The Journey In Library · Sacred Texts · No. 12
The Katha Upanishad
The boy who went to Death, in Sanskrit and plain English with notes
Sanskrit · c. 5th century BCE · Vedanta
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत ।
क्षुरस्य धारा निशिता दुरत्यया दुर्गं पथस्तत्कवयो वदन्ति ॥
uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata |
kṣurasya dhārā niśitā duratyayā durgaṃ pathas tat kavayo vadanti ||
Arise, awake, and learn from the wise. Sharp as a razor's edge and hard to cross: so the seers describe this path.
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From the book
The Katha Upanishad is one of the oldest and best-loved of the Upanishads. Its images — the chariot of the self, the razor's edge, the upside-down tree, the light by which everything else is seen — became central to Indian thought.
Death tries to buy the boy off with every pleasure the world can offer. Nachiketas refuses them all, and Death, impressed, teaches him the nature of the self.
What's inside
- About this edition
- Part One: the boy who went to Death, the good and the pleasant, the chariot
- Part Two: turning inward, the city of eleven gates, the eternal tree
About this edition
The original Sanskrit in Devanagari script, with a new translation into plain, modern English written for The Journey In, and short notes where a verse needs context.