KATHA UPANISHAD : 4. Swami Advayananda.

 ===============================================================

==============================================================

Tuesday, April 26, 2022, 21:00

(Parts 1 & 2) : 

Part 1 – Total 71 Verses

Chapters 1.1, 1.2 & 1.3.

Chapter 1.1: (29 verses) : The story of Nachiketeas in the House of Death

 (“A Leap Into the Beyond”) :  Bhashyam by Sri Swami Adi Shankaracharya ji.

=============================================================

Mantram -1.1.3: Gifts Not Worth the Name

Nachiketas to himself:

1" Pitodaka,  jagdha-truna, 2 dugdha-doha,  nir-indriyah;

3 ananda nama te lokah 4 tan sah gacchati ta dadat."

===========================================================

Translation :

Nachiketas to himself:

1Pitodaka,  jagdha-truna, = “(These cows) have drunk water (for the last time),  and eaten grass (for the last time),

2 dugdha-doha,  nir-indriyah; = they have yielded all their milk (cannot yield any more),  and have lost their senses (become barren).

3 ananda nama te lokah  = Joyless, indeed, are the worlds

4 tan sah gacchati ta dadat.  = to which he goes who gives these as presents!”

================================================================

Commentary :

1-2 The cows being given were too old even to eat grass or drink water, let alone produce any milk or bear calves. Such cows, which would become a burden to the one receiving them, were being given by the father. They could not produce any more calves at their age. They were totally useless. Some miserliness must have crept into him who had given away so much in the sacrifice. The boy felt he had to help his father to understand the serious consequences of giving such gifts.

3-4 His father would stand to lose all the merit of performing the sacrifice. The very purpose, for which he had done this sacrifice, would be defeated.

How to bring this to his father’s notice without annoying him, whom he loved dearly? Being very intelligent, he had to be as tactful as his age permitted, so as not to hurt his father. This is how he did it….

*****

NEXT

Mantram 1.1.4: Father’s Curse on Nachiketas

To be continued ....

================================================================