Katopanishad (A commentary by H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar) –
✨"Beyond Death"✨
1) When a pure heart, a sincere heart moves in any action, even death bows to them. A seeker with wisdom is supreme. Death bows in front of them. The first boon Nachiketa asked was, “Let my father’s temper get cooled down. Let him receive me with love when I return back home.
“Lord Yama said, “OK, that’s done.” That shows innocence - how in spite of father’s anger, the son didn't get angry at the father. He wished good for his father. He wanted his father to enjoy merits of the yagya he was doing. So he requested, “Let my father receive me with love.”
2) The natural desire of every life is to have comfort, to get into a place where there is no misery, no sorrow. The goal of human life is to move towards heaven. Heaven means a place where there is no death, no destruction, no old age, where there is no suffering. Where is this place? Is it somewhere up in the heaven? How to get there? What you should do to get to a state where there is only bliss? This was the second boon, the lord of Death taught Nachiketa how to attain heaven. How to attain heaven, where there is no misery.
3) It is but natural for every human being to want to be in heaven. How? Death teaches you. Death is not cruel, death is very compassionate. The lord of death teaches Nachiketa what death is all about. It doesn't take away life, it enhances life. Knowledge of death makes life very rich.
4) In California, in the early 90’s when we were teaching courses in the bay area, with a group of people, who were HIV positive and had cancer, one of them shared, “From the moment I realized that I have AIDS, I lived every moment. My life has become much more precious. All those years, I was not living at all. I just existed. I never cared about my life. Now that I know I am going to die, I have suddenly become so alive. This disease has brought into my life. I feel so grateful. He looked so uplifted.” There was such glow on their faces; nobody could say that they were sick. The knowledge that “I am going to die” had somehow kindled the light.
5) I felt that was interesting. How I wish people were aware that we are going to die, even without disease! My job would be done. If everyone understood that they are going to die, why would they be angry or greedy? Why would they be worried? All this negativity that they are feeling in a day and night would simply disappear. Life would become much simpler. People should understand it is so simple. It is a matter of time, only a few years. What difference it makes. You are all going to be finished one day. This walking, talking body will become silent. This awareness of death can make you much more alive. It can take slumber out of you and it brings heaven right here.
6) All that you are worried about from morning till evening is pleasure and comfort. For that you do everything possible, destroying your own self, your own mind. Neither that pleasure nor comfort is going to be with you forever, and definitely not in the last moment. It is not so pleasurable. One of our teacher’s mother was dying. She sent him “Go and ask Guruji how it is on the other side. I am not used to being in new places.” He came and asked me, “She is not used to sleeping new places. She is concerned about her death.” We all do wrong things for comfort and pleasure
7) Nachiketa was instructed to climb the steps of heaven. What are those steps? He was taught how to bring together 720 bricks, how to organize them. This is a secret. Think, what is this 720? Nachiketa learnt all this. When the disciple learns fast, it is the pride of the teacher. The lord of death got very pleased. “You learnt this with such sincerity, honesty and with such sharp attention; I will give you one more gift.” He gave Nachiketa a necklace. Pleased by his clarity of mind, sharpness of intellect, his ability to grasp and understand, he gave a gift as an extra boon. What was the beautiful gift that the Lord of Death gave Nachiketa?
😎 Then Nachiketa asks for third boon, “When someone dies, some say they still exist, some say they don’t who else can teach me this other than Lord of Death. You know the truth. I want to know what happens when a person dies.”
9) Very few people are curious about it. We take life for granted, we take death for granted. We never question what happens after life? What is death? How it happens? Where do we go after we die? We live here as though we have been here forever. In one way it is correct. Your spirit has been here even before the stones and trees. Your spirit is so old. It is not the way we think – that body comes first and then spirit. The spirit comes first and then body gets formed. That’s what happens in the womb. If the spirit is not there, the body will not be formed. Spirit first and then matter. Even before anything existed on this planet, you were there, I was there. We have been here many times. This is not first time. I know it. I only wish you remember a little bit at least.
10) Yama said, “Don’t ask me this. Please release me from this promise. This doubt has haunted so many people. They haven’t known it. Please ask for anything else. I will give you any other boon, but don’t ask me secret of death.”
11) There are five great secrets. The secret of death and secret of birth are among them. The lord of Death said, “Ask anything else. Ask for pleasure, ask for lovely women. Whatever is your desire – you want a kingdom, I will grant it to you. Leave me with this. Since I have promised, I have to fulfill my promise. But please don’t ask me the secret of death.”
12) Nachiketa said, “When I see death, It is imminent in life. It is unavoidable in life, what do I do with all that you are offering? You keep your chariot; you keep your horses, your beautiful women for yourself. When you (death) are staring at my face, how can I enjoy all this? What use is it? They are there for a moment and then they are not there; so momentary. They wear out vital powers of life.”
13) There is difference in bliss and pleasure. Bliss energizes you, pleasure depletes you. Pleasure is momentary and drains prana; energy goes out. The capacity of the five senses is limited. However tasty the food is, you can’t take more than what your system can take. You can’t enjoy more sex more than your body can respond to. You cannot listen to music forever. You can enjoy only to some degree. The five senses have limited capacity but the mind has unlimited desire. There is an imbalance between the desire to enjoy and capability of the senses to enjoy. Then conflict arises. You feel miserable. He is not saying it is wrong to enjoy the five senses, to enjoy pleasures of life. There is nothing wrong, but giving it more importance than life itself is disastrous.
14) Nachiketa said, “I won’t go for anything less than this. It is a rare opportunity that I have come face to face with you. Now, please teach me.”
15) The last rites in Hindu tradition are fantastic. Because the departed person can still hear, they tell him, “You have lived a grand life. Your body is made up of five elements. Let the earth element go to earth. Let the water element go to water. Let fire be consumed by fire, and the air element go back to air. You are light. Merge in the Universal Light. This is where you have come from. You have no blemish. You have no sin. You have no impression. You are just pure joy. You are love incarnate. Go back to your source. Bless the whole creation from there. You need nothing now. Go. May you be free, may you be free, and may you be free.” This is what the mantras that are chanted mean.
16) Unfortunately nobody understands what they are chanting. Nobody explains to them in the language they can understand. They simply chant, do the ritual and go back home without understanding what they are saying. With the hope that perhaps the soul understands that language.
17) Do you know why people give their ancestor’s names to their children? This is there even in British tradition. Kings usually give the name of grandfather to the child, George V, Edward III etc. This tradition has come from Vedic times. The biggest attachment for a person is in the old age to their grandchildren. More than parents, grandparents are attached to the children. They might be born to them. This happens many times. You are born in the same family, because of your attachment, because your world is limited. The attachment is strong and that’s why they keep the same name also. If someone has a deep aversion to somebody, they are born to them. Your strongest craving, your strongest fear and aversion determines your next life. Rats are born as cats. They are not born as dogs.
Question and Answers:
Q) Is communication possible with someone after their death?
Ans: In death, only physical body gets separated from the subtle body and casual body. Subtle body is where all impressions are. Definitely there is communication from the other side. Communication in the sense, there is a witness from there. Like you are on the hot air balloon and you can see everything happening down. You can’t do anything about the traffic. You can see there is traffic jam, but you are in the hot balloon and you keep moving.
Q) Is there any way that we can help people in coma?
Ans: Coma is a state where you lose three senses, but mentally there is alertness. You still hold on to the sense of sight and sound. And you have not left the body; you stay in that state of limbo for a longer time. Some can come back from that state and feel all the senses again. It is like going in the balcony and returning back inside. Blessings works all the time. Karma plays a big role there. Karma means all the impressions in the subtle body. It determines your next life, where you will come.
Q) What happens when someone dies unnaturally, like in an accident or through suicide?
Ans: When a soul dies in an accident, that soul lingers on for a certain time. There are some prayers and rituals to make them free from that. Suicide is like saying, “I am feeling cold,” and still removing all the jackets. It is a crazy act. It is like a child crying so hard to sleep but can’t. You don’t know how to sleep, you want to sleep and you cry. Similarly, it is so cold and instead of putting more blankets on, you are removing clothes. This is exactly what suicide is. Suicide doesn't get that person out of the misery for which he is committing suicide. In fact, it remains with them for longer time and they come back, they have to be born again.
Q) If you are rid of aversion and craving, then do you still come back?
Ans: Yes, then you come back out of compassion. Then you come back as a free person; you come back, do something and you go back.
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji❤️
Founder of The Art of Living
