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Kathopanisad

Adyaya 1 Valli 2 Mantra 3

Lecture

Mantra

sa tvam pri̱yān pri̱yarū̍pāṁśca kāmā-
nabhi̍dhyāyan-na̱cike̍to’tyasrākṣīḥ
nai̱tāṁ-sṛ̱ṅkāṁ-vi̱ttamayī̍m-avāpto
yasyā̎ṁ majjanti ba̱havo̍ manuṣyāḥ

naciketaḥ = O Naciketas; saḥ tvam = you, such as you are [though tempted by me again and again]; abhidhyāyan = having considered the defects such as impermanence and unsubstantiality of; kāmān = desirable things; ca = and; priyān = dear ones such as spouse, offspring etc; priya-rūpāṁ = producers of delight, such as nymphs etc.; atyasrākṣīḥ = you have rejected; na avāptaḥ = you have not accepted; etāṁ = this; sṛṅkāṁ = course; vittamayīm = abounding in wealth; yasyām = by which; bahavaḥ = many; manuṣyāḥ = mortals; majjanti = sink, come to grief.

You, O Nachiketas, after pondering all pleasures that are or seem delightful, have rejected them all. You have not gone onto the road that leads to wealth, in which many mortals have perished. You have not taken to the chain of wealth in which many mortals are entangled.

Naciketas, by refusing all these temptations, states clearly that his goal is not to have and to become someone of this ephemeral world – he hungers and thirsts for the eternal, in which alone he can find real satisfaction and abiding joy – ānanda.

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