Kaṭha Upaniṣad

1.1.1

Vagasravasa, desirous (of heavenly rewards), surrendered (at a sacrifice) all that he possessed. ...

1.1.2

When the (promised) presents were being given (to the priests), faith entered into the heart of N...

1.1.3

`Unblessed, surely, are the worlds to which a man goes by giving (as his promised present at a sa...

1.1.4

He (knowing that his father had promised to give up all that he possessed, and therefore his son ...

1.1.5

The son said: `I go as the first, at the head of many (who have still to die); I go in the midst ...

1.1.6

`Look back how it was with those who came before, look forward how it will be with those who come...

1.1.10

Nakiketas said: `O Death, as the first of the three boons I choose that Gautama, my father, be pa...

1.1.11

Yama said: `Through my favour Auddalaki Aruni, thy father, will know thee, and be again towards t...

1.1.12

Nakiketas said: `In the heaven-world there is no fear; thou art not there, O Death, and no one is...

1.1.13

`Thou knowest, O Death, the fire-sacrifice which leads us to heaven; tell it to me, for I am full...

1.1.14

Yama said: `I tell it thee, learn it from me, and when thou understandest that fire-sacrifice whi...

1.1.15

Yama then told him that fire-sacrifice, the beginning of all the worlds, and what bricks are requ...

1.1.16

The generous, being satisfied, said to him: `I give thee now another boon; that fire-sacrifice sh...

1.1.17

`He who has three times performed this Nakiketa rite, and has been united with the three (father,...

1.1.18

`He who knows the three Nakiketa fires, and knowing the three, piles up the Nakiketa sacrifice, h...

1.1.19

`This, O Nakiketas, is thy fire which leads to heaven, and which thou hast chosen as thy second b...

1.1.20

Nakiketas said: `There is that doubt, when a man is dead, some saying, he is; others, he is not. ...

1.1.21

Death said: `On this point even the gods have doubted formerly; it is not easy to understand. Tha...

1.1.22

Nakiketas said: `On this point even the gods have doubted indeed, and thou, Death, hast declared ...

1.1.23

Death said: `Choose sons and grandsons who shall live a hundred years, herds of cattle, elephants...

1.1.24

`If you can think of any boon equal to that, choose wealth, and long life. Be (king), Nakiketas, ...

1.1.25

`Whatever desires are difficult to attain among mortals, ask for them according to thy wish; thes...

1.1.26

Nakiketas said: `These things last till tomorrow, O Death, for they wear out this vigour of all t...

1.1.27

`No man can be made happy by wealth. Shall we possess wealth, when we see thee? Shall we live, as...

1.1.28

`What mortal, slowly decaying here below, and knowing, after having approached them, the freedom ...

1.1.29

`No, that on which there is this doubt, O Death, tell us what there is in that great Hereafter. N...

1.2.1

Death said: `The good is one thing, the pleasant another; these two, having different objects, ch...

1.2.2

`The good and the pleasant approach man: the wise goes round about them and distinguishes them. Y...

1.2.3

`Thou, O Nakiketas, after pondering all pleasures that are or seem delightful, hast dismissed the...

1.2.4

`Wide apart and leading to different points are these two, ignorance, and what is known as wisdom...

1.2.5

`Fools dwelling in darkness, wise in their own conceit, and puffed up with vain knowledge, go rou...

1.2.6

`The Hereafter never rises before the eyes of the careless child, deluded by the delusion of weal...

1.2.7

`He (the Self) of whom many are not even able to hear, whom many, even when they hear of him, do ...

1.2.8

`That (Self), when taught by an inferior man, is not easy to be known, even though often thought ...

1.2.9

`That doctrine is not to be obtained by argument, but when it is declared by another, then, O dea...

1.2.10

Nakiketas said: `I know that what is called a treasure is transient, for that eternal is not obta...

1.2.11

Yama said: `Though thou hadst seen the fulfilment of all desires, the foundation of the world, th...

1.2.12

`The wise who, by means of meditation on his Self, recognises the Ancient, who is difficult to be...

1.2.13

`A mortal who has heard this and embraced it, who has separated from it all qualities, and has th...

1.2.14

Nakiketas said: `That which thou seest as neither this nor that, as neither effect nor cause, as ...

1.2.15

Yama said: `That word (or place) which all the Vedas record, which all penances proclaim, which m...

1.2.16

`That (imperishable) syllable means Brahman, that syllable means the highest (Brahman); he who kn...

1.2.17

`This is the best support, this is the highest support; he who knows that support is magnified in...

1.2.18

`The knowing (Self) is not born, it dies not; it sprang from nothing, nothing sprang from it. The...

1.2.19

`If the killer thinks that he kills, if the killed thinks that he is killed, they do not understa...

1.2.20

`The Self, smaller than small, greater than great, is hidden in the heart of that creature. A man...

1.2.21

`Though sitting still, he walks far; though lying down, he goes everywhere. Who, save myself, is ...

1.2.22

`The wise who knows the Self as bodiless within the bodies, as unchanging among changing things, ...

1.2.23

`That Self cannot be gained by the Veda, nor by understanding, nor by much learning. He whom the ...

1.2.24

`But he who has not first turned away from his wickedness, who is not tranquil, and subdued, or w...

1.2.25

`Who then knows where He is, He to whom the Brahmans and Kshatriyas are (as it were) but food, an...

1.3.1

`There are the two, drinking their reward in the world of their own works, entered into the cave ...

1.3.2

`May we be able to master that Nakiketa rite which is a bridge for sacrificers; also that which i...

1.3.3

`Know the Self to be sitting in the chariot, the body to be the chariot, the intellect (buddhi) t...

1.3.4

`The senses they call the horses, the objects of the senses their roads. When he (the Highest Sel...

1.3.5

`He who has no understanding and whose mind (the reins) is never firmly held, his senses (horses)...

1.3.6

`But he who has understanding and whose mind is always firmly held, his senses are under control,...

1.3.7

`He who has no understanding, who is unmindful and always impure, never reaches that place, but e...

1.3.8

`But he who has understanding, who is mindful and always pure, reaches indeed that place, from wh...

1.3.9

`But he who has understanding for his charioteer, and who holds the reins of the mind, he reaches...

1.3.10

`Beyond the senses there are the objects, beyond the objects there is the mind, beyond the mind t...

1.3.11

`Beyond the Great there is the Undeveloped, beyond the Undeveloped there is the Person (purusha)....

1.3.12

`That Self is hidden in all beings and does not shine forth, but it is seen by subtle seers throu...

1.3.13

`A wise man should keep down speech and mind; he should keep them within the Self which is knowle...

1.3.14

`Rise, awake! having obtained your boons, understand them! The sharp edge of a razor is difficult...

1.3.15

`He who has perceived that which is without sound, without touch, without form, without decay, wi...

1.3.16

`A wise man who has repeated or heard the ancient story of Nakiketas told by Death, is magnified ...

1.3.17

`And he who repeats this greatest mystery in an assembly of Brahmans, or full of devotion at the ...

2.4.1

Death said: `The Self-existent pierced the openings (of the senses) so that they turn forward: th...

2.4.2

`Children follow after outward pleasures, and fall into the snare of wide-spread death. Wise men ...

2.4.3

`That by which we know form, taste, smell, sounds, and loving touches, by that also we know what ...

2.4.4

`The wise, when he knows that that by which he perceives all objects in sleep or in waking is the...

2.4.5

`He who knows this living soul which eats honey (perceives objects) as being the Self, always nea...

2.4.6

`He who (knows) him who was born first from the brooding heat (for he was born before the water),...

2.4.7

`(He who knows) Aditi also, who is one with all deities, who arises with Prana (breath or Hiranya...

2.4.8

`There is Agni (fire), the all-seeing, hidden in the two fire-sticks, well-guarded like a child (...

2.4.9

`And that whence the sun rises, and whither it goes to set, there all the Devas are contained, an...

2.4.10

`What is here (visible in the world), the same is there (invisible in Brahman); and what is there...

2.4.11

`Even by the mind this (Brahman) is to be obtained, and then there is no difference whatsoever. H...

2.4.12

`The person (purusha), of the size of a thumb, stands in the middle of the Self (body?), as lord ...

2.4.13

`That person, of the size of a thumb, is like a light without smoke, lord of the past and the fut...

2.4.14

`As rain-water that has fallen on a mountain-ridge runs down the rocks on all sides, thus does he...

2.4.15

`As pure water poured into pure water remains the same, thus, O Gautama, is the Self of a thinker...

2.5.1

`There is a town with eleven gates belonging to the Unborn (Brahman), whose thoughts are never cr...

2.5.2

`He (Brahman) is the swan (sun), dwelling in the bright heaven; he is the Vasu (air), dwelling in...

2.5.3

`He (Brahman) it is who sends up the breath (prana), and who throws back the breath (apana). All ...

2.5.4

`When that incorporated (Brahman), who dwells in the body, is torn away and freed from the body, ...

2.5.5

`No mortal lives by the breath that goes up and by the breath that goes down. We live by another,...

2.5.6

`Well then, O Gautama, I shall tell thee this mystery, the old Brahman, and what happens to the S...

2.5.7

`Some enter the womb in order to have a body, as organic beings, others go into inorganic matter,...

2.5.8

`He, the highest Person, who is awake in us while we are asleep, shaping one lovely sight after a...

2.5.9

`As the one fire, after it has entered the world, though one, becomes different according to what...

2.5.10

`As the one air, after it has entered the world, though one, becomes different according to whate...

2.5.11

`As the sun, the eye of the whole world, is not contaminated by the external impurities seen by t...

2.5.12

`There is one ruler, the Self within all things, who makes the one form manifold. The wise who pe...

2.5.13

`There is one eternal thinker, thinking non-eternal thoughts, who, though one, fulfils the desire...

2.5.14

`They perceive that highest indescribable pleasure, saying, This is that. How then can I understa...

2.5.15

`The sun does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these lightnings, and much less th...

2.6.1

`There is that ancient tree, whose roots grow upward and whose branches grow downward; that indee...

2.6.2

`Whatever there is, the whole world, when gone forth (from the Brahman), trembles in its breath. ...

2.6.3

`From terror of Brahman fire burns, from terror the sun burns, from terror Indra and Vayu, and De...

2.6.4

`If a man could not understand it before the falling asunder of his body, then he has to take bod...

2.6.5

`As in a mirror, so (Brahman may be seen clearly) here in this body; as in a dream, in the world ...

2.6.6

`Having understood that the senses are distinct (from the Atman), and that their rising and setti...

2.6.7

`Beyond the senses is the mind, beyond the mind is the highest (created) Being, higher than that ...

2.6.8

`Beyond the Undeveloped is the Person, the allpervading and entirely imperceptible. Every creatur...

2.6.9

`His form is not to be seen, no one beholds him with the eye. He is imagined by the heart, by wis...

2.6.10

`When the five instruments of knowledge stand still together with the mind, and when the intellec...

2.6.11

`This, the firm holding back of the senses, is what is called Yoga. He must be free from thoughtl...

2.6.12

`He (the Self) cannot be reached by speech, by mind, or by the eye. How can it be apprehended exc...

2.6.13

`By the words "He is," is he to be apprehended, and by (admitting) the reality of both (the invis...

2.6.14

`When all desires that dwell in his heart cease, then the mortal becomes immortal, and obtains Br...

2.6.15

`When all the ties of the heart are severed here on earth, then the mortal becomes immortal here ...

2.6.16

`There are a hundred and one arteries of the heart, one of them penetrates the crown of the head....

2.6.17

`The Person not larger than a thumb, the inner Self, is always settled in the heart of men. Let a...

2.6.18

Having received this knowledge taught by Death and the whole rule of Yoga (meditation), Nakiketa ...