Katha Upanishad with Shankara’s Commentary
by S. Sitarama Sastri | 1928 | 23,822 words
The Katha Upanishad is a collection of philosophical poems representing a conversation between the sage Naciketas and Yama (god of death). They discuss the nature of Atman, Brahman and Moksha (liberation). The book is made up of six sections (Valli). This commentary by Shankara focuses on ‘Advaita Vedanta’, or non-dualism: one of the classical ort...
Verse 1.1.29
यस्मिन्निदं विचिकित्सन्ति मृत्यो यत्साम्पराये महति ब्रूहि नस्तत् ।
योऽयं वरो गूढमनुप्रविष्टो नान्यं तस्मान्नचिकेता वृणीते ॥ २९ ॥
yasminnidaṃ vicikitsanti mṛtyo yatsāmparāye mahati brūhi nastat |
yo'yaṃ varo gūḍhamanupraviṣṭo nānyaṃ tasmānnaciketā vṛṇīte || 29 ||
29. Oh Death, tell us that in which men have this doubt, and which is about the great hereafter; no other boon doth Nachiketas crave, than this which entered into the secret.
Shankara’s Commentary:
Com.—Therefore, giving up the idea of tempting me by promise of ephemeral objects, tell us, Oh Death, that which was solicited by me, i.e., the well-ascertained knowledge of the atman, about which they doubt whether it is or no, when men die, which relates to the world to come and which serves to be of great benefit. Why say much? Than the present boon about the atman which goes into an inexplicable secret, no other boon which is to be craved for only by the ignorant and whose subject is something transitory, Nachiketas does crave for, even in thought. The Sruti itself says this.
———
॥ इति काठकोपनिषदि प्रथमाध्याये प्रथमा वल्ली ॥
|| iti kāṭhakopaniṣadi prathamādhyāye prathamā vallī ||
Here ends the First Part.
———