Katha Chapter 1 Part 1:
Reflections
Nachiketas is portrayed as a young boy with lot of conscience and faith. Seeing that his father, while performing a ritual where all possessions should be given away, is actually giving away useless and old cows. Chagrined that such hypocritical giving in a ritual where one is supposed to give everything away would cause his father to enter "joyless" realms after death, Nachiketas asks his father to whom he is giving him... son being the most precious possession.
Two things stand out here for me. First is the timeless tendency of rituals becoming mere formality and done just out of convention in a "comfortable" way instead of in the spirit behind the ritual. The question of whether such soulless mechanical performance is ever going to be of any use remains relevant today. The second is can one truly do what seems literally required. Yes, the ritual calls to give up everything. But can one truly give up everything? If not, how can such a Yajna be practically performed? These are the questions that come to mind.
To be continued.
Continued...
As Nachiketas waits to meet Death is His hall, his reflection about death, mortality and the cycle of life-death-rebirth is very lyrical:-
Among many (yet to die) I am the first;
or among many(past and future) I am the middlemost.
But certainly I am never the last (who shall meet death).
What purpose of the King of Death will my father serve today
by thus giving me away to him?
Look back and see how it was
with those who came before us
and observe how it is
with those who are now with us.
A mortal ripens like corn
and like corn he springs up again.
It is this realization of the cycle of Samsara that motivates his questions to Death later.
It is important to note in this point that the Lord of Death (Yama) is in fact the first mortal, the first High King of all mortals, and the first time gain Heaven after dying. He was made the ruler of Death and the judge of Men for his great uprightness and moral principles.
Thus he is also Dharma, the God of Justice and Righteousness. Here Rig-Vedic hymn 10.14 is illuminating.
1. To the one who has departed along the great slopes, having spied out the
path for many, son of Vivasvant, unifier of the peoples—to Yama the king show favor with oblation.
2. Yama first found the way for us: this pasture-land is not to be taken away.
(The way) on which our ancient forefathers departed, along that (do)
those who have since been born (follow) along their own paths.
3. Mātalī having been strengthened along with the poets, Yama with the
Aṅgirases, Brhaspati with the versifiers,
both those whom the gods strengthen and who strengthen the gods—
the ones [=gods] become exhilarated on (the cry) “svāhā,” the others
[=forefathers] on “svadhā.”
4. This strewn grass here, Yama—just sit here on it, in concord with the
Aṅgirases, our forefathers. Let mantras pronounced by poets convey you hither. Become exhilarated on this oblation, o king.
Subsequently the dead person is exhorted to follow the same path that Yama found, to the great realm of ancestors where Lord Yama rules. There the spirit of the dead person will be re-clothed in his now perfected body and Yama will provide him with food, water, rest and all that one desires. Till the time of rebirth.
This is the context in which Nachiketa thinks about Death and reflects on it during his journey. Thought this would prove useful as the mythology of death is very different in Hinduism as compared to Abrahamic religions.
