Video 4

4. Katha Upanishad | Mantras 1.1.9 - 11 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

may the lord protect us both teacher and the taught together by revealing knowledge may he protect us both by giving us the results of knowledge may we attain vigor together let our study be invigorating may we not cavale at each other home peace peace peace so the story goes um we've been reading in qatar connection very famous and ancient story of the little boy naji keta who went to the house of death and asked him the question about the atman so that's the setting so it started off with uh with we are introduced to the boy nachiketa and his father rajasthan the various reversal is vedic brahman he was performing a big fire ritual with the purpose objective of going to heaven then his son noticed that he was not giving away the gifts as you're supposed to and he was you know keeping the good stuff for himself and giving away uh the not so good stuff and then nachiketa asks him who to whom do you want to give me and persists in asking him so his father you know he sees it as impertinence but rajikita wants to point out that one should hold on to the truth uh in this world and in the next also it is truth that matters values that matter and basically his father is just cheating himself cheating the society by not doing what he was supposed to do but his father sees it as impertinence and says i'll give you to death like go to the house of death and so naji keta goes to the house of death and we know that death yama raja the lord of death was away on tour or something and he was not at home he comes back after three days and rajikita has not eaten anything and he's just sitting there waiting for yama raja to come back the lord of death to come back so immediately when he arrives his we don't know who because those voices are not mentioned but somebody tells him so maybe his wife maybe his counselors or his minions or whoever it is they tell him that so this guest has come to your house this little brahmin boy has come to your house he enters your house like fire so the fire imagery is uh evocative because fire can do a lot good to us and can burn down our house also so fire gives us illumination and fire gives us warmth but fire when it is not used properly can you know sorry burn everything to ashes similarly so this guest has come this esteemed guest has come to your house by his blessings by his good wishes you may attain to knowledge illumination you may attain to goodness in life or by neglecting him um you know it's very bad karma so that was said go to him and attend him immediately carry to him water for washing his feet and giving him water to drink and food to eat and so on and greet him so we might imagine these things are fill in the blanks and the commentator shankaracharya helps us here sub commentators help us here the open issue itself does not give us all these details we may imagine that the lord of death yama raja now goes to the boy who is still waiting outside outside the door and again there is something that the upanishad tells us we are not sure who is saying this you know what is the harm if you neglect if you neglect your duty towards a guest so there is a verse about this a mantra eighth mantra the story is going on see in these mantras it's not exactly vedanta we are not talking about the ultimate reality we are not talking about pure consciousness existence bliss you're not talking about the highest goal of human life you're not talking about meditation but the values are being taught here which are foundational to vedanta so that's important what's the harm if if the lord of death or indeed anybody neglects a guest and makes a guest suffer eighth mantra asha pratik says if in anyone's house a brahmin guest abides without food that brahmana destroys hope and expectation the results of holy association and sweet discourse sacrifices and charities sons and cattle all these of the man of little intelligence so that's really bad karma all of these are lost if uh the guest is is uh neglected little more detail here the words used asha pratik shay asha and pratiksha these are actually names used in india girls names you know asha i don't know if anybody's named pratiksa are they named pratiksa asha definitely so what do they mean the difference between asha and pratik shais helps us out here so he gives these nice little notes so if anything you you're not very sure whether you're going to get it something you want something you're not very sure you're going to get it but you're hoping that you'll get it so there's this maybe for example somebody you haven't met in ages you know sort of hoping that one of these days that person will turn up you don't know don't have any information you're just hoping or anything whatever you like in life whatever you want whatever one wants in life we are hoping we'll get it we're hoping that will happen hoping that person will come so whatever you're hoping but there is no no specific information that is going to happen that's called asha hope and expectation expectation is there's something you want and you know you're expecting it to happen maybe your salary is due or there's a guest who has what is it called um you know when you when you say that i'm going to uh i'm going to attend rsvp yes rsvp i was going to say rip that's a rest in peace not rsvp so you know when the guest has rsvp'd you know he's going to come he or she is going to come or some money is due to you or some the new apple phone is being released you know for sure it's going to happen and you're just waiting for it to happen something very nice that is called pratiksha expectation so nice distinction between hope and expectation we sort of knew all this i mean it's of sometimes in these commentaries you get answers to questions you never asked and no answers to questions which you you want to know the answers to so anyway cute distinction between hope and expectation but the dark thing is these are lost what you hope for won't happen if you have neglected the guest what was expected to happen you are sure good things are going to come to you won't happen if you have neglected the guest if you have been you know you have been arrogant or neglectful now remember the lord of death yama was not neglectful on on purpose only inadvertently but still then sangatham he gives the meaning as the connection with associate connection with the um [Music] the association with holy people so the association with the holy you know satsang with a spiritual person with a holy person it has two kinds of benefits one is the direct benefit that you get spiritual knowledge you attend a vedanta class or you ask questions and you get some knowledge out of it but it's supposed to be very good karma you see this is something that is well understood in india in all the indian religions um in hinduism of course but also jainism um and buddhism and sikhism also that you go to a person you know to be saintly or holy and quite apart from above and beyond the knowledge that you gain from that visit it's just good karma for you to be in the association with the holy and there's a reason for that in one of the upanishads it says [Music] it says the enlightened one the one who has realized the self or realized brahman you should approach such a one and serve this this enlightened one they saint him or her who the person who even if you have worldly desires even such a person this is well understood in india so even a person with no particular interest in vedanta or spirituality just wants good stuff in this world um or to overcome bad karma or to go to heaven after death that person would still you know go to a swami or a mataji or somebody and and you know bow down and offer gifts the idea being it's very good karma upanishad says do that because such people have enormous good karma these holy people they have enormous good karma which they will not use because what is good for karma meant for for getting pleasant stuff in this world and for going to heaven after death like naji keta's father was trying to do perform a vedic sacrifice which will generate lots of good karma and then he goes to heaven afterwards but so the the holy ones they have attained enlightenment or they are seeking enlightenment they don't want uh time calm or pleasures and wealth and you know power and success and status in this world they don't even want it even if it was they won't try for it even if it was offered to them they won't take it and they're not even interested in going to heaven after death they want enlightenment and freedom but then what happens to all the good karma they have so hindus are very worried about the calculus the balance of karma so that so the huge surplus of good karma which they are not going to use so it is said that it's a strong belief that those who serve them those who are close to them those upon whom they are pleased whom they bless they get the benefit of that good karma why is it that the blessings of holy people are supposed to be effective it's because of they're very clear the hindu philosophers it has to be somewhere somewhere good karma is being used up where is that surplus coming from it's that only person's good karma enormous amounts of good karma which you get and again the warning here is you lose that another meaning of this sangatam is the connection with the results of all your you know religious and spiritual activity which is swarga moksha those who want doing a lot of rituals so that one goes to heaven after death does not want moksha but wants to go to heaven after death so the connection with that result you have done all that what has to be needed what is what's needed to be done and so now you expect to go to heaven after death won't happen why because you neglected the guest or you misbehaved with the guest and also for us those who are here we are interested in enlightenment and moksha freedom that's our goal spiritual liberation nothing worldly that also is blocked and then obstruction comes up for that if um one neglects the guests so very strong warnings moksha swagga fella the result of heaven after death and the result of enlightenment and spiritual freedom both are blocked then sunritam sunita means good literally means good speech beneficial speech so the speech that you have when you talk to a good person a holy person which is beneficial for you those those benefits the benefit of that speech is lost speech is supposed to even your own speech which is supposed to be highly beneficial if you um the the rules are uh the benefits of truth speaking the benefits of speaking um the beneficial thing you know you're saying the truth and that which is helpful for others and mitum vitam means limited don't speak too much also it means sweet not harsh so there's a well-known saying in india tatyam weather and then sweet tell the truth yes so it's a well-known saying tell the truth tell that which is sweet or tell it sweetly and don't say something that is not that is harsh it may be true but it's also harsh i mentioned this earlier i like this you know mark twain one in one place he says with his characteristic humor he says that those who claim you know they are very proud of that we like the brutal uh honesty brutal truth we like the brutal truth often mark twain says i have noticed they are more fond of the brutality than the truth so but all of those careful speech that you're disciplined in speech the benefit of that is lost if the guest is not taken care of then ishtab uttam ishtaputa are two kinds of practices which a religious person a devout person in vedic times was supposed to undertake ishta means all those vedic sacrifices so the religious rituals of a devout vedic person in those times they're called ishta ishta is one of the name is uh is a name for vedic rituals actually and purtha are all the social service activities um activities of charity and generosity so these are the things that you're supposed to do as a devout person and they generate good karma so there are a lot of discussions on this what are these ishta and puta let me read out a little bit so for example so i'm explaining the words ishta and puta this is from the sanghita [Music] is austerities like fasting satya holding on to the truth vedanam jaivapalanam regular practice or chanting of the vedas which is the vedas were divided according to family you know so you had a branch of the vedas which you're supposed to protect protect means um read it chanted regularly and teach it to the next generation so that's part of the ishta adityam so taking care of the guest notice so it comes in here honoring the guest vaishwa so some certain sacrifices for example that required you to so take care of the environment plants and animals and trees and feed the birds and um you know dogs and cats and all so all of the living beings all of these together are known as easter and you lose the fruits of all of this if you don't take care of the guests then what is the puta the other kind of activity the sec these are all said to be devotional or religious activities connected with the vedas then there is a set of activities which are secular so for the welfare of society again this is from the sanghita what is meant by put or what activities [Music] [Music] um like a big pond and so you make a big pond at like a place which the people of the village or the town can use you sponsor it digging that big pond cooper is a well digging a well taraga is a sort of in-between source of water not as small as a well not as big as a big pond but these are all sources of water you can see how important water was to an agrarian civilization a place of worship a house of worship you make a house of worship anna offer food to the hungry upavana etc um like make a park or you know like donate to a park you can see all of that you know in any good society right here if you see all the volunteer activities the charity activities right now right here you have the central park for example how much of it is maintained by the donations of of charitable people how much of it it depends on the volunteer activity of so many people working you know in teams and cleaning up the place so all of this is called purtha which goes to maintaining a healthy society again we lose all the benefits of this the good karma from all the purtha by neglecting the guests then what else is there one more point i'd like to point out here is the importance of the guests so that's another thing it's just a little bit of a tangent which is a big thing in uh indian civilization indians even till today are known for their hospitality but this goes way back in from ancient times there was a great stress on taking care of the aditi and the word atheisti is very interesting it means without literally without appointment so someone who drops in on you means a particular date there's no particular date is he's coming i mean he's just this uh this person visits you of course with the appointment without a appointment but a guest um couple of quotations this is from the manusang so when the guest comes immediately offer a seat and offer water annam honored the guest said as you know like whatever the protocol of the uh the formalities are for that particular kind of guest and then offer food up to your capacity whatever you can offer you should offer food to the guests all the all your the manusangita says so all of this all the good things that you do are lost if a guest an honored guest like a brahmin guest for example comes to your house and is not honored is not taken care of all everything is lost so this sort of you can see it's in line with what the lord of death yama is saying and the manusangita backs this up it's also in the vedas there's a quotation from the atharva veda which says that one should not eat before the guest has eaten so the best things that you have offer it to to get guests the smart purvi before the guest has eaten before the guest has been offered the best that you have do not eat yourself manusangita also says the guest is verily the dweller of the world of indra the lord of the world of indra which is indra the god lord of the gods so that kind of honor is given to the guest okay that's a lot about the aditi about the guest what else has been said here so ishta and put our lost putra on children and cattle why cattle cattle was wealth in those days all of these are lot not lot lot literally you may not literally lose your kids or your cattle but just that things don't go well for the family for your property and all of that either the word means set aside but literally it means you're lost so the technical the etymological here mean it's lost for whom purusha for that man for that person who is of low in low intelligence so it's an intelligent person who takes care of the guest at this point we'll say okay we got the point the guest is king our guest is queen we got it now by this time the lord of death must be thoroughly frightened because the guest has been ignored and he's going to lose everything now so he comes and he speaks now in the mantra number nine so now he is speaking death is speaking to the boy nachiketa tisa [Music] [Music] o brahmin since you have lived in my house for three nights without food a guest and an adorable person as you are let my salutations be to you and let good accrue to me by averting the fault arising from that lapse ask for three boons one in respect of each night that means each day and night with which you have spent at my doorstep so notice he uses the word brahman oh brahman twice so it's showing how much respect he has for the little boy who is waiting so yama you can imagine lord of death must be a very impressive personality and here is just this little boy who's not even 10 years old somebody told me something very interesting yesterday that it seems child psychology is one of the things that they have come upon is children at the age of seven or eight is the first time they um become aware of mortality or death the concept becomes understandable sometimes children get traumatized by the first understanding of the possibility what death actually means i don't know whether a child cannot understand it before that or but anyway seven or eight it's very interesting that najib is seven or eight years that's been mentioned there and the question is he's going to the house of death and the question he's going to ask is about death what happens after that what's the whole secret of death interesting connection so he has waited three nights this have waited three nights brahman oh oh guest oh you brahmin boy namasiya you are namaste i i offer you my salutation swasti myasthu let good fortune attend to me so swasti normally the word used in sanskrit swasti means good fortune so good karma good fortune that is symbolized by swasti here it means one of the derivative meanings by our commentator is swasti means avinash non-destruction non-destruction of what non-destruction of all my good karma so he knows the problem is that i stand to lose a lot because i've neglected you unless you are happy unless i can make you happy and stand to lose a lot so let me not lose that this is what he is he has good fortune he is the lord of death he is enormously powerful but that he does not want to lose um tasma prathi three invariant so he offers him to the famous part of the story where he offers him three boons i want to make up so three nights and three days you've spent at my door in utter neglect so and i didn't intend that to happen but still it happened so i'm going to make up for that by offering offering you offering the three boons ask what you want whatever you want i'll fulfill it he's enormously powerful he's one of his yama is still one of the gods with the small g but one of the most powerful gods like indra the king of the gods agni the god of fire varuna the god of water on the ocean and why you the god of air yama is another very powerful one of the principle like cabinet secretaries or something like that so he can offer three boons a little um again a little tangent at this point something you know it struck my memory it just came up years ago in calcutta in the institute of culture this very noted scholar pandit traditional pundit so he asked sort of rhetorically i think that uh what more did vivekananda um say or what mode what new idea did he give about you know the service of humanity it's all there in ishita the words which we used so the traditional vedic teaching of um the ishta the the vedic rights and the service of guests and so on all those things we read about plus the purtha all the secular do good activities in society you know you take care of society make sure people are comfortable you give in in charity that's it it's all there so when swami vivekananda says you serve the poor and all that what what new thing i mean what is this big thing you all you all means we monks ramakrishna mission we make about swami vivekananda this karma yoga on what is he was a philosopher so he says philosophically what's new philosophically practically what's new both as an idea and it's in its effect what is so revolutionary it's all there thousands of years ago even before the upanishads in the karma kanda in the ritualistic portion of the vedas it's all well set up set out and nicely codified and people practiced it there are these big movements in the idea of spiritualizing work so one is all these do good activities this charity this philanthropy which was there for the benefit of all and this would give you good karma remember the motive was you get a lot of good karma out of it and you go to heaven or your life is much better because of it that was the motive and this was a kind of personal charity that you would do as your religious duty and depending upon the wealth that you have that was one idea what krishna did much later in the bhagavad-gita when he taught arjuna he says not charity all your activities if you now you want enlightenment moksha god realization now what do you do with your life the old vedic idea was that as long as you're a householder be a devout vedic householder and yes you will do good you'll take care of your own life and do good to society how do you do good these things charity philanthropy that was the idea and if you want to become enlightened free of the entire cycle of birth and death free of the whole thing then give up all that all that ishisha put in all of that give up the worldly pursuits give up other worldly pursuits don't try to go to heaven also become an aesthetic a spiritual seeker and go to the master learn the upanishads very austere life of total renunciation and engage in uh study and listening to the teachings of vedanta then reason upon it and once you have understood it stay with it in in deep consistent long meditation upon it till you become enlightened and you're free what about the philanthropy and the the do good activities you know the charity now see what happens is you can't do it because you've given up all the means to do charity in any way that's a distraction now notice so this is there a very clear distinction between karma khan the ritualistic portion the activities of a householder be a devout good householder and if you want more than that give up the whole thing and become monk or monk like and go all out for enlightenment through vedanta what krishna said to arjuna was was he revolutionary he said you continue to be this is this transition is internal it's not an external thing it's not that you actually give up your activities your family your the word way of life you may or you may not but what is essential is you must transform the whole paradigm of what you are doing the vedic ritualist has the paradigm of i am this individual i'm trying to make up i'm trying to live the best possible life i can let me live up an honorable life a moral life be good here and go to heaven after death yes i'll come back again but i'll keep ensuring that i have a good ride because i've got good karma and the other one was no all of this is samsara it's good samsara but still samsara swami vivekananda said chains though of gold are not less strong to bind then off with them [Music] cut those chains even the good ones good ones good work vedic ritualism ishtar put all of that krishna said this transformation has to be internal oh arjuna you were seeking the kingdom that's why you have come to fight this battle you were seeking to punish the wrongdoers you were seeking revenge for what had been done to draupadi all of that notable good but worldly goals good moral but world equals now you say i don't want to fight i don't want the kingdom what is the point of a kingdom with you know by which for which i have to kill my relatives and krishna arjuna says that it's soaked in the blood of my relatives how would i enjoy it anyway so krishna says fine here is the old upanishadic idea of enlightenment and the second chapter of the gita krishna just talks about entirely about the upanishadic idea of enlightenment you'll see sometimes he quotes from the katopani in the gita now arjuna's idea would be okay i've heard of this earlier so that means i don't want to be a warrior anymore i don't want to be a prince a father i don't want to be a person in society i'm going to go off and become a monk and search for enlightenment and krishna says stop there is another way you continue to be what you are and transform your activities whatever activities you are doing into from karma into karma yoga karma yoga is transforming our actions our daily actions um you know in the family in the office in your workplace in community instead of doing it for good karma and good life here and going to heaven now you do it for vedanta for enlightenment how will that help that will prepare the mind build the character then only vedanta works the qualifications which vedant insists on high moral and ethical qualifications discipline of the mind all of that comes from karma yoga so krishna says transform your activities into karma yoga you don't have to give up all that you can still be in the midst of all activities and family and all of that and become a vedante and become enlightened too change is necessary renunciation is necessary but krishna moves it inwards psychological so now what becomes of karma karma is all your daily activities not just a little bit of philantrophy or some little you know rituals all your daily activities which you might have earlier considered secular all of that now becomes spiritualized the goal is purification of mind i do all these activities as worship of god so that is karma yoga taught by krishna you can see it's a radical rethinking of what action is in the way that it was more clear-cut the action portion and the knowledge portion and it sort of followed though the vedas did not say that openly but it sort of followed you would have two different kinds of life there would be a household of life there would be a monastic life that's why sort of monastic life was at that time open for everybody and everywhere is expected if you want moksha you become a monk like krishna said it's have to become month like renunciation is important it's not exactly that you have to give up your your status or your duties as a warrior do that now as a worship of god spiritualize your daily life spiritualize your daily activities even the so-called secular activities now notice one thing so this is all in context of what that scholar told me how is vivekananda revolutionary notice already from the vedas to krishna a huge transformation a paradigm shift has happened not just a few rituals not just a few acts of philanthropy but all your activities in the day your family your job your community all those activities are now spiritual acts i'm worshiping my lord through those acts okay now fast forward to vivekananda 19th century how is that a further advance over krsna's karma yoga vivekananda's karma yoga so videos karma yoga follows from ramakrishna shiva gyani jivaseva service to all sentient beings knowing them to be shiva knowing them knowing that jiva is shiva all living beings are that that ultimate reality uh just now i was walking in central park so one of these persons i know who hangs out there here's this little dog and see once in a while he catches me with a with a philosophical question so i was just coming out of the park just about 30 one hour ago she caught me and he said swami this little fellow his little chihuahua i think this little fellow does he have thoughts and feelings does he have awareness he said yes he's a sentient being just like us there's almost tears in his eyes so thank you swami we know that we you know that we appreciate you so i have this interesting set of friends there in the park some of them are the last of the hippies some of them are um they they spend all day singing beatles songs there in the strawberry field and all sorts of people some of them are also high and that's the other thing altogether so you have a whole assorted set but so all sentient beings are they are not just individual little beings they are all they're all shiva and i'm worshiping shiva through my acts the acts what are acts service to sentient beings especially service to humanity now how is this more than what krishna said it's not just your daily activities it is not just as a method of purifying your mind rather it will purify your mind and all your daily activities are included but much more than that it is service to humanity at large even all sentient beings at large something beyond your daily activities so for example transforming society swami vivekananda the two great sins of india the neglect of the oppression of the masses and the neglect of women now transforming society a better more just more equitable society that is not part of your daily round of duties that's not what question i was talking about when you said to when you talk to arjuna arjuna this is whatever your duties are do them as worship of god and the vedic idea of easter was among all your duties one part of it is rituals another part of it is charity plus you have many secular stuff lot of secular stuff to do so you can see the changes in paradigm you have a duty to you have a you know your your service to the whole of society so a society free of the iniquities of caste or race or gender a society where all your actions are rendered up as worship to the divine in all beings that that's the attitude to some even more powerful karma yoga than what krishna had thought and certainly that was itself a huge advance over the ishta putta which is mentioned in the vedas further one more point and move ahead what swami vivekananda was saying is is actually the expression of an enlightened person see when krishna teaches arjuna when the buddha teaches humanity christ teaches humanity are they teaching in order to purify their own are they first of all are they teaching so that they can go to heaven they don't care for the temporary heavens so it's not like the ishtar put the idea not for good karma or is it like krsna's karma yoga where you are doing that as a preparation for vedantic knowledge as a purification of the mind to inculcate selflessness and discipline no krishna and christ and shankara and ramakrishna buddha they're already enlightened they are far beyond that so why are they serving humanity why are they doing good to humanity it's an expression of their enlightenment they see the oneness they cannot do otherwise it's an expert that that love that of that compassion that comes for everybody is an expression of their enlightenment it's not something they're doing as a practice for their own benefit even spiritual benefit now that attitude salaam krishna would call it the attitude of a vigne that can also be practiced by us even before enlightenment that becomes the philosophy now so it's a vast much broader idea of karma yoga here karma yoga becomes an expression of enlightenment it becomes the same as ghana yoga then okay let's stop there i didn't say it in all these details to that pandit he wouldn't have he would have been annoyed but this is my answer to that pandit who told me what is the advance of vivekananda over ishta puta mentioned in the vedas this is advanced moving on so he offers three boons now nachiketa speaks to yama this is a famous part of the dialogue you know where yama offers three boons and ajiketa asks the first one the second one and the third one before i read out the verse the mantra notice the three boons of nachiket if you take a big picture look at it everybody concentrates on the third one the third one is that uh about atman where the whole teaching about vedanta starts that's why people get impatient now hurry it up it's just the story when is when is vedanta going to start but the story is very good it teaches many things but if you look at the first second and third bones the first boon is that you know let me go back home and when i go back home my father will recognize me my father let my father be fine you know he wants his father not to be angry with him it's very cute as you can see that he's a little boy he's very worried that his father is mad at him that's the first thing he asks the second thing he asks is what's the best possible fire ritual karma kanda the whole karma portion of the vedas in which he sees his father and his all the people in his community they are very busy performing these rituals so show me you know little little boy the best one i want the best teach me what's the best one the third one is about atman enlightenment but if you look at it look at the big picture exactly what has he done he has asked for something in this world about his parents about his family and to settle the problems there he has asked for something in the next world to how to go to heaven after death and the best possible heaven and finally he has asked for enlightenment and moksha freedom basically he has covered all the bases yeah whatever one could ask for but in a very enlightened way he in the worldly sense he is just worried about his father and that's it doesn't want anything for himself but his father let my father be happy with me again that's a big thing for a kid and then heaven what all these grown-ups are worried about going to heaven going to heaven let me go to heaven that's that's also great and third the ultimate question what's all this what's the point of it what's going on here what is the secret of death of life and death i want to know that so that's the big picture the first boon verse number 10 mantra number 10 o death of the three boons i ask this one is the first namely that my father gotama may become free from anxiety calm of mind freed from anger towards me and he may recognize me and talk to me when freed by you what a kid see he is quite innocently notice how many things he has packed into one boon if you actually count he says first and most important he just takes it for granted i'm going back home that's what you would be scared about when you say go to the house of death is that that's it my life is over i'm dying it doesn't even seem to occur to him he's so innocent about it he's not even asking that reverse death let me go back to life he says when i when you send me back home i'm not going to go back you're going to send me back home so i'm going to go back home that's that's of course given you can see yama smiling you know a little smile on his lips the thing twinkle in his eyes when he hears all this and so many other things the ask is very big uh my father let him be freed of an anxiety so the commentator says what kind of anxiety his father must be sad his father his father's mind must be a mixture of anger and misery and an anxiety what's that little boy doing how is he faring in the house of death in the land of death so let him be free of anxiety till the point i go back of course he'll see me but before that right now let him let him relax let him be letting his mind be set at at ease that's one if you count that way and then let him become calm that is um we this is you know the sanskrit word is sumana a wholesome mind a serene mind free of anxiety happy mind let's put it this way happy mind then vidamanu free of anger he's worried about that one because dad was mad at me the last time i saw him so let him not be angry with me and then the next one that he may recognize me when i go back so another thing occurs to him if i go back and doesn't recognize me that's no good because he might think i am a ghost so and all of this is supplied by the sub subcommentators one commentator says come back from dead he looks like our son and so he must be a ghost you know when we are kids we had comics american comics those were expensive to come by but we had stuff like batman superman but there was also another one casper it was the friendly ghost so his dad might get scared you know that this boy must be a ghost so to to take care of that he asks yama the lord of death to fix that don't let him think i'm a ghost let him recognize me and let him talk to me nicely as he used to talk to me earlier let him be nice to me notice how many i was just sitting and counting first of all freed from death and go back home and that also death has to arrange see he came on his own but he has to be sent back by death so death has to pay for his flight back that's one and that's taken for granted the second one is that my father let him be let him be peaceful right now let him be free of anxiety third one is let him be happy in mind the fourth one is let his anger towards mikko and the fifth one is let him recognize me let him not think that i'm a ghost the sixth one is let him um talk to me nicely like glabeh used to earlier so all of this and educator quite innocently without the slightest hesitation he thinks it's one boon and so there is a saying in [Music] in bengali shonar pathur bhati which is a golden stone plate and bowls so you can't have a stone and a gold plate it but both you want both it's like the story goes there was a man who worshipped who prayed to god and shiva shiva appears before him and said i'll give you a boon what do you want one bud and the man said i want to eat a hearty meal on gold plates with my grandchildren which means he is going to be married and have children and i have grandchildren live long enough to have grandchildren and be healthy enough to eat a hearty meal and be rich enough to have golden plates all of that in one room so nachiket accomplished something like this and you can just imagine the twinkled in yama's eyes you know when he when he grants it anasiketa makes it very clear this is the first boom other wounds are not used up yet only one i'm using up only one for all of this then death says [Music] having recognized having recognized you adalaki aruni will be possessed of affection just as he had before seeing you freed from the jaws of death he will get over his anger and will with my permission sleep happiness happily for many a night so he grants all of that whatever you ask for everything your your father will relax you will go back from death and he'll recognize you he'll be delighted to see you that you're back from death he will love you just like he loved earl i loved you earlier all his anger will be gone all of that done you get all of what you asked for just a little completely unnecessary but because the commentators wrangle over it notice the names keep shifting so his father's name was rajasthan in the earlier mantra his name is my father gautama now they had different names each person especially the esteemed ones you know it was prestigious to have multiple names so it's quite possible his name was rajasthan because he was the son of vayastrava and his his own name his father's nachiketa's father's own name was gautama but then this gets worse in this mantra you have two more names aruni all referring to nashiketa's father this gets a bit too much that's four names already so what's going on here shankaracharya gives some explanations and they're complicated ones and subcommentators give some explanation all of it is not pertinent to us but i'll just give you a sample of what's going on here it also gives an insight into the vedic culture of these people so the complicated answer is um there is a term shankaracharya uses which means a person who can claim descent from two lineages why would this happen the uh the crucial thing is a very important ritual for hindus even today is the pindarana so when ancestors pass away fathers mothers grandparents great grandparents you are offered you are supposed to offer a ritual in the ritual to your ancestors a rice ball is offered it's called a pinda so that's very important and why is that important the belief is that this helps the departed ancestors to attain to higher words so you would want your son and ritualistically it was the son who was supposed to perform these rituals not the daughter although nowadays even daughters can do it i have seen it been done so it's important that you have a son and that son does this ritual for you when you're dead and gone so spindalana now imagine a person who does not have a son but has a daughter now one arrangement they used to make was when this daughter gets married and if she has a son then the arrangement would be that son would not only offer that rice ball the pinder for his father that is the daughter's husband his son-in-law but also for the daughter's father so he would act ritualistically as the son for uh the daughter's father and also for the daughter and her husband so it's like having two lineages one coming from the mother's side the father there and one his own father okay how does this all help us uh this helps us because now we have two lineages here abdallaki aruni so and all this is about nachiketa's father so naji keta's father his his father would have been uddhalaka and his mother's father might have been aruna the rishi aruna although another interpretation is his mother will be uh aruna so one of these possibilities if that sounds all complicated doesn't mean much it just is struggling to explain why there's such a variety of names for nachiketa's father who is anyway a sort of side player for the whole story so udallaki aruni because nasi keda's father might be one such case where the agreement was he would not not only offer the sacred rice balls for his mother and father when they pass but also for his mother's father so two lineages are in him all right so that was the first boon and rajikita gets a very good deal i think he gets whatever he wants here all those demands are satisfied let me quickly look at the comments so rick says he had a near-death experience yes today we might call it that an nde a near death experience and punish by beyond death experience beyond okay be why it's being shared with us shubhadeep says yama who is supposed to be an enlightened person bothered about losing his good karma i guess not but it's part of the story don't ask too much he'll ruin the story or he just might be setting a good example just might be good setting a good example for the rest of us don't neglect the guest and again yama himself he's enlightened because he will teach the the truth about the athman about the self but then all these concerns were raised by his family so maybe he doesn't want his family to suffer so yama has also a wife and he has got a family or he has a kingdom he has his whole department to run the department of death he doesn't want its budget to be slashed god with the capital g might slash the budget budget for the department of death he's quite quite the bureaucrat is protecting his his bureaucratic empire yes good um all right i think that's enough for today because the next question takes us to an entirely different level where we take a quick look look at this entire field this entire um this culture of vedic sacrifices so we'll be although this is an upanishad it's supposed to be beyond the real and the limits of vedic sacrifices we've gone beyond that but it's you can see how the upanishads are solidly set in the vedic culture of those times the terms are there so people follow those have those beliefs the practices are the same and people still want that even nachiketa asks for the secret of the best kind of vedic all sacrifice bryce chit comes to mind appraised it in what sense for neglecting the guests yes so for neglecting the guest that he might be he might be feeling bad about he may not be particularly concerned about good karma or bad karma but yes he has neglected the guest and he wants to at tone for that so priced it are the acts of atonement so the vedic rights are related to praise chit isn't it there are vedic critics of various kinds there are nitya karma daily rights to be done like agni hotra the daily rituals which are part of the ishtar there are praise chitta karmas which are atonement rights so if one feels that one has or if one knows that one has committed sins or mistakes or lapses one might go through those rituals to atone for that and they are karmia karmas there are specific rituals which will help you to satisfy specific desires some of them might be worldly you know wealth and rainfall and children curing a disease all of that in this world going to heaven and a selection of heavens where available to you you can go to the you know to the bahamas or to to hawaii or to fiji so a selection of heavenly places are available to you and that also depends upon the kind of ritual you perform so there are different kinds of rituals beyond all of this was enlightenment god realization all right [Music] namaste [Music]