Upanishads · Kaṭha 1.19
॥
Devanāgarī
एष ते ऽग्निर् नचिकेतः स्वर्ग्यो यम् अवृणीथा द्वितीयेन वरेण ।
एतम् अग्निं तवैव प्रवक्ष्यन्ति जनासस् तृतीयं वरं नचिकेतो वृणीष्व
Transliteration (IAST)
eṣa te 'gnir naciketaḥ svargyo yam avṛṇīthā dvitīyena vareṇa /
etam agniṃ tavaiva pravakṣyanti janāsas tṛtīyaṃ varaṃ naciketo vṛṇīṣva
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
एषःeṣaḥthis; so it is
तेteto you; for you
अग्निःagniḥfire; the sacrificial fire
नचिकेतःnaciketaḥO Naciketas; of Naciketas
स्वर्ग्यःsvargyaḥleading to heaven; heavenly
यम्yamwhich; it
अवृणीथाःavṛṇīthāḥyou have chosen (from √vṛ — 'to choose'); you elected; you asked for
द्वितीयेनdvitīyenaby the second; with the second
वरेणvareṇaby the boon; as a boon
एतम्etamthis; it
अग्निम्agnimfire; the sacrificial fire
तव एवtava evayours indeed; yours indeed
प्रवक्ष्यन्तिpravakṣyantithey will call it (pra-√vac — 'to proclaim'); would they declare; they will name
जनासःjanāsaḥpeople; generations
तृतीयम्tṛtīyamthird; the third
वरम्varama gift; a blessing
नचिकेतःnaciketaḥO Naciketas; Naciketas
वृणीष्वvṛṇīṣvachoose; ask
Translation
"Here is your heavenly fire, O Naciketas — the one you chose as the second boon. This fire men will call by your name. Choose now the third boon, Naciketas."
Version
9e8b7fa9b6e7 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A line is drawn: eṣa te 'gniḥ — "here is your fire". Two boons are fulfilled, and in them the whole of traditional religion is contained: peace in the home (the first boon) and the path of heaven (the second). The family is restored, the rite is handed over, the pupil's name is written into the knowledge itself — by every measure of piety the story might happily have ended here.
But the Upaniṣad only now begins. tṛtīyaṁ varaṁ naciketo vṛṇīṣva — "choose the third boon": Yama says it without yet knowing that he is about to be asked for what he has never disclosed to anyone. The composition of the vallī is exactly calculated: first it is shown that the hero lacks nothing — neither family concord nor ritual knowledge nor a heavenly prospect — so that no one may say that need or failure drove him to the highest question.
Men come to the last mystery not out of poverty but out of a fullness that has recognized its own insufficiency. Having everything — a reconciled father, his own fire, a promised heaven — Naciketas will ask about the one thing without which all of it remains temporary. So the Upaniṣad separates the spiritual hunger from every other: it wakes not when something is missing but when nothing is.