Upanishads · Kaṭha 1.26
॥
Devanāgarī
श्वोभावा मर्त्यस्य यद् अन्तकैतत् सर्वेन्द्रियाणां जरयन्ति तेजः ।
अपि सर्वं जीवितम् अल्पम् एव तवैव वाहास् तव नृत्यगीते
Transliteration (IAST)
śvobhāvā martyasya yad antakaitat sarvendriyāṇāṃ jarayanti tejaḥ /
api sarvaṃ jīvitam alpam eva tavaiva vāhās tava nṛtyagīte
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
श्वोभावाःśvobhāvāḥlasting but till the morrow (śvas-bhāva — 'of tomorrow's nature'); of a single day; transient
मर्त्यस्यmartyasyaa mortal; the man
यत्yatwhat; inasmuch as
अन्तकantakaO Ender (antaka — 'he who makes an end', a name of Death); O Finisher; O Death
एतत्etatthis; all this
सर्वेन्द्रियाणाम्sarvendriyāṇāmof all the senses; of all the organs
जरयन्तिjarayantithey wear out (causative of √jṝ — 'to age'); they age; they exhaust
तेजःtejaḥthe fire, the vigour; the ardour; the keenness
अपिapieven; and
सर्वम्sarvamthe whole; entirely
जीवितम्jīvitamlife; the span of life
अल्पम्alpamis small; is short
एवevaindeed; all the same
तव एवtava evalet them be yours; yours indeed
वाहाःvāhāḥthe carriages; the equipages; the teams
तवtavayour; to you
नृत्यगीतेnṛtyagītedancing and singing (nṛtya-gīta); dance and song; music and dance
Translation
"All this lasts but till the morrow, O Ender — and it wears away the fire of all the senses. And the whole of life, besides, is short. Let the carriages remain yours, yours the dance and song."
Version
6190d651dc37 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Naciketas's answer is one of the summits of the world's literature of renunciation. śvobhāvāḥ — a word that is a verdict: "existing till the morrow", things of a day. The address is chosen with the most exact irony: antaka — "O Ender": the one who offers eternal pleasures is called by the name of Him who ends everything; the giver himself is the guarantee that the gifts will not last.
The second argument goes deeper than the first: sarvendriyāṇāṁ jarayanti tejaḥ — "they wear away the fire of all the senses". Pleasure devours the one who enjoys: every taste blunts taste, every gratification wears down the instrument of gratification. The chase after sensations is the self-destruction of the instrument; by the end of the feast there is nothing left to enjoy with and no one left to enjoy. api sarvaṁ jīvitam alpam eva — "and the whole of life is but little": even without the wearing of the senses, the vessel of time is small; "as many autumns as you wish" are autumns still, and numbered still.
tavaiva vāhās tava nṛtyagīte — "let the carriages remain yours, yours the dance and song": the gifts are returned without anger and without a pose, almost courteously. Naciketas does not revile pleasures — he has weighed them and handed them back as not needed: a renunciation born of clarity has no strain in it. The Gītā (2.59) will name this law: viṣayā vinivartante… rasa-varjaṁ — the objects of sense fall away of themselves when the higher taste has been known; a boy standing before the mystery of immortality can no longer seriously want rattles.