Katha Upanishad Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Katha Upanishad is about the dialogue
Between Nachiketas the little son
Of Vahasarva and Yema, the Death God.
When pleased to offer three boons by Yema,
Nachiketas' first wish was about his father.
Yema agreed to remove his father's worries.
His nex wish was about the realm of heaven.
Yema granted this, prescribing the rituals.
His third wish about the soul after death.
Hearing that, he avoided to fulfil it
And offered many to be rejected.
But Nachiketas 'insisted on it,
Rejecting even a long life offered.
Yama had no choice but to fulfil this.

Good and pleasant approach each person.
The one who opts for good will seek wisdom.
The one who opts for pleasant will perish.
Wide apart are ignorance and wisdom'
The wise one knows that the soul in him is God.
Those in ignorance will go for re-birth.
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;
Beyond this is nothing, which is the goal.

A wise one controls speech by the mind, mind
By the intellect, intellect by the soul,
And the soul by the supreme Self. Those who know
That which is without any attribute
Can escape the mouth of death, said Yema.
Those who pursue pleasures are to the laws
Of death slaves, thus continues Yema's teaching.
That by which you can smell, taste, hear, touch, know form
And sense enjoyment can also be used
To know that which remains to be known.
Thinking of that which is Unborn, one grieves
No more; and being freed from ignorance,
One attains liberation, declared Yema.

The spirit is one and take different shapes
In different living beings; the Self
Is seated within. Those who know find peace.
By the light of this Self everything is seen,
The sun, the moon; the Self cannot be seen
By eyes but heart, mind, and the intellect.
Senses and the mind stilled, with intellect
No more active - that is the highest state.
When all the desires in the heart cease
The mortal becomes immortal to feel God.
Upon death, the path penetrating through head
Would head to liberation and the rest
Lead downward to different worlds, he ended.
08.03.2023