Upanishads · Kaṭha 1.20
॥
Devanāgarī
येयं प्रेते विचिकित्सा मनुष्ये अस्तीत्य् एके नायम् अस्तीति चैके ।
एतद् विद्याम् अनुशिष्टस् त्वयाहं वराणाम् एष वरस् तृतीयः
Transliteration (IAST)
yeyaṃ prete vicikitsā manuṣye astīty eke nāyam astīti caike /
etad vidyām anuśiṣṭas tvayāhaṃ varāṇām eṣa varas tṛtīyaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
याyāwhich; that one
इयम्iyamthis; here
प्रेतेpreteconcerning the departed (pra-√i — 'to go forth'); concerning the dead; concerning him who has left [the body]
विचिकित्साvicikitsādoubt (desiderative of √cit — 'to be aware'); wavering; perplexity
मनुष्येmanuṣyeconcerning a man; in a man
अस्ति इतिasti iti'there is', thus; exists
एकेekesome; some
नnanot; no
अयम्ayamthis; he
अस्तिastiam; exists
इतिitithus; saying
चcaand; as well as
एकेekeother; some
एतत्etatthis; this question
विद्याम्vidyāmI would know; knowledge
अनुशिष्टःanuśiṣṭaḥinstructed (anu-√śās — 'to teach by succession'); taught; having received instruction
त्वयाtvayāby you; by you
अहम्ahamI; I myself
वराणाम्varāṇāmof the boons; among the blessings
एषःeṣaḥthis; precisely this
वरःvaraḥa gift; the choice
तृतीयःtṛtīyaḥthird; the third in order
Translation
"There is this doubt concerning a man who has departed: 'he is,' say some; 'he is not,' say others. This I would know, instructed by you. This is the third of the boons."
Version
f01894209d23 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here it is — the question for whose sake the Kaṭha was written. yeyaṁ prete vicikitsā manuṣye — "that doubt concerning a man who has departed": astīty eke nāyam astīti caike — "some say: he is; others: he is not". The doubt is as old as the human race and is unsettled to this day; Naciketas utters it with the directness with which it lives in every heart, hiding under cares: does the man himself remain when the body is finished?
Note the precision of the framing. He is not asking "what happens after death" in general — of the after-death worlds he already knows (the svarga of the second boon). He asks about the existence of the being itself: ayam — "this [man]", not an energy, not a trace, not a merit — he himself. And he asks the only one who knows it not by hearsay: Death, through whose hands all pass. vidyām anuśiṣṭas tvayā — "I would know, instructed by you": not an opinion, not a consolation — an instruction (anu-√śās — the handing on of knowledge in due succession).
So the ascent of the three boons is completed: from the father's heart, through the fire of heaven, to the mystery of immortality. The ladder of the questions is the ladder of the soul; nothing tells you more truly about a man than what he asks when he may ask for anything at all.