Nachiketas.
Nachiketas was a innocent but a courageous boy who had the temerity to question his father's gesture of donating sick and diseased cattle , after performing a grand hommam ,to propitiate the gods so that they may shower him with material wealth.The father in a fit of rage gifted his son to Yama the lord of death , as a punishment for pointing out the faults of his lord and master , the father.
That sincere boy obeying his father's orders reached the empire of Yama and sought his audience ,who promised Nachiketas three wishes as he had made him wait for 3 days .
Nachiketas first two wishes included the dousing of his fathers rage and to be sent back to him as he had no other issue. His third wish was tricky. He sought the key to the mystery of life and death.,brushing away treasure troves and vast empires ,dangled enticingly before him by the lord of death in lieu of the knowledge sought.
Philosophy it seems is more closely aligned to death than to life . It agitated the minds of the human beings then as well those living now.
What is death ? What happens there after were the questions put forward by Nachiketas and the answers he received is found in the Katho upanishad.
After death the subtle [invisible] Atma leaves the body to reach the heavens , after exhausting the fruits of good karmas it comes down along with the rain and starts a fresh cycle of life . Being born a man is the greatest gift and greater is the man who can control his senses , like a man keeping a horse drawn chariot in a firm grip. He must not be disturbed by the duplicities of life,like--pain and pleasure, good and evil, happiness and sorrow ,success and failure and so on.
This attitude need to be cultivated not only by sanyasi's but by every householder, in every action , if one's quest is to escape the relentless cycles of birth and death and seek merger with or be near the one and only truth,knowledge and bliss - ''that which is '' or'' Paramatma''. [God]
The Gita draws heavily from KathoUpanishad .
What happened to Nachiketas? He was sent back to be received by a tearful and relieved father.
This happened thousands of years ago!
That sincere boy obeying his father's orders reached the empire of Yama and sought his audience ,who promised Nachiketas three wishes as he had made him wait for 3 days .
Nachiketas first two wishes included the dousing of his fathers rage and to be sent back to him as he had no other issue. His third wish was tricky. He sought the key to the mystery of life and death.,brushing away treasure troves and vast empires ,dangled enticingly before him by the lord of death in lieu of the knowledge sought.
Philosophy it seems is more closely aligned to death than to life . It agitated the minds of the human beings then as well those living now.
What is death ? What happens there after were the questions put forward by Nachiketas and the answers he received is found in the Katho upanishad.
After death the subtle [invisible] Atma leaves the body to reach the heavens , after exhausting the fruits of good karmas it comes down along with the rain and starts a fresh cycle of life . Being born a man is the greatest gift and greater is the man who can control his senses , like a man keeping a horse drawn chariot in a firm grip. He must not be disturbed by the duplicities of life,like--pain and pleasure, good and evil, happiness and sorrow ,success and failure and so on.
This attitude need to be cultivated not only by sanyasi's but by every householder, in every action , if one's quest is to escape the relentless cycles of birth and death and seek merger with or be near the one and only truth,knowledge and bliss - ''that which is '' or'' Paramatma''. [God]
The Gita draws heavily from KathoUpanishad .
What happened to Nachiketas? He was sent back to be received by a tearful and relieved father.
This happened thousands of years ago!
posted by K.C. Sujata at
11:37 PM
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