoming calm.
4) Long long ago, there lived a very pious man called Vajashravas. He got this name because of his passion for feeding people. Nobody would go hungry from his house. He would feed the entire town.
5) His son was very proud of his father, when he grew up; he was too wanted to give away everything. Thus there is a “yagya” called “Vishwajit yagya”, which means the yagya performed to win the universe.
6) What did Jesus do? He did “Vishwajit yagya” – he gave away everything. The same Buddha and Adi Shankaracharya do. Yagya is that ritual ceremony which brings everyone together, which honors the Divine, which is a part of our giving back to universe, from where we have been taking all the time.
7) The Vishwajit yagya was done by Vajashravas and he gave away whatever he had, in the ceremony. He had a small eight year old son. His name was Nachiketa.
He saw his father giving everything away. He was running around and observing what his father was doing. He was watching everything with a lot of faith. When Nachiketa saw old things being given away, he thought, “This is not good. This is not going to bring merit to my father. My father is so possessive of me. He should give me away too.” He went and asked his father”, “To whom are you going to give me?” Vajashravas was engaged in something and did not reply. Nachiketa kept on asking again and again, pulling and bothering him. Finally, Vajashravas got irritated and said, “I give you to death! Get lost.”
9) (Guruji adds) – I remember once, when my sister was very young, she came back from school and told mother that she got zero in math test. She was happily jumping around and saying, “I failed today! I failed today! “You should be sad about failing! That’s what parents teach children that failing is not good. But she was happy and telling everybody that she failed. What is failure, what is success? For a child it doesn’t matter.
10) (Guruji adds) – Once I and my sister went to our uncle’s house. He had used all the official leaves that he got from his office. He informed his office that he was sick son that he could take us for a picnic. But someone from his office came to the house and my sister told him, “Uncle is saying that he is sick and he is taking out for a picnic.” When my uncle heard this, he said, “Oh! My reputation has gone, “My sister asked immediately, “Where did it go?”
11) Fathers and mothers usually tell us to get lost but they really don’t mean it. Sometimes, in moments of frustration, they say such things. Nachiketa said, “Yes this is the place where everybody dies. So many have died and those who are living will also be dead. Those who will come in the future will also die. When death is certain, let me go there now.”
12) Nachiketa thought, “Let me be the first to go among those who are going to die. Everyone is going to die. I will go a little earlier. Like corn which ripens and falls and then, comes up again. Everything is temporary. People are dying and I will also die. It’s just that I am going a little early. I am going to go to the Lord of Death,”
13) Nachiketa knew that his father said it in anger, but he still went to death. This is very beautiful. This Upanishad is about the dialogue of this young boy and the Lord of Death.
14) Now the experience of death is described here – What happens to Nachiketa. The spirit of Nachiketa left the body and went to abode of Yama, the lord of death. Yama told him, “You have come here just because your father’s words are so powerful and they had to be fulfilled. It is not your time yet, go back. You still have to acquire knowledge and give love.” Nachiketa was dead for one whole hour while his father lamented and prayed. Suddenly, the boy got up and looked effulgent. Having met death and then coming back to life was most wonderful thing. It was then that he propounded the whole fire ceremony, named after Nachiketa.
15) He described what death is. It is nothing to be afraid of. Nachiketa proclaims that death is beautiful. That there is no fear, there is eternal silence. If you have read about people having near death experience they all say the same thing. They go through a tunnel and see a light. Sometimes the light tells them that it is not yet time and they should go back. The same thing happened some thousands of years ago to Nacihketa. He went through effulgent light, but was told that it was not his time, and that he should go back. So, Nachiketa came back after an encounter with death. This is one story.
16) What is death? Is it something to be afraid of? How does death happen? Honor death; people who commit suicide are not honoring death. You must remember this. The craving for living, results in suicide not in death. There is a big difference. They can’t bear the pain; they can’t get rid of it. Their life is important for them, not death. So, they commit suicide. That which is different from the body, different from everything around that is changing, is central to spiritual growth.
17) What happens in process of death? What happens to you when you die? First the mind withdraws from the five senses with their impression. You stop feeling, numbness comes. Sensation in the body disappears. Then sight gets blurred and vision goes away. Sense of touch goes away, sense of taste goes away, sight goes away, and then smells and finally sound disappears. When somebody is dying, they keep a candle burning so that if the soul, the spirit leaves the body, it can feel the light, see the light and remind itself that it is light and move on. This ritual is there in all ancient traditions.
18) The mind retrieves from the five senses, with the impressions of those senses. Once it snaps out of the body, it feels such a freedom; it is like coming out of cage! The spirit becomes so peaceful. In its peace, it also has impressions of craving. If a person is fond of ice cream, burger, that fondness will remain there for some time. It takes three days for the spirit, to really adjust to the other side. You have come out of the body. You don’t know how to get into the body. It doesn’t interest you also - the body is not interesting anymore. It looks like garbage. Suppose you have used a tissue and thrown it in the garbage, will u take it and use it again? The same feeling comes to the spirit when it snaps out of the body. It doesn’t care about the body anymore. If it wants, it will take another body somewhere else. It takes almost 48 hours, i.e., 3 days to get used to the other side, to get relief from this side. It is very significant. That is why for three days, friends and relatives are in more anguish. They start getting some relief after three days. In ancient days, ten days were kept for mourning. In these ten days, you could cry as much as you wanted and celebrate on the eleventh day. You should mourn for a maximum of ten days, no more.
19) There is a time zone here but when you leave the body the time zone changes. Six months here is a day there and six months here is night there. One whole year is one day there.
20) In the process of death, one sense gets into the other and finally, the mind, with all the impressions of the five senses, it snaps out. Though it snaps out, it still has the ability to listen to sound. That’s why singing and chanting is very good for people on other side. Meditating is very good for people on the other side. Your meditation, your peace touches their soul. It gives them relief. If you are crying and feeling miserable, they also feel that misery.
21) For the first three days, it is intense and after three days, the soul starts adjusting to the other realm. It keeps away from this. Very few souls are earth bound; they don’t go far for long time. They stick on. They are very few, 0.1%. Someone who is fond of chicken will be found in a poultry farm. That is why last impression of your life is very important. It becomes like a balloon over the spirit.
22) Some people lost interest in food when they are nearing death. Some crave for more food towards the end of life. In that case, within those ten days, it is good to feed some people, the food the deceased were fond of. When they smell those foods, the spirit feels, “Ok, I have had this for now.” It gives them some sort of relief.
23) For three days, Nachiketa waited at the door of death but the Lord of Death did not come. Nachiketa didn’t eat anything. He was there – poised, peaceful, calm and uplifted spirit. Even death became apologetic to him.
24) Yama gave three boons to the boy – “I owe you three boons because you have been so calm, so quiet, you have meditated, you have been spiritual. You have been thinking of something higher.”
25) Nachiketa said, “O Lord of Death, as the first of these three boons, grant that my father’s anger be appeased, so that when I return he may receive me with love.”
26) First boon is granted – let my father’s anger be appeased. Many times, as seekers when you meditate you feel, “Nothing is happening to me.” Do you know why? Because some of your merits are being passed on to your forefathers. There is no escape from it. When you meditate or do something good, a portion of it, those good vibes are passed on automatically. It is like clearing your past debt. When you meditate, a little amount of merit goes to those who gave you this body. Somebody gave you this body and because of it, you are doing. So some portion of your merit gets or somebody passes on and you automatically inherit. Whether it is their loans or earnings, they just fall on your head. In the same way, in subtle world also, these things get transferred. A sanyasi or a monk is the one who, while living, completely fulfills all duties and obligations and washes his hands off. Then there is no connection with the ancestors of any sort. That is monkhood – sanyasi, fourth of ashrams.
27) First 25 years learn as much as you can – the student life. Next 25 years enjoy your life as a house holder. Settle down, get married, have children and all that. Third quarter of your life, from 50-75 years is Vanaprastha, be a social worker. It means there is no more ’my, my, my’! Now you are for everybody in the society. You share yourself with everybody and you are godfather or godmother to everybody. Broaden you scope from ‘only my child’, to ‘our children’. The last quarter – from the age of 75 to 100 years, you are supposed to live as a recluse. You are in a state of “I am nothing, I want nothing”. These are four stages of ashrams in life. Some take a jump from first to fourth; they don’t have to go through the middle.
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji
