THE LEGEND OF NACHIKETAS.
1.
NACHIKETAS, righteous boy,— By his father sent below,— From the mighty king of Death, His great secret feign would know! “There is doubt,”—so spake the boy— “When an earthly mortal dies, Is that death his final end?— Or does he live in earth or skies?”
2.
Unto him thus answered Yama, “Nachiketas! you speak well, Mortals often ask that question, Gods that question often feel! Nachiketas! ’tis my secret,— Secret unto all unknown,— Ask for every other favour, Death’s great secret leave alone!
3.
“Ask for sons and happy grandsons— They a hundred years will live,— Ask for gold and cars and horses,— Every blessing mortals crave! Ask for broad and spacious acres, Ask for harvests rich and rare, Many autumns,—as thou willest,— Live without a pang or fear!
4.
“Nachiketas! other objects If thy anxious heart desire, Ask for them,—for wealth or glory,— Dread refusal nor my ire! Be a king of mighty kingdoms, Be a lord upon the earth, Happy in thy life’s fruition, Be the foremost in thy worth!
5.
“Every wish thy heart can fathom, Ask for joys on earth so rare; With their cars and heavenly music Take these heavenly damsels fair! Be attended by these maidens,— Such as they men do not see,— Ask for these and other favours, Leave my secret unto me!”
6.
“These are,” Nachiketas answered, “Objects that will fade away, What will please us in the present, Fade to-morrow and decay! Keep thy dance and keep thy music, For great objects let me pray, Teach me thy great secret, Yama,— Secret of the after-day!”
7.
Pressed by pious Nachiketas, Death his secret thus revealed, “To the man of contemplation Life and Death their secret yield. And he sees the ancient Soul, Hid in dark from mortal eyes, Sees the great and mighty Self,— God pervading earth and skies!
8.
“And the man who knows this secret, Comprehends and grasps it all,— Casteth off his mortal body, Mingles in the mighty Soul! This, O mortal! is my secret, Brahman is the mighty Breath! Brahman’s house is ever open, Life existeth after death!”
Abridged from Katha Upanishad, I. 1, 2.