Kathopanishad- Verse 29 - kathopanishad-1-1-29-yasminnidaṃ

Kathopanishad – Part 1 – Canto 1 – Verse 29 « »

यस्मिन्निदं विचिकित्सन्ति मृत्यो
यत्साम्पराये महति ब्रूहि नस्तत् ।
योऽयं वरो गूढमनुप्रविष्टो
नान्यं तस्मान्नचिकेता वृणीते ॥ २९॥
॥ इति काठकोपनिषदि प्रथमाध्याये प्रथमा वल्ली ॥

yasminnidaṃ vicikitsanti mṛtyo
yatsāmparāye mahati brūhi nastat .
yo’yaṃ varo gūḍhamanupraviṣṭo
nānyaṃ tasmānnaciketā vṛṇīte .. 29..
.. iti kāṭhakopaniṣadi prathamādhyāye prathamā vallī ..

29 Tell me, O Death, of that Great Hereafter about which a man has his doubts.

Table of Contents

Sri Shankara’s Commentary (Bhashya) translated by S. Sitarama Sastri

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 âtman, 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 âtman 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, Nachikêtas 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.

———

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Yasminn idam vicikitsanti mṛtyo yat sāmparāye mahati brūhi nas tat, yo’yaṁ varo gūḍham anupraviṣṭo nānyaṁ tasmān naciketā vṛṇīte (1.1.29). Here a peculiar word is used: sāmparāye mahati brūhi nas tat. It appears that Nachiketas is not actually wanting to know what happens to the soul after dying in this world. He wants to know what happens to the soul when it is finally free from individuality itself. That is why the words here are mahati sāmparāye. Sāmparāye is ‘death’. Mahati sāmparāye is ‘great death’. Nachiketas was wise enough to know something about what happens to the soul after passing from this body. He was not ignorant. He does not want to know only about the rebirth condition of the soul. He wants to know something more. Perhaps that is the reason why Yama does not want to say anything. Nachiketas is asking, “What happens to the soul when it is finally divested of individuality itself, which is the greatest death?” He does not want to know what happens at the physical death. It is the death of individuality itself. This is a terrible question. Nobody can tell us where God was before He created the world, because He cannot sit anywhere. There is no place, no time, and nobody to talk to.

Links
Various resources on the Kathopanishad
Upanishad Series – Katopanishad Commentary by Swami Chinmayananda

Kathopanishad – Verse 29 – kathopanishad-1-1-29-yasminnidaṃ – In Sanskrit with English Transliteration, Meaning and Commentary by Adi Shankaracharya (Sankara Bhashya) – Katha-1-1-29