kathopanishad-1-2-10-jānāmyahaṃ

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Jānāmy aham śevadhir ity anityam, na hy adhruvaiḥ prāpyate hi dhruvaṁ tat, tato mayā naciketaś cito’gnir anityair dravyaiḥ prāptavān asmi nityam (1.2.10). Yama says, “I myself have performed this sacrifice. Now it is being called the Nachiketas sacrifice. It may be called the Nachiketas sacrifice now, but that Vaishvanara-tattva worshipped in a sacrifice as this universal fire did exist earlier also. I know that all wealth and treasure is impermanent.” Śevadhi anitya: śevadhi is ‘treasure’, anitya is ‘impermanent’. Jānāmy aham: “I know that all the glory of this world is impermanent.” Na hy adhruvaiḥ prāpyate hi dhruvaṁ: “The permanent cannot be obtained through the media of the impermanent.”

The ends and the means should have coherence between themselves. There cannot be a means which is not connected with the nature of the end, nor can there be an end which has no connection with the nature of the means. Many people say that the end justifies the means, but it does not justify it because the end is nothing but the evolution of the means, and the means is nothing but the incipient existence of the end in itself at the very beginning. So they are not two different, isolated phases of knowledge. Hence, impermanent means cannot procure permanent realities. What is there permanent in this world? Nothing whatsoever. We see everything coming and going. The world is in a state of flux. People die, all things perish, and the whole system of creation is going to be dissolved at the end of pralaya. Therefore, nothing in this world can be regarded as a means to the knowledge and realisation of the Eternal, implying thereby that we should not be attached to anything in this world. We should not cling to impermanent things, which are just the stuff of this world.

Now Yama says, “I know all this, yet what have I done?” He speaks in a very friendly way, in a very intimate manner. The teacher reveals his own inner nature to the student: tato mayā naciketaś cito’gnir anityair dravyaiḥ prāptavān asmi nityam. This is a very peculiar verse which has an intricate meaning. It has got one meaning on the one hand, and another meaning on the other hand. Some commentators say that this verse is the utterance of Nachiketas. Others say that it is spoken by Yama. It appears that it is spoken by Yama, and not by Nachiketas, because it is said: “I have performed the Nachiketas sacrifice.” Nachiketas has been initiated into the performance of the sacrifice, but he has not yet performed it, and so this statement “I have already done it” cannot be attributed to Nachiketas. Therefore, we have to conclude that these are the words of Yama himself. This is very intriguing indeed because of the fact that he says, “Knowing very well that everything is impermanent in this world, that the impermanent cannot be a means to the attainment of the Eternal, what have I done? After all, I have performed this sacrifice for the purpose of the attainment of the kingdom of this god which I am today as Yama.” He indirectly extols the student Nachiketas as perhaps even superior to himself.

It is said that the greatness of the Guru can be seen when the disciple excels the Guru. You can imagine how great the Guru should be to produce a disciple excelling himself. So, in a similar strain, as it were, Yama says anityair dravyaiḥ prāptavān asmi nityam: “Temporarily stable joys of heaven, like the joys of the god Yama himself, have been acquired by the performance of the Vaishvanara-agni sacrifice, and I did not go into the depths of the question that you are posing before me, though today I know the answer to this question.” Perhaps here Yama is referring to the development of the stages of spiritual attainment which he himself has reached, just as a teacher may speak to the student as to how he was once a little child going to nursery school, and how he was truant, how he was not a good student at all, and afterwards how he picked up things, and how he has become the genius that he appears to be today. Some such intricate implication seems to be hidden in this verse: “Though I know that all the treasures of the world are impermanent, I have performed this sacrifice which will give me only impermanent joys which temporarily look like a permanent happiness of heaven. You are greater than I.”