kathopanishad-1-1-2-tam̐ ha kumāram̐

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Taṁ ha kumāraṁ santaṁ dakṣiṇāsu nīyamānāsu śraddhā-viveśa, so’manyata (1.1.2). The innocent boy, being a very little lad, was observing the sacrifice. Children are very observant and can sometimes notice things much better than older people because of the tremendous concentration that they have and their capacity to focus their minds on only one thing. The boy was observing the great sacrifice being performed by the father and the gifts being given in great abundance to all the people gathered there. Some feeling arose in his mind. There was some kind of inner transformation that took place in the mind of this little boy when he saw his father giving charity—giving, giving, giving, giving everything. What did the boy notice? What was he seeing? He was seeing a very interesting phenomenon.