Death on Immortality

M N CHATTERJEE





In the Katha Upanishad, there is this story of a young boy's dialogue with death. Sage Vajasravasa performed a sacrificial rite that required him to give up all his possessions and pleasures. But he gifted away only diseased, old and lame cows. Sensing his folly , his young son Nachiketa asked him, “Father, to whom will you give me?“ Upon the son's persistence, the father lost patience and burst out, “I give you to death.“Nachiketa proceeded to the realm of death. But Yama, the king of death, was out. Upon returning after three days, he offered Nachiketa three boons.The boy first asked for his father's well-being. Second, he sought the knowledge required to perform fire sacrifice that could open up the path to heaven.
But Yama was taken aback at the third request: what happens after death. Upon being unable to dissuade the boy from his quest, Yama spoke to him of death and the metaphysical speculations on immortality .He dwelt on what's good, sreya, and what's pleasant, preya.Sreya implies whatever leads to true well-being, and preya includes short-lived pleasures derived through sense organs.
Yama instructed Nachiketa to know the atman, the self, “the ancient effulgent being, the indwelling spirit, deeply hidden in the lotus of the heart. It is difficult. But the wise, following the path of meditation, know him and are freed alike from pleasure and pain.“
The self is immortal. One who has realised that the self is separate from the body , the mind and the senses has fully known him and becomes immortal.