🌷 Katho Upanishad 🌷
Chapter 2
Beyond death
🌻 Day 8 🌻
Fire is present in piece of wood. But it is not manifest. For fire to manifest, you need another piece of wood to rub against it. That is how they would make fire in the ancient days. From a long, long time, Knowledge has been flowing between the Master and the disciple. The Master is one wood, the disciple is another – one is answering and the other is questioning, and together they produce this fire – the question and answer. Their sincerity gives rise to spiritual fire, which consumes the wood, which consumes life. After having heard from his father,“I give you to death,” Nachiketa moves to the door of death without any fear. Often children don’t know any fear. They are very curious; very scientific in their approach. They are logical. At the same time their emotions are alive, they are not dry or dead. For a seeker this is essential – the mind is alert and awake, at the same time, emotion is alive also. are three types of disciples. First is the one who does what is needed even before he is asked. He understands the mind of the Master and does it. The second type of disciple is the one who does after he is asked. The third is the one, who is asked to do several times and still doesn’t do it, doesn’t follow any instructions. Nachiketa thinks, “I want to be the first or the second kind, not the third kind of disciple. Since father has given me to death, I am going to go there.” He goes to the door of death and waits there for three days. 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. Patience is another quality of a disciple, infinite patience! In fact, whole learning is testing one’s patience, that’s all. Teacher used to be very tough in testing patience – how soon will you lose it, how long can you sustain your calmness, beat all the adversities. Yama tested Nachiketa for three days. “Let us see how patient he is; is he worth giving further instruction?” He found this boy very calm and serene, with no trace of complaint – with serenity and innocence. “He has the patience to wait”, Yama thinks, so he says, “I grant you three boons. Ask.”
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 the merits of the yagna he was doing. So he requested, “let my father receive me with love.”
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji
Katho Upanishad
