Katha Upanishad Summary – What Happens to the Soul After Death

I resonate with its expositions and I like the literary way of presenting the exposed truths, which reminds me of Bhagavad Gita in this sense. In general, in Indian sacred literature it’s very usual to present universal truths in the framework of some sort of interesting story, whose likely purpose is to make the mind more alert to the truths that follow.

Here I’m providing the summary of the most important points covered in this Upanishad, in the hope that you will find it inspiring and informative. (This summary is based on Swami Paramananda’s translation of the Upanishad.)

Katha Upanishad summary

A man by the name of Vahasrava made a sacrifice by giving away all that he had so as to gain heavenly pleasures. As a result of this sacrifice a son was born to him whom he named Nachiketas.

When Nachiketas was just a boy, he saw the father making another sacrifice – he was about to give away his cattle. Seeing that the cattle were old, he offered himself to be given away as a gift instead, for the father to receive greater blessings.

He approached his father and asked three times to whom his father would give him away. The father got annoyed by the boy’s bugging of him during the sacrifice ritual, and angrily told to his son: “I’ll give you to death.”

Nachiketas, hearing these words, understood that they were said because of annoyance. But he also knew that life on the earth was useless – people like plants spring from the earth only to die, and to spring forth again. So he decided to convince his father to send him to the god of death. He attempted to do so by describing to his father the transience of human life.

The father, having listened to his son, agreed to keep his word and allow the boy to visit Yama, the god of death.

Nachiketas’ visit to Yama

When Nachiketas entered the abode of death, Yama was absent. He waited for him for three days, and when Yama finally arrived and found out that a guest was without food or drink for this long, he got uneasy; in Hindu homes it’s told that if a guest isn’t properly welcomed, some misfortune might happen.

Trying to take matters into his hands, Yama offered the guest to select three boons.

Nachiketas’ first wish was about his father. He asked the god of death to remove all the worry from his father, and also asked to make his father recognize him once the boy is sent home.

Yama agreed to make this true.

Nachiketas’ second wish was to know how to get to the realm of heaven, where there’s no death or suffering, and no attachments to food and similar things.

Yama granted this wish also, explaining the ritual needed to get to this dimension.

Nachiketas’ third wish was about the understanding of what happens to the soul after death.

Yama, hearing such a wish, tried to avoid fulfilling it. He told that this subject was subtle indeed, and even higher beings didn’t know about it. Instead of answering the question, he asked Nachiketas to think of another boon instead.

But Nachiketas was firm in his desire to know this truth, and thus didn’t give up. He reasoned that since not even higher beings knew of this subject, the god of death was a perfect being to explain it.

Yama didn’t give up either; he tried to tempt Nachiketas with all the worldly offers of wealth, fame and lust fulfillment – the three “gifts” which bind the soul to the earth. But Nachiketas was an awakened soul; he knew that all the treasures of the world are impermanent and only deplete one’s vigor and finally bring old age.

Nachiketas even refused a long life, since life, no matter how long, will finish. Who, having gotten a glimpse of the immortal plane, would wish to live long anyway, seeing how decayed the current plane is?

So Nachiketas refused such a boon of earthly pleasures, and instead stuck to his decision to know about the soul’s destiny after death. Yama had no choice but to fulfill his promise. His lecture therefore started.

What happens to the soul after death

There is a difference between “good” and “pleasant”. These two have totally different effects. One should choose only “good”, because by choosing the “pleasant” one becomes bound.

Both the “good” and the “pleasant” approach each person. The wise one stops and thinks about both options before selecting one. The wise one will choose the “good”, but the foolish one will choose the “pleasant” because of his love for bodily pleasure. Accepting the gift of “pleasure”, many mortals perish.

Wide apart are ignorance and wisdom, leading to totally opposite directions. Those who are not tempted by pleasure are the ones who long for wisdom. Foolish ones dwelling in ignorance yet thinking themselves very wise, go round and round this wheel of births and deaths. Never they think of another realm but the earth, blinded by its glitter. Those who think this world to be the only one, fall under the rule of death again and again.

The earthly treasure will pass, and the eternal cannot be attained by that which is not eternal.

The wise one knows that the soul is seated in the cave of one’s heart. He who knows that that one is God, is liberated from the chains of joy and sorrow. The one who will reflect on this truth will find the source of true joy.

No matter how much one studies and intellectualizes, the Self cannot be attained in this way. It’s the Self that will choose to reveal its reality to whomever it chooses. If one’s mind is chaotic and one hasn’t yet turned away from evil ways, it would be impossible to control the senses and peacefully be, and such one would never be able to behold the Self.

Beyond the senses are the objects, beyond the objects is the mind, beyond the mind is the intellect, beyond the intellect is the great soul.

Beyond the great soul is the Unmanifest; beyond the Unmanifest is the Cosmic Soul, beyond this is nothing. That is the end, the final goal.

A wise one controls speech by the mind; mind by the intellect; intellect by the soul, and the soul by the Supreme Self [the Holy Spirit, the Higher Self]. Only those can escape the mouth of death who know That which is without any attributes.

Ignorant ones pursue external pleasures; because of that they are slaves to the laws of death. But the wise ones, knowing of immortality, do not seek permanent among the fleeting things.

That by which you can smell, taste, hear, touch, know form and sense enjoyments, can also be used to know that which remains to be known.

What’s in the visible world, is also in the invisible. Those who see the difference in these go from death to death. One can realize that there’s no difference between these two by the mind only.

The soul resides in the middle of the body and is always the same. The one who gets to know it will never fear anything again.

Thinking of that which is Unborn, one grieves no more; and being freed from ignorance, one attains liberation.

The teaching continues

Some souls enter wombs to be embodied; some enter immovable forms depending on their past actions and knowledge.

Although spirit is one, it assumes different shapes in different living beings. And although the spirit is inside and outside all living beings, no misery of the world can defile it. Only to those who understand that this Self is seated within belongs eternal peace.

By the Light of this Self all is seen; everything in this world, the sun and the moon included, borrows its light. It’s the eternal among the changing, consciousness among the conscious; if one doesn’t get to know this Self before death, one will have to be reborn again.

Knowing that the senses are not of the Self and so their rising and setting are separate from it, the wise one grieves no more.

This Self cannot be seen by physical eyes. It can only be perceived by the heart, by the intellect, and by the mind.

When the mind and the five organs of perception are stilled, and the intellect is no more active – that is known to be the highest state. The firm control over the senses is called “Yoga”. Once this is achieved, one should be watchful, as “Yoga” comes and goes.

When all the desires in the heart cease, when all the heart’s ties are cut, then the mortal becomes immortal and realizes God.

Upon death, the consciousness will have to go through one of the paths of the heart. There are hundred and one of them, and only one leads to liberation, going up and penetrating the centre of the head. All the other hundred paths lead downwards to different worlds.

Resource: simonarich.com